Hyperlipidemia 101

Hyperlipidemia 101

A couple days ago I blogged on the issue of hypertension and whether it is actually disease. I described it as a self-reinforcing concept that appears to be true, but only if you accept the erroneous premise of the argument. Hypertension, I argued, is not a disease but merely a diagnostic sign, and that by treating a diagnostic sign we mask our ability to monitor the progression of the disease. There are many other diseases in Western medicine that are defined, at least in terms of treatment, not by their symptomology or cause, but by their diagnostic signs. A similar issue is hyperlipidemia, or ‘high cholesterol’. For years now people have been worried about their cholesterol levels, which like hypertension, is just a simple measurement of a very narrow parameter of physiological function. Like hypertension, you can walk around with elevated cholesterol and not know it. On its own, elevated cholesterol doesn't cause any problem, and there are no noticeable symptoms. Yet despite this, … [Read more...]