Symptoms

Unfortunately, like hypertension, there are often no symptoms associated with high cholesterol levels until it is too late. A heart attack or stroke may be the first sign of high cholesterol. For this reason it is important to have regular cholesterol monitoring and to try to keep cholesterol within healthy limits.

Sometimes high cholesterol produces plaques which block arteries sufficiently for a patient to begin to experience symptoms. Symptoms will depend on the artery being blocked. For instance, when there is a plaque build up in the coronary arteries (arteries going to the heart), the decreased blood flow, which results in decreased oxygen getting to the heart, sometimes causes chest pain referred to as angina.

Irregular yellow patches or nodules on the skin, caused by fatty deposits, known as Xanthoma is sometimes seen in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a type of high cholesterol with genetic causes.