5 / 16
Know your numbers
Unsure what your cholesterol numbers should be to stay heart-healthy? These ranges
are general guidelines. Talk to your doctor about what’s right for you.
Total
cholesterol
•
Desirable: Less
than 200 mg/dL.
•
Borderline high:
200 to 239 mg/dL.
•
High: 240 mg/dL
and above.
HDL (good
cholesterol)
•
Protective against
heart disease:
60 mg/dL and
above.
•
At risk for heart
disease: Less than
40 mg/dL for men;
less than 50 mg/dL
for women.
LDL (bad
cholesterol)
•
Optimal: Less than
100 mg/dL.
•
Near-optimal: 100 to
129 mg/dL.
•
Borderline high:
130 to 159 mg/dL.
•
High: 160 to
189 mg/dL.
•
Very high: 190 mg/
dL and above.
Triglycerides
•
Normal: Less than
150 mg/dL.
•
Borderline high:
150 to 199 mg/dL.
•
High: 200 to
499 mg/dL.
•
Very high:
500 mg/dL and
above.
Sources: American Heart Association; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
and I said if we needed someone to
work on our hearts, ‘you’d be the
only face we’d see’—never dreaming
that I would be seeing his face a year
later.”
Beverly’s heart care experience
began last fall when she experienced
several bouts of severe pain in her
chest, called angina. Beverly had
an EKG and met with cardiac elec-
trophysiologist Naser Imran, MD,
at Faith Regional CardioVascular
Institute, who later performed a stress
test. Though Beverly had watched
her weight and exercised, her fam-
ily health included a history of heart
problems. The stress test revealed that
part of Beverly’s heart was not work-
ing and that she would need a heart
catheterization, which found four
blockages that needed to be re-routed.
Even though Beverly had an intense
fear of needles, encouragement from
her family and personal prayer helped
her proceed with heart surgery.
Following surgery, Beverly recov-
ered in the intensive care unit (ICU)
at Faith Regional.
“The ICU nurses were all totally
amazing—just exactly as they were
for my husband! I can’t thank them
enough,” she says.
Today, both Lee and Beverly continue
to exercise together and learn more
about how to take care of their hearts
by attending Faith Regional Cardiac
Rehabilitation three times a week. Both
continue to sing the praises of their
care and the opportunity of life mov-
ing forward.
“I can’t see someone in Norfolk go-
ing anywhere else for the type of care
we experienced,” says Lee.
Visit
frhs.organd click on “Heart &
Vascular” to learn about all of our heart
experts and watch special bio videos.