🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. They tell you what kind of square you’re reading. Where you actually track progress is your Prepared Patient Course and the Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Read each square. Deeper detail for each lives in the Prepared Patient High Cholesterol (Hyperlipidemia) course.
What High Cholesterol Means
LDL particles build plaque over years. Silent, but the foundation of CAD/stroke.
Learn ItHow Statins Work
Block liver cholesterol production. Lower LDL. Stabilize plaque. Prevent events.
Learn ItWhen to Worry
Severe muscle pain + dark urine (rhabdo). Chest pain (downstream MI). Stroke signs.
Learn ItTriggers for Lipid Spikes
Big weight gain, untreated diabetes, alcohol (triglycerides), hypothyroidism.
Learn ItNumbers That Matter
LDL, non-HDL, ApoB, Lp(a). Each tells a different story.
Learn ItStatin Daily
Most evenings, with or without food. Don't skip. Mild aches usually aren't from the statin.
Live ItLipid Recheck
After dose change, after 6-8 weeks. Then yearly if stable.
Live ItLifestyle Lever
Diet, exercise, weight. Lifestyle changes can drop LDL meaningfully.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring your most recent lipids and any muscle-side-effect notes.
Live ItYour Care Team
PCP usually leads. Cardiologist or lipidologist for difficult cases.
Live ItTelehealth
Telehealth visits for medication adjustment work well.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Generic statins are pennies. PCSK9 inhibitors are pricey — assistance programs exist.
Live ItTreating ASCVD Risk
Risk-based, not number-based. Calcium score helps personalize.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Most patients fear statins more than they should. You can change that.
Share ItAdvocate
Cholesterol is the most-misunderstood common condition. Spread accurate info.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Bempedoic acid, PCSK9 si-RNA agents (inclisiran), plaque-stabilizing drugs.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
This is the teaching. Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Hyperlipidemia is almost never an emergency on its own. The ladder is about catching downstream problems.
Handle at home
- No symptoms (the usual)
- Mild muscle aches that don’t limit you (mild statin myalgia is common)
- Normal energy
Log it. Keep taking your medication daily.
Call the office / message the portal
- New muscle pain or weakness on a statin
- Running low on medication
- Side effects you’re considering stopping the drug for
- Questions about new dose or new agent
Same day. Don’t stop a statin without a conversation — most muscle complaints aren’t really the statin.
Urgent / Acute care
- Severe muscle pain or weakness on a statin
- Dark cola-colored urine
- Marked fatigue that started after a dose change
Urgent care — rule out rhabdomyolysis (rare but real).
ER NOW / call 911
- Chest pain, jaw or arm pain, shortness of breath (downstream MI)
- FAST stroke signs
- Sudden severe leg pain with cold pale leg (arterial occlusion)
- Pancreatitis — severe upper abdominal pain (very high triglycerides)
Call 911. These are emergencies from advanced atherosclerosis or extremely high triglycerides.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
Six questions clinicians listen for every time.
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Muscle aches in my thighs and calves for 2 weeks, a 5 most days, came on a month after my statin dose went up, worse going up stairs, rest helps, and I haven’t changed exercise or added supplements.”
Questions worth asking — what good questions look like
Four that apply to every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for High Cholesterol (Hyperlipidemia):
- “What’s my LDL target and am I at it?”
- “If I can’t tolerate this statin, what’s next — different statin, ezetimibe, PCSK9, bempedoic acid?”
- “Do my triglycerides need separate treatment?”
- “What’s my coronary calcium score — should I get one?”
- “Are my muscle aches really from the statin — can we test that?”