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My Story: William and High Cholesterol

William was diagnosed with high cholesterol more than a decade ago. In this video, he share's his family's history with heart disease, his approach to managing cholesterol, and his goals for staying healthy as he gets older.

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Transcript

00:00
[MUSIC PLAYING] I have no chest pain, no significant signs. And that's what's a little tricky about high cholesterol. It can be kind of silent until it's too late.
00:09
I was diagnosed with elevated cholesterol maybe about 10-- maybe even 12 years ago.
00:16
Certain people produce extra cholesterol. And I come from a family where that was the case.
00:23
My dad had three-- what they call-- silent heart attacks. And his fourth one was fatal. My mom had two heart attacks in a 24-hour period of time.
00:33
So it did set off a little bit of a red flag. I wasn't all that concerned in the beginning because I was young, you know, late 40s, early 50s.
00:42
I was running 10 to 12 5ks cases a year. But now that I'm in my 60s, I'm very concerned about it.
00:50
I'm fortunate that I got into a groove early on, and I've stayed in that groove. Because I know the results are-- you know,
00:57
I'm getting good pay off. I've cut back on a lot of carbohydrates. I'm making sure I hydrate a lot, making
01:05
sure I take my meds on a regular basis at the right time every day. And you've got to go to regular appointments.
01:12
And if something's not working, talk with your doctor and say, hey, is there's something else I can do? Because I just can't do this part of the equation.
01:21
Hopefully, with time and persistence, I can get into a lower risk category. That would be good.

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