When should you worry? (Part 3)

4. I struggle to keep my weight down, to take exercise and avoid fatty foods. Now that I am older, can ignore a raised cholesterol level?

   No. But it is only one part of the cholesterol – the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) – that causes artery damage, leading to stroke and heart attacks. If your overall cholesterol is not excessively high and your ordinary diet. If the LDL is raised, or if the overall cholesterol is very high, talk to your doctor about taking statins. They reduce cholesterol levels and can lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

5. My bowels always used to be so regular, but for the past three months I’ve had some constipation and at other times diarrhoea. I have also noticed that the water in the lavatory pan has taken on a slightly dark red colour. Why is this?

   If people seek help earlier, the results in treating serious bowel disease will be as good as those abroad. Any change in bowel habit that hasn’t z ximple explanation, and has lasted for more than six weeks needs investigation. The medical term “changes bowel habit” doesn’t just include diarrhoea, constipation or both, as you but also any change in shape or consistency of the motions, or mixed with them, so that the pan water coloured, always needs to be looked at, as does actual bleeding. Tumours in the first part of the bowel may only cause anaemia, resulting in tirednessi breathlessness and weight loss.