raised cholestoral

dubbo

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice. i have an underactive thyroid, and have slightly raised cholestoral (it's 5.2). This is worrying me as I have a strong family history of heart disease and I'm only 26... I already eat quite well, dont eat gluten (IBS) or drink alcohol more than once a month. I have quite a stressful life at the minute working several jobs, so I'm just trying to figure out how to improve diet and lifestyle a bit.

Any advice much appreciated,

Thanks for reading!!

dubbo

To be more specific,I eat eggs every day and I'm wondering should I cut down,and I don't like the idea of the special yogurts and spreads coz they look full of sugar and additives to me,are there natural alternatives? Thanks!

Chancer3001

v.similar thread in "diet and nutrition"

Chancer3001

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056717491

dubbo

I can't find anything about whether I should be taking those special yogurts that seem full of processed crap,does anyone know if there are natural alternatives? Thanks

thesimpsons

I wouldn't bother too much with them to be honest but I would try get out of stress situations if possible, I know easier said that done, but stress doesn't help you in any shape or form. In the last year I've come to fully understand that good old plain ordinary advice of healthy eating with a good heart thumping dose of exercise 4/6 times a week will do wonders for virtually everyone. Its so easy to make excuses to ourselves on both the diet and exercise side of life. I have managed to bring my cholesterol down from over 7 to under 5 without having to starve or deny myself a treat here and there.
I don't know what foods you can eat with IBS but whole grains like oats and barley are full of soluble fibre which help lower cholesterol.

dubbo

thesimpsons wrote: »

I wouldn't bother too much with them to be honest but I would try get out of stress situations if possible, I know easier said that done, but stress doesn't help you in any shape or form. In the last year I've come to fully understand that good old plain ordinary advice of healthy eating with a good heart thumping dose of exercise 4/6 times a week will do wonders for virtually everyone. Its so easy to make excuses to ourselves on both the diet and exercise side of life. I have managed to bring my cholesterol down from over 7 to under 5 without having to starve or deny myself a treat here and there.
I don't know what foods you can eat with IBS but whole grains like oats and barley are full of soluble fibre which help lower cholesterol.

Thanks that's really helpful,I think you're right,proper food and more working out think I may take up yoga too, stuck in the stressful jobs for the next while.

Great to hear your success story,thanks again

[-0-]

Don't eat eggs every day. Go to the doctor and get put on a statin to lower cholesterol.

dubbo

[Quote=[-0-];80131007]Don't eat eggs every day. Go to the doctor and get put on a statin to lower cholesterol.[/Quote]
I asked the doctor about statins but he said lifestyle changes should do it? Definitely cutting down on eggs,even though I love them!

[-0-]

The family history would worry me.... it's why I'm on a statin. I have high cholesterol and a family history of heart issues. Each to their own I guess, but if you're worried I would take one.

dubbo

[Quote=[-0-];80132004]The family history would worry me.... it's why I'm on a statin. I have high cholesterol and a family history of heart issues. Each to their own I guess, but if you're worried I would take one.[/Quote]

Thanks for that,I think ill ring the doctor and see what the story is. It's a bit scary!

thesimpsons

if you do go for the prescription statins, don't also take the yoghurt type drinks and spreads containing statins as there is a limit, which is quite low, of the amount of statins you should take daily. however, I'd stay clear of prescription ones if at all possible, why not try lifestyle changes for 3 months and see what happens. Going down the prescription route, its very hard to ever come off it and you still have the problems of questionable diet and activity levels combined with stress. Whereas lifestyle changes benefits the body and mind as a whole. Doctor was sure I'd never make the changes but hey, its good to prove people wrong sometimes.

professore

5.2 is only barely over. small diet and exercise changes will sort it out.

siochain

generally its not cholestoral that causes the problem, what casues the problem is when cholestoral does its job to fix issues caused by inflamation, this inflamation can be caused by stress and our diet. Gains cause a lot of inflamation so i wouldn't use them to try an keep your fiber intake up.

What worked for me reduce fat (visceral), remove all grains from diet, no sugar in any of its forms, no processed foods, keep fibre intake up (apple pectin and phylum husk), good sources of fats. Some days this won't all be possible but shoot for 90% of time.

Side effect to all this energy and recovery levels are through the roof, feel fitter than ever.

dubbo

Great advice thanks so much,the thought of more tablets was scaring me to be honest,I think I'll try the diet route for a few months first, living at home so not always fully in control of the dinners so I'll try and take charge. THanks for taking the time to post,great you're feeling better:)

davmol

I would nto go NEAR drugs to help me lower a Cholesterol at 5.2.If you have a family history your cholesterol would be alot higher than 5.2 and theres not much you could do about it,besides, take statins to lower your cholesterol.Just cos its in your family doesnt necessarily mean you will have high Cholestero.

As mentioned-reduce stress,improve your diet.
5.2 is not a bad rate tohave considering you are working a few jobs and havent totally sorted your diet out.At that measurement it doesnt seem you haev hereditary high cholesterol but id monitor in anyhow.

dubbo

davmol wrote: »

I would nto go NEAR drugs to help me lower a Cholesterol at 5.2.If you have a family history your cholesterol would be alot higher than 5.2 and theres not much you could do about it,besides, take statins to lower your cholesterol.Just cos its in your family doesnt necessarily mean you will have high Cholestero.

As mentioned-reduce stress,improve your diet.
5.2 is not a bad rate tohave considering you are working a few jobs and havent totally sorted your diet out.At that measurement it doesnt seem you haev hereditary high cholesterol but id monitor in anyhow.

The doctor said the fact that I have an underactive thyroid is what is causing cholesterol, and there is a lot of high cholesterol and heart disease in the family...the fact that I'm only 26 is also worrying in case in keeps getting worse! Making improvements on the diet since Sunday so fingers crossed.

MBateson

http://cvrisk.mvm.ed.ac.uk/calculator/calc.asp

My doctor uses the above site to check risk of heart disease when I went to him.

My last test was 5.2 as well but he said he wouldn't consider drugs unless it was much higher as I don't have other high risk indicators for heart disease (obesity, smoking etc.)

dubbo

I'll check out that calculator thanks just to mention as well I'm not overweight (5foot3 and 9 stone)don't smoke...so yeah I guess stress is the main problem,which is a wake up call. Thanks to everyone who replied so far its much appreciated.

sonnyblack

I'm a 47 year old man and have been told that my cholesterol level is 6 my other level (don't know the unit is 4.3) Is this very high? My doctor wants to put me on a low dose of Lipitor but I've heard that once you start you're on it for life and it has side effects. I'd prefer to try to sort this with lifestyle changes Any thoughts anyone?

Brian?

sonnyblack wrote: »

I'm a 47 year old man and have been told that my cholesterol level is 6 my other level (don't know the unit is 4.3) Is this very high? My doctor wants to put me on a low dose of Lipitor but I've heard that once you start you're on it for life and it has side effects. I'd prefer to try to sort this with lifestyle
changes Any thoughts anyone?

mod note: Sorry but the only advice anyone can give is to follow your doctors advice