Had Heart Stroke And Undergone Surgery For Blocked Heart Valves. Wanted To Check Cholesterol And Sugar Levels. Suggest?

Posted on Tue, 9 Jul 2013

Question: Hi.....Recently my father suffered from heart stroke and had undergone surgery for 3 heart valves which are blocked. I am planning to go through complete body checkup especially to check my cholesterol and sugar levels. Could you please advise me some standard tests and package?

Answered by Dr. Guru (1 hour later)

Hi,

I am sorry for what your father went through and hope he is doing good.

Diabetes, Hypertension, Smoking are the most common causes of such conditions. To avoid heart conditions like your father, it is better to undergo following investigations:

Lipid profile including serum cholesterol, LDL, HDL, VLDL
Fasting blood sugar
Postprandial blood sugar
Blood pressure measurement in different sittings
Electrocardiogram(ECG)
Thyroid function tests
2D Echo

Depending on the results of above tests, your age and physical examination, further planning can be done.

Regarding packages different labs would offer their own packages like cardiac/heart profile etc. These package will include the aforementioned tests. You can verify the packages and proceed.

Let me know if you need clarifications

Take Care!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Guru (20 hours later)

Thanks for quick reply. I have undergone lipid profile test, Random blood sugar test but i have done fasting for lipid test and ECG test. I will upload reports for your kind perusal.

One more concern I have is, after giving some blood for blood test i was standing in queue and fainted. Few years back, after i donated little blood and got fainted when i am standing. Do i have to worry about this or is it common behavior after giving some blood?

Answered by Dr. Guru (14 minutes later)

Hi,

You are welcome.

Regarding your other concern, it is not a normal behavior. There might few things that can cause these like hypotension which is low blood pressure, hypoglycemia which is low blood glucose (these are most common) and there could be some other rare conditions like cardiogenic syncope, neurogenic syncope, etc.

As you have mentioned that you got fainted when you were standing, we need to rule out conditions like postural hypotension and it's cause. These can be done by proper physical examination and few investigations. You can consider consulting an XXXXXXX medicine doctor.

Hope this helps!

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Guru (21 hours later)

I have attached reports. Could you please look into them and give your inputs. I observed that LDL is very high, could you please suggest how should i maintain diet to keep that in control?

My age is 23 and i am planning to go for higher studies to US in coming august.

Answered by Dr. Guru (4 hours later)

Hi,

Apart from LDL cholesterol, all the other labs are under normal limits for your age. I suggest you to cut down foods which are XXXXXXX in butter, cheese, oil. Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables including leafy vegetables. Avoid fast food items, junk food. Do exercise like walking daily for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. Talk to a dietician, if you need more information on diet plan.

Take Care!

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad