What should I do now?
Call 911
Call 911 for possible heart attack or stroke symptoms: chest pressure, severe trouble breathing, face drooping, arm weakness, or trouble speaking. Do not drive yourself.
Contact your care team
Contact your care team for side effects, cost barriers, or difficulty taking medicine. Severe muscle weakness or dark urine needs prompt assessment.
Keep your care plan
Keep your treatment and follow-up plan. Bring questions, readings, and your medication list.
SECTION 2
What symptoms might I feel?
High cholesterol usually causes no symptoms. You cannot reliably tell whether it is high by how you feel.
People may have high LDL for years before developing a problem related to plaque buildup.
Can there be visible signs?
Some people with very high inherited cholesterol develop fatty deposits in the skin or tendons. Most people have no visible signs.
Blood testing is needed even when you feel healthy.
Symptoms may come from complications
Plaque-related disease can cause chest discomfort, shortness of breath, or leg discomfort while walking.
These symptoms do not measure your cholesterol level. They may indicate a circulation problem that needs evaluation.
Call 911 for possible heart attack or stroke symptoms, including new chest pressure, severe shortness of breath, sudden weakness, facial drooping, or difficulty speaking. Do not drive yourself.
The purpose of cholesterol treatment is to prevent problems before symptoms appear.
Updated October 2026. Educational information; your own care plan may differ. Medical illustrations are simplified examples for teaching.