Can I Tell That I Have High Cholesterol Without A Blood Test?

— -- Question: Can I tell that I have high cholesterol without a blood test?

Answer: Unfortunately, having high cholesterol doesn't produce any symptoms by itself. So you're going to feel entirely normal. And the example, there actually are children who are born with a particular metabolic defect where their cholesterol levels are over a thousand, and they have no symptoms at all. They feel perfectly healthy. The problem is, they have heart attacks when they're just children or teenagers. And so, high cholesterol doesn't hurt, so the only way to know you have it is to go ahead and have it checked.

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