If you have been told by your health care provider that you have the symptoms of diabetes, hypertension, increased blood clotting, lipid abnormalities or heart rhythm problems, some long term damage has already occurred. In which case your risk for a stroke, heart attack or more serious event would be increased above the general population risk for your age and gender. The longer that you have these abnormal levels, the greater potential for damage. However, not all damage is permanent, and often, if it is in the early stages, there is the potential to reverse the effects.
Modifying heart risk factors
For example if you can bring your diabetes under complete control, you will have decreased your risk to the least possible level.
Similarly, if you have hypertension, any decrease in your blood pressure will decrease your risk for heart cardiovascular. If you can bring your blood pressure to normal levels, you will have significantly improved your risk level.
Complete control is what you and your doctor will strive for, but partial control can also have long-term benefits. There is evidence that bringing your lipids under complete control can reverse the damage process.
As you most likely already know an improvement in weight, more physical activity, and stopping smoking will decrease your risk level for heart disease.
Working with your health care professional in modifying heart risk factors by treating diabetes or pre-diabetes, hypertension or pre-hypertension, dyslipidemia, and thrombophilia will go a long way toward decreasing your overall risk of a cardiovascular event.
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