Cindy Kostreba admits now that she had a sometimes sporadic relationship with statins, even after a routine physical in her early 20s revealed a total cholesterol level that was twice the optimal amount.
Already active and thin, she reluctantly took the statins, medications that are used to lower cholesterol levels, for long stretches, but with a few gaps that extended a year or longer. She worried about potential side effects and grew weary of what she describes as the “merry-go-round of medicines,” with doctors frequently changing her prescriptions in an effort to squelch her elevated cholesterol. Then her college-aged son, a fit ice hockey player, shocked his pediatrician during a checkup three years ago with an elevated cholesterol level of his own.
After learning of Kostreba’s lifelong struggles, the pediatrician referred them both to a lipid specialist, who suggested genetic testing. The results came back positive for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), an inherited disorder that’s believed to affect roughly one in every 300 Americans.
Read the full article at Genome Magazine »
Genome Magazine‘s mission is to explore the world of personalized medicine and the genomic revolution that makes it possible, empowering you to make informed health decisions that will help you live better and longer.
