{Heart Disease}

Wow, I almost missed out on a run this morning. I was sitting down after just seeing my mom and Aunt off to write this post when I thought, "It's a beautiful morning for a little jog. I'll have to go after I finish this." Then I thought about it for one second and decided no way, I'm going to go now and not later. I'm pretty glad I did too.

It wasn't the best time but I'm okay with that. Why? Because I RAN. 

So, speaking of running, it's something I need to do more of. I've had a small wake-up call with my doctor. Unfortunately, I think it's something I'll always have to deal with because it apparently runs rampant in the family. I'm speaking of heart disease. I'm sure everyone has someone in their family with heart disease. Do you have a 33 year old first cousin with a pace maker? A very fit first cousin with extremely high cholesterol? Or an aunt who had her first massive heart attack in her early forty's with several minor ones before that? Ugh. It is a scary thought. 

Anyway, so this time last year my cholesterol was normal. This time last year I worked out less and ate 1/2 and 1/2 as far as healthy and unhealthy foods go. This year my cholesterol is 230 (197 last year), with less than 200 being healthy. My Triglycerides are 298 (116 last year) with less than 150 being healthy. What?! That's double what the healthy range should be! The crazy thing is I've been working out and eating way better since January and taking fish oil as well.  So, it seems as though I've inherited all the heart disease running rampant in my family. My doctor prescribed Niacin (to help lower my cholesterol as a whole), to continue taking the fish oil, Fenofibrate for the triglycerides, and an aspirin a day. We'll check it again in six months to see if it lowers at all and then just go from there. Honestly, I'm thinking of seeing a specialist anyway. We'll see.