This weekend I spent quality time with the family….celebrating my uncle’s retirement on Saturday and celebrating my extended family’s “unofficial family reunion” at church today.  I spent time reminiscing with family and friends about the good ole days and was reminded about the good old days in medical school when I first learned about high cholesterol.

Back then, any blood cholesterol less than 200 was GREAT!  My professors explained that if you were healthy and didn’t have heart disease or any major risk factors for heart disease, your bad cholesterol or LDL should be below 160 and as a doctor you’d first recommend diet and exercise before starting a patient on a cholesterol lowering drug….but my, how things have changed!

Now, with all the research studies that show the benefit of maintaining a low total cholesterol and low bad “LDL” cholesterol, a bad cholesterol or LDL level of 160 now requires aggressive treatment with medications and sometimes multiple medications….all to lower your cholesterol.  

Studies continue to show that people who suffer a heart attack or a stroke can have a significant improvement in their outcomes if certain cholesterol lowering medications are started soon after the heart attack or stroke.  That means, while you’re still in the hospital recovering from your heart attack or stroke, your doctor will prescribe many medications to control your blood pressure, your blood cholesterol and even your blood sugar level if you have diabetes.  Many people walk in the hospital taking NO medications and leave the hospital taking three….four…and even FIVE NEW MEDICATIONS….all to help lower your risk of having ANOTHER heart attack or stroke.   

Now you may ask yourself….why am I thinking about all this bad stuff…having heart attacks and strokes when I should be celebrating with my family and friends?  But I say, “What better time to think about your family’s health when you’re around your family and can help them make better health choices?”

So, with my uncle retiring at the “tender age” of 75, I’m still wearing my Health and Wellness Queen hat when I gently hug him and ask him how he’s feeling.  I ask him if he’s seen his doctor lately and if he has, I gingerly ask him what the doctor said.  I try not to take the focus off the joyous occasion but I’m also trying to keep my uncle around for years to come….to see my son grow up and play football like his father and grandfather.

I know it may be asking alot to have my uncles….my aunts….my parents around for years to come but if I don’t ask….I will have missed my a golden opportunity!

So the next time you’re celebrating something momentous in your family, take the time to really look at all of your family gathered around. 

Now fast forward five or ten years.  How many people do you think will still be there? 

Be realistic.  And when you realize that your time may be coming to a close to have your older family members around, make the most of the time you have and encourage them to continue to take care of themselves and their health.

That’s what I’m doing.  How about you?

To your wellness,

The Health and Wellness Queen

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 4:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.