High Cholesterol in Diabetes (Diabetic Hyperlipidemia)

Hyperlipidaemia may can develop many complications in the body such as heart diseases and diabetes. Hyperlipidaemia is a main reason of diabetes in the diabetic persons. To avoid from suffering from diabetes, every body must keep his cholesterol level normal. To provide awareness about this matter, the article is written.

Mostly the physicians prescribe the medicines for diabetic persons to keep the cholesterol level low in the body. They give the reason that high cholesterol level is very harmful and cause of various complications in diabetic persons. So, keeping the cholesterol level low in the body for diabetic persons is very important. This is the reason, we are providing some knowledge about Diabetic .

High Cholesterol When You Have Diabetes

What is Hyperlipidemiaa

Diabetic hyperlipidemia sounds a bit intimidating, doesn’t it?  As we always do here on Endocrine Web, we’re going to break down that concept for you, and that’s why we’ve put together this Patients’ Guide to Treating High Cholesterol and Diabetes.

Diabetic hyperlipidemia is, in fact, having high cholesterol when you have diabetes.  The parts of the word hyperlipidemia break into:

hyper:  high
lipid: scientific term referring to fat, cholesterol, and fat-like substances in the body
emia:  in the blood

So all together, hyperlipidemia means that you have too many lipids, especially cholesterol, in your blood.  High cholesterol is dangerous for anyone, but as someone with type 2 diabetes, it’s particularly important that you get treatment for high cholesterol.

You’re probably aware that diabetes can come with a host of complications—if you don’t take good care of our blood glucose levels and overall health.  Cardiovascular complications are common in people with type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol can also harm your cardiovascular health.

Taking care of your high cholesterol will help lower your cardiovascular risk, so in this Patients’ Guide to Treating High Cholesterol and Diabetes, we’ll be covering:

How does diabetes affect your cardiovascular health?

high cholesterol risk factors:  Should you be concerned about getting high cholesterol?
high cholesterol treatments when you have diabetes:  There are medications you can take to help bring down your cholesterol numbers.  Also, lifestyle changes are important.
eating well to manage cholesterol and diabetes:  This lifestyle change is so important that it got its own article.  Eating well when you have high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes is essential.  Learn what to eat and what to limit in order to take better care of your body.
Of course, if you’re concerned about your cholesterol levels and you have type 2 diabetes, talk to your doctor.  He or she will be able to answer any questions you have, as well as check your cholesterol levels and develop a treatment plan if necessary.


Cholesterol Basics

Good Cholesterol, Bad Cholesterol: What’s It All Mean for You?   
Before we get too far into hyperlipidemia—high cholesterol in the blood—we should have a grounding in what cholesterol is and what it does.  Cholesterol is a fat-like substance (often, it’s referred to as “waxy”) that’s used by your body to make vitamin D, hormones, and substances that aid in digestion.  It is necessary for your body to function properly.

Your body actually makes most of the cholesterol you need, although you do get some of it from what you eat.  Cholesterol is made in the liver.

You have two kinds of cholesterol, and you’ve probably heard of these before:  “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol.

Both kinds of cholesterol travel through your blood as lipoproteins:  you can think of them as little packages being sent around your body.  On the inside of the package, there are fats (the cholesterol) and on the outside, there are proteins.

But which kind of cholesterol is good and which is bad—and why does it matter?

Good Cholesterol

High-density lipoproteins (HDL) are the “good” cholesterol.  These little packages are more dense, and part of their job is to escort cholesterol from other parts of your body back to your liver—where it’s then removed.

HDL cholesterol is good, then, because it gets the cholesterol out of the bloodstream (too much cholesterol in the blood in hyperlipidemia, remember).  Once the cholesterol is back in the liver, it’s broken down and removed from your body.

You should have a high level of HDL, the “good” cholesterol.

Bad Cholesterol

Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are the “bad” cholesterol.  These carry cholesterol from your liver to other cells in your body—and therein lies the problem.  LDL can carry too much cholesterol (more than is needed by the cells), and then cholesterol will build up in the blood.

Built-up LDL can start to cause blockages in arteries by forming plaque, which restricts blood flow.

You should have a low level of LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

And Don’t Forget about Triglycerides
Triglycerides are part of your overall lipid profile—how much fat is in your blood.  Any calories your body doesn’t use right away from food are converted into triglycerides, which are stored in fat cells and used later.

When taking into account your overall cardiovascular health, triglycerides are important.

Optimal Cholesterol Numbers
As someone with diabetes, you should carefully monitor your lipid profile.  (Really, everyone should, but it’s especially important if you have diabetes.)

According to the American Heart Association1, your levels should be:

Total Cholesterol:  Less than 200 mg/dL
HDL (Good) Cholesterol:  Higher than 40 mg/dL for men and higher than 50 mg/dL in women is very good, but if your HDL level is 60 mg/dL or higher, your risk of heart disease will be significantly lower.
LDL (Bad) Cholesterol:  Less than 100 mg/dL
Triglycerides: Less than 150 mg/dL

How Often Should You Have Your Cholesterol Tested?

The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that everyone aged 20 and older should have a fasting lipoprotein profile (lipid profile) done every 5 years2.  Your doctor may recommend a different timeline, given your health and history.

This is a fasting test, as the name suggests:  you need to go 9 to 12 hours without food, liquids, or pills before the test.

Cholesterol Is Important to Your Health
As you can see, cholesterol—and having healthy cholesterol levels—is important to your overall health, especially when you have diabetes and want to avoid cardiovascular complications.


Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk
How Does Diabetes Affect Your Heart Health?

As you’re most likely aware, if you don’t take good care of your type 2 diabetes, you can develop several complications, including heart disease.  We don’t say that to frighten you or to make you focus on the negative aspects of type 2 diabetes:  it’s simply that cardiovascular complications are possible when you have diabetes, but there are ways that you can work to prevent them.

Cholesterol plays a big part in cardiovascular disease, so when you have diabetes, you need to be particularly vigilant about your cholesterol numbers.  Taking good care of your heart is part of taking good care of your diabetes.

Cardiovascular Complications with Diabetes 

Cardiovascular complications are possible long-term macrovascular complications of diabetes, and these complications include heart attacks and strokes.

Routinely high blood glucose levels can cause damage to your blood vessels.  Therefore, if you don’t have good control of your blood glucose levels on a daily basis—if you regularly swing high and low—then you could be creating long-lasting heart problems.

Again, that’s not said to frighten you—but to help you realize the important of monitoring your blood glucose levels and working hard to keep them in your goal ranges.  Talk to your doctor about your goal ranges and how you can improve your blood glucose levels on a daily basis.

Where Does Cholesterol Come Into Play in Cardiovascular Disease?

Having high levels of bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol—if you’re not sure what that is, please review our cholesterol basics article) in your blood can lead to artherosclerosis.  That’s a condition when plaque builds up in your artery walls, which essentially narrows them and makes it more difficult for blood to flow through.

LDL cholesterol forms plaque, so it stands to reason that the more LDL cholesterol you have in your blood, the more plaque you’re likely to create.

Eventually, if enough plaque builds up, it can cause a blood clot, leading to a heart attack or a stroke.

Controlling Cholesterol and Blood Glucose Levels for Heart Health
When you have type 2 diabetes and you have high cholesterol, it’s like you have a double-whammy of cardiovascular risk.  Poorly controlled blood glucose levels can harm your heart health, as can hyperlipidemia. 

If you have type 2 diabetes, you need to be especially attentive to 2 kinds of numbers:  your blood glucose numbers (and related to that, your A1c numbers) and your cholesterol numbers.  Keeping both numbers under control will help reduce your cardiovascular risk.