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Mixed hyperlipidemia, also called familial combined hyperlipidemia, is a condition that causes elevated levels of fats in the blood, such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and triglycerides.

Mixed hyperlipidemia tin be passed downwardly through families. However, it can also be idiopathic (with an unknown cause) or a result of other conditions, such as liver illness, kidney disease, and thyroid illness. Mixed hyperlipidemia tin increment the run a risk of heart disease and lead to problems like center attacks.

Cholesterol isn't always bad—it's a fatty substance your trunk needs to make sure hormones and other essential compounds that build cells. There are several types of cholesterol, lipids, and fats in your body, and the most arable is triglycerides.

Even though your trunk needs these substances, there is a take hold of. Your trunk makes all that y'all need, and your dietary choices tin can increment the amounts of these substances in your blood to unhealthy levels.

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Symptoms of Mixed Hyperlipidemia

People with mixed hyperlipidemia may develop high cholesterol or high triglyceride levels as teenagers. The status may also be diagnosed when people are in their 20s and 30s. The levels remain high throughout life.

In the early on years, people with this condition may have no symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they tin include:

Chest pain
Cramping of one or both calves when walking
Sores on the toes that do not heal
Sudden stroke-like symptoms, such every bit trouble speaking, drooping on one side of the face, weakness of an arm or leg, and loss of remainder

Causes

A number of genes and genetic mutations have been linked to mixed hyperlipidemia, but the verbal mutation or crusade is yet uncertain. Newer studies accept suggested there may be a miscommunication between the genes that regulate cholesterol, specifically in what'due south known every bit Wnt–LRP6 coreceptor signaling.

Boosted Take a chance Factors

Studies accept shown that mixed hyperlipidemia is more common in people who have the following conditions:

Obesity (being extremely overweight)
Insulin resistance (when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don't answer well to the hormone insulin)
Type 2 diabetes (an harm in the way the torso uses carbohydrate for fuel)
Hypertension (loftier blood force per unit area)
Nonalcoholic fatty liver illness (liver conditions not caused by overdrinking booze)
Metabolic syndrome (a group of conditions that can lead to heart disease, stroke, or blazon 2 diabetes)
Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid)
Alcoholism

Diagnosis

Mixed hyperlipidemia is diagnosed mainly through blood tests and a physical test. A lipid panel and other claret tests will mensurate cholesterol levels in your blood. The tests are done with a small sample of claret taken from one of your veins. The sample is normally collected in the morning time, afterwards at to the lowest degree 12 hours of fasting.

Hyperlipidemia is diagnosed if your claret tests reveal:

Increased LDL cholesterol
Decreased HDL cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol)
Increased triglycerides
Increased total cholesterol

Normal ranges of each of these substances are:

HDL cholesterol: xl–fifty milligrams per deciliter or more than
LDL cholesterol: Less than 100 milligrams per deciliter
Triglycerides: Less than 150 milligrams per deciliter
Total cholesterol: 125–200 milligrams per deciliter

Testing for Mixed Hyperlipidemia

Mixed hyperlipidemia may be disregarded without taking a thorough family unit history or performing additional tests. Tests tin can tell you whether you have elevated levels of a particular protein in LDL cholesterol called apolipoprotein B100. This protein is responsible for moving cholesterol throughout your body. High levels of information technology may indicate mixed hyperlipidemia.

Treatment

By and large, mixed hyperlipidemia is treated the same way as nongenetic forms of hyperlipidemia. In nigh cases, this means a combination of lifestyle changes and medications. The goal of treatment is to prevent the status from progressing to atherosclerosis, a buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances on avenue walls.

Lifestyle Changes

Making changes to your nutrition is normally the first step your healthcare provider will take to help lower your cholesterol levels. You will need to try dietary changes for several months before your dr. recommends medications.

Lifestyle changes that can forestall mixed hyperlipidemia include:

Reducing your intake of foods that contain a lot of saturated fatty and saccharide
Eating less beefiness, chicken, pork, and lamb
Choosing depression-fat dairy products
Limiting the amount of egg yolks and organ meats like liver that yous eat
Choosing fresh fruits and vegetables
Avoiding prepackaged cookies and baked goods that contain trans fats

Medication

Medications that can help lower cholesterol levels include statins and fibrates. Common examples of statins prescribed for mixed hyperlipidemia include:

Mevacor (lovastatin)
Pravachol (pravastatin)
Zocor (simvastatin)
Lescol (fluvastatin)
Lipitor (atorvastatin)
Crestor (rosuvastatin)
Livalo (pitavastatin)

Other medications that tin help further lower cholesterol levels may also exist prescribed, including:

Bile acid-sequestering resins
Ezetimibe
Nicotinic acids
PCSK9 inhibitors similar Praluent (alirocumab) and Repatha (evolocumab)

Prognosis

Early recognition and healthy lifestyle changes can help you lot continue mixed hyperlipidemia from progressing to atherosclerosis.

Your overall prognosis will depend on:

How soon you are diagnosed
When yous showtime treatment and make the necessary lifestyle changes
How well you stick to your treatment plan

Possible Complications

Complications from mixed hyperlipidemia ascend when the high levels of cholesterol in your claret begin to collect in your arteries and impair your claret catamenia.

Atherosclerosis and other vascular diseases caused by high cholesterol levels increment your adventure of eye assail and stroke.

Summary

Mixed hyperlipidemia is a status characterized by high cholesterol levels. Symptoms don't usually appear until subsequently in life. When symptoms do ascend, y'all will need medications and lifestyle changes to manage your cholesterol levels and preclude complications, such as center disease and stroke. With the right interventions, people can keep this condition under control.

A Give-and-take From Verywell

There are many things that tin can crusade y'all to take high levels of cholesterol in your claret, some of which you have control over similar your diet choices. Sometimes, though, loftier cholesterol can be caused past genetic mutations passed on through families or every bit a complication of other illnesses.

If you have mixed hyperlipidemia, you can still make dietary choices that tin help lower your cholesterol. You may as well need to take medications. The goal is to forbid the formation of plaques that could lead to atherosclerosis and eventually heart attack or stroke.

Brand sure to talk with your md not just nearly your personal lifestyle choices and medical history but your family unit medical history, also. Defenseless early and treated, this condition can minimize its impact on your life.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the symptoms of mixed hyperlipidemia?

Usually, there are no symptoms of mixed hyperlipidemia early on in life. Symptoms may ascend equally the condition progresses, and they may include chest hurting, cramping in your legs, sores that won't heal, and stroke-similar symptoms. Yous may also experience other symptoms equally you develop complications, such equally a center attack.
What causes mixed hyperlipidemia?

Genetic mutations passed on through families tin can cause mixed hyperlipidemia. Researchers are withal trying to figure out which genes and mutations are involved. Information technology also may be idiopathic (meaning in that location's no known crusade) or related to other conditions, such equally liver, kidney, and thyroid diseases. Diet and other lifestyle choices can contribute, also.
How is mixed hyperlipidemia diagnosed?

Since mixed hyperlipidemia doesn't present with symptoms in the early years, a lipid panel and genetic testing are ways your doctor can identify whether you have high cholesterol and what the cause of it is.
What are natural and healthy ways to reverse hyperlipidemia?

Avoid foods high in saturated fat and trans fats, added sugars, and prepackaged foods. It also helps to limit your intake of meat, egg yolks, and organ meat, which incorporate a high corporeality of cholesterol. Choose whole foods like fruits and vegetables over processed foods whenever possible.
What is the best treatment for mixed hyperlipidemia?

Lifestyle changes are the best starting time steps for treating mixed hyperlipidemia. You lot may also be prescribed medications like statins that can help lower your cholesterol levels.

Verywell Health uses just high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial procedure to acquire more than about how we fact-check and go along our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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Go GW, Srivastava R, Hernandez-Ono A, Gang G, Smith SB, Berth CJ, Ginsberg HN, Mani A. The combined hyperlipidemia acquired past impaired Wnt-LRP6 signaling is reversed past Wnt3a rescue. Prison cell Metab. 2014 Feb 4;19(2):209-20. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2013.11.023
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By Rachael Zimlich, BSN, RN
Rachael is a freelance healthcare author and disquisitional care nurse based near Cleveland, Ohio.

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