Karen's high cholesterol


In May 2010, aged just 48, Karen had a heart attack.

While she was in hospital, she found out she had very high blood cholesterol levels - so her doctor prescribed statins to help lower them.

Recovering from her heart attack

"My doctor's advice was to make sure to watch what I eat, to take my medication, and to exercise."

Through her cardiac rehabilitation programme, Karen learnt she could improve her heart health by making simple changes to her lifestyle.

Part of Karen’s recovery was lowering her cholesterol. She learnt that participating in regular physical activity could help increase her level of HDL cholesterol - the ‘good’ cholesterol that helps protect your heart. Karen started exercising 5 days a week.

"I never thought I'd ever see the day when I'd buy a bike!"

On top of that, Karen made some simple healthy changes to her diet. This helped her lose over two stone and since her heart attack, her blood cholesterol levels have improved significantly.



What is a high blood cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in your blood and with too much in your blood, it can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Others dealing with high cholesterol

Many others like Karen are dealing with high cholesterol levels and making positive changes to their lives to prevent heart disease. Here are their stories:

Ali's decision to take statins
Rachel's stent
Suzanne's familial hypercholesterolaemia

Support life saving heart research

In March 2014, a study we helped fund revealed there wasn't enough evidence to back the current UK guidelines on the types of fat we eat. Our current guidelines encourage us to swap out saturated fats with unsaturated fats but analysis by researchers including BHF Professor John Danesh of 72 separate studies suggests this change does not impact our risk of developing heart disease.

This is one of the many reasons we need your continued support. Donations help fund research that helps us better understand how both good and bad cholesterol works to help us provide better preventative advice against heart attack. Consider donating to our research to further our heart research.