You often cannot feel high cholesterol because there are only few high cholesterol symptoms which may show that you are having high cholesterol. However, the high cholesterol symptom are usually are not associated with it initially. High cholesterol symptom range from chest pains to having trouble breathing but you will not be able to tell that you have high levels of cholesterol from those symptoms alone. If you ignore your high cholesterol, it could  increases your risk of serious conditions such as:

• coronary heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries)
  
• stroke
  
• mini-stroke (transient ischaemic attack or TIA)
  

The only way to find out if you have high cholesterol is through a cholesterol test. A cholesterol test is a blood test that will look at the key lipids, or fats, that are in the blood, such as:

• LDL
  
• HDL
  
• Triglycerides
  
• Total cholesterol
  

Blood test interpretation

Total cholesterol:
Less than 200 mg/dL: desirable
200-239 mg/dL: borderline high risk
240 and over: high risk

HDL (high density lipoprotein)
Less than 40 mg/dL (men), less than 50 mg/dL (women): increased risk of heart disease
Greater than 60mg/dL: some protection against heart disease

LDL (low density lipoprotein)
Less than 100 mg/dL: optimal
100-129 mg/dL: near optimal/above optimal
130-159 mg/dL: borderline high
160- 189 mg/dL: high
190 mg/dL and above: very high

Triglycerides
Less than n150 mg/dL: normal
150-199 mg/dL: borderline to high
200-499mg/dL: high
Above 500 mg/dL: very high

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