Cholesterol Monitoring and Education
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Extensive research has
demonstrated that high cholesterol promotes the
development of heart disease. A variety of
factors affect your cholesterol, including:
your diet,
weight, whether you smoke, how much alcohol you drink, how much
exercise you get, and medicines you may take. At Rice Drugs,
we take the time to discuss each of these with you and recommend
certain changes you can make to lower your cholesterol and reduce
your risk for heart disease.
So what are your risk factors for heart disease? It is important
to recognize these and discuss them with your doctor. They can
be broken down into two categories: modifiable and
non-modifiable. Modifiable risk
factors can be altered to reduce one’s risk for
heart disease. Our pharmacists are here to
help you do just that!
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Modifiable Risk Factors:
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Non-Modifiable Risk Factors:
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Cigarette smoking
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Male gender
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Low HDL (less than 35 mg/dL)
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Age (males over age 45, females over age 55,
or post-menopausal females not
taking estrogen)
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High blood pressure (greater than 140/90) or
on blood pressure lowering medication
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Diabetes mellitus (high blood sugar)
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Obesity (more than 30% overweight) and/or lack
of exercise
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Family history of premature coronary heart disease
(before age 55)
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At Rice Drugs, helping you improve your health is our goal
and we provide extensive counseling and monitoring services
for our patients with high cholesterol. With a finger stick
and a small sample of blood, our trained pharmacists can check
your total cholesterol, good cholesterol (HDL), bad cholesterol
(LDL), and triglycerides.
This is ideal for patients being
treated for high cholesterol because it allows them to see if
their diet, lifestyle changes, and/or medications are working. It is also helpful to those individuals who just want to know
their blood cholesterol in order to make personal health-related
decisions. If this screening test indicates your cholesterol is
potentially high or even borderline, our pharmacists will refer
you to your physician at once for a complete lipid profile.
Cholestech
L·D·X®
is the tool we use at Rice Drugs to evaluate
your blood cholesterol. This test must be performed in a fasting
state—so it’s important to not eat for 8 to 12 hours prior to the
test. The test results are fast and reliable! We can perform a
total cholesterol and blood glucose test for $14.00 or a complete
lipid profile and blood glucose test for only $24.00. With your
physicians order, we will gladly bill your insurance.
All
cholesterol evaluations are by appointment only. To schedule
yours, call one of our pharmacists today at 1-888-650-RICE or
e-mail us at rx@ricedrugs.com.
Diabetes
Cholesterol
Asthma
Hypertension
Immunizations
Natural Hormones
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American Heart Association
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www.cholestech.com
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