Your cholesterol panel
missed the point.
Roughly half of first heart attacks happen in people whose standard lipid panel looked acceptable. The markers that would have flagged them are cheap, available, and almost never ordered.
Does this sound like you?
Anyone with a family history that keeps them up at night. Anyone told their cholesterol is 'borderline' and to come back next year. And anyone over forty who has never had ApoB or Lp(a) measured — which is nearly everyone.
Also relevant if you are on hormone therapy. Testosterone and estrogen both affect lipids and blood pressure, which is a reason to watch this properly rather than a reason to avoid therapy.
- ApoBA direct count of the particles that actually deposit in artery walls. Better predictive value than LDL cholesterol, and it can be high when your LDL looks fine.
- Lp(a)Largely genetic, measured once in a lifetime, and a meaningful independent risk factor. Around one in five people carry an elevated level and almost none of them know it.
- Inflammatory markershs-CRP, homocysteine and Lp-PLA2. Plaque is an inflammatory process, not just a plumbing one.
- Blood pressure and metabolicInsulin resistance drives cardiovascular risk as hard as cholesterol does, and it shows up years earlier.
- Lipid managementWhere indicated and under clinician direction — including options for people who cannot tolerate a statin.
- Coordination with your cardiologistIf you already have one, we work alongside them. We are not trying to replace cardiology.
Availability of any therapy is determined by individual clinical evaluation and may change as federal compounding rules evolve. Pricing is provided in writing before anything is ordered.
Every journey starts with a call.
Before anything is ordered, prescribed or charged, you spend 15 to 30 minutes one-to-one with a coach working out what you actually want to change and what has already been tried. That conversation decides which panel you need — everything after it is built backward from your answer.
The things people actually ask.
Why hasn't my doctor ordered these?
ApoB and Lp(a) are not part of a standard lipid panel and insurance does not always cover them, so they get skipped in a fifteen-minute visit. That is a system constraint rather than a judgment that you do not need them.
What is Lp(a) and why measure it once?
It is a lipoprotein whose level is set almost entirely by your genetics and barely moves with diet or exercise. You measure it once, and if it is elevated it changes how aggressively everything else should be managed.
Is this instead of seeing a cardiologist?
No. This is risk assessment and prevention. If we find something that needs a cardiologist, we will tell you plainly and help you get there — and if you already have one, we send them the results.
Does hormone therapy hurt my heart?
The picture is more nuanced than the headlines. Both testosterone and estrogen affect lipids and blood pressure in ways that need monitoring. That monitoring is exactly what this page is about.
Find out where you actually stand.
Book your coaching call. Free, 15 to 30 minutes, no obligation and nothing to cancel.