h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just had a blood test and apparently my cholesterol level is 6.8. The doc said it should be less than five, preferably less than four.

She said we wont start you on medication yet, you should try and change your diet and have another test in three months.

So it seems I'm due a heart attack.

The trouble is from the information she gave me to read, I don't really do any of the "bad" things.

I'm very slightly over weight but not by much. My BMI was 25.6 and apparently it should be 25. I've never smoked and I rarely drink alcohol.

I'll admit most of the food I cook ends up being fried in a wok but I only use a tiny amount of sunflower oil and I always drain off any excess fat that comes out of any meats or whatever.

I don't eat visible fat on meat I always cut it off from chops etc.

I generally have a packet of crisps and a small fun-size choccy bar with my sandwiches for lunch at work but I don't really see that as outside "eating in moderation". I have a banana for breakfast and an apple in the afternoon.

Short of stopping absolutely everything that is "bad" for you I'm not entire sure what I should do. I just don't really eat that much "junk".

Any tips?

Benecol*

RF

* Other cholesterol-reducing yoghurt drinks are available.

The British heart foundation used to have books on eating for a healthy heart...has all that sort of stuff in and recipes. Maybe on the internet. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Since your diet sounds better than most peoples perhaps more exercise is the answer

A woman here at work had a cholesterol level of around 10. She cut back on everything, and I mean everything. She exercised for at least half an hour aerobically every day. Not overweight, non-smoker, very light drinker. After 2 months they checked her again and her cholesterol had dropped by about 0.1. Apparently it's hereditary so they gave her a very low dose of medication and now she's around 5.

So perhaps yours is hereditary?

Do you eat a lot of shellfish? Apparently prawns & the like are extremely high in cholesterol.

If you like crisps try hula hoops multigrain. Very yummy, and the saturated fat is really low.



Deb

She said those cholesterol-reducing products do actually work, not a lot, but they are of some benefit. So I'll switch my margarine to one of those fancy ones.

I don't really do a lot of exercise so that is definately a problem.

I'm not a big fan of fish, and when I do occasionally have it it's usually battered and deep-fried so that doesn't really count........ certainly don't have shell-fish can't stand any of those. I might have to try experimenting with the oily types of fish you're supposed to have and see if I like them.

My grandmother on my mothers side died of a heart attack when she was 55 I think so there might be some hereditary concerns there. But they don't seem to be bothered unless it's immediate family. I think my Mums cholesterol might be slightly high so this is more than likely the main cause of my problem.

I guess the first thing I can do is stop having a packet of crisps everyday. Think I might switch to those rice crackers you can get thai-bites I think I've had before they're dead crunchy and they do nice chilli and BBQ flavours. I think they're supposed to be better for you? I just can't have sandwiches without something crunchy to go with them!

I heard somewhere that stress will bring the cholesterol up. One person I have met was vegetarian, and very skinny, excercised a lot, and ate healtily. But he was also very tense and stressed, and had a cholesteral value through the roof.

try

healthily, even...

From what I've heard /read about cholesterol-reducing products, I don't think that switching your marge is going to help, frankly, unless you're switching from slathering around a quarter pound of lard/dripping/butter on your morning toast, which it doesn't sound like you do anyway.

You need to drink one of those little pots a day, every day, for the rest of your life.

How to do this (especially if you don't like the taste)?

1. Get your cholesterol measured (you've done this fairly recently).
2. Make no lifestyle adjustments other than drinking one of these pots per day.
3. Get you cholesterol measured again.

Try this over one month (your doc probably said "come back in 6 months" but hey! it's the NHS! It's free (at the point of delivery) so demand another test.

If that don't work, it's unlikely that any dietary regime will help. Next step...take the exercise route, and do the same thing: maintain your diet, change one thing.

Sorry if this sounds like lecturing...but I think you're at the same stage as me on a similar programme. I hate exercise (I get enough at work: running people down, leaping to conclusions, it's exhausting, I tell ya! ) so I'm trying (and failing) on the dietary thing. Now, I must embrace yoghurt .

RF

Hi, First of all if your diet and lifestyle is such that there is no real underlying problem there then its possible that the Liver is actually over-producing cholestorol. What you need to know is what part of the cholestorol is highest. There are 2 types, one is seriously bad and thats the LDL, low density liprotein. The only way to reduce that is with use of Statins. Usually a low dose, 10mg, to start with.This is followed up usually every 3 months and if the levels go down then that will be the dose long term. If after 3 mths theres no change or LDL goes up still then a higher dose is used.

I'm on 40mg statins a day as my heart condition is hereditary as is high cholestorl. Out of 5 brothers, 2 of us have heart disease and one has high cholestorol.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A9948199

Some useful info here.

I agree with RF on this, change one thing at a time (perhaps leave it two months, though)

The reason I say this, is because my hubby has MS and takes a veritable concoction of medicines and pills. He has recently been diagnosed as having IBS also, and has been trying to cut down on some of the MS meds at various times to try and combat the excessive bloating (some mornings he can't even put the same jeans one he was wearing the previous day) We've found that he can only really tell a difference (ie is it afecting the symptoms of the MS *or* the IBS?) after around two months. (btw, the probiotoc malarkyness aint working)

My dear Hooloovoo,

8.6 is nothing. Trust me

8.6 is way too high though and will fur up arteries especially if the LDL part is high.

At one stage despite all necessary changes and being on, at the time, 20mg statins my cholestorol went up to 19.2, my repeated the test, he'd never seen a reading that high in 30 years of practicing medicine.

On 40 mg my levels are now below 5 for first time in 8 years.

Thank you,ST, for that information.

Now, I am worried

I don't mean to worry folk obviously but it is essential that cholestorol is at or below the recommended level. It doesn't have to be hereditary, it can affect anyone at anytime even those with relatively ""healthy"" lifestyles.There are no symptoms.Everyone aged 40 and above should have a test done, thats the time when folk are more vulnerable.

Its done so much damage to my arteries a conventional by-pass is out of the question hence the ton of meds I'm on for rest of life.
As I said earlier, 3 out of 5 so far in my immediate family. No idea what the odds are on all 5 of us getting heart disease, pretty high I think, 2 with, one with high cholestorol, 2 younger ones still clear at present.

About ten years ago a blood test showed that my cholersterol was quite high. My doctor thought this was odd so he had me take another test a few days later, which came back normal. He said this sometimes happens, which is why he retested me.

And all cholesterol level results since then (annual check-ups) have always been normal.

Since you have a relatively healthy diet perhaps you should get retested to be sure you actually need to start making lifestyle changes?


az

It was 6.8, not 8.6.

The LDL was 6.8, and the HDL was 1.1 I think. So the bad was too high and the good was too low. My blood pressure was 140/95 which is on the high side, but a couple of weeks back I had a full medical and my BP then was 120/80 which is normal. I'm not sure how much faith I put in any of these tests the results seem to be different everytime it's done.

I will be having another test in three months so we'll see what that comes back like. I really should reduce the fat in my diet and get more exercise anyway, so it can't hurt to try and improve my lifestyle a bit even if it doesn't help my cholesterol.

What about these statins causing kidney failure? The side effects seem to be quite common from what I've read. I've also got to be careful with what medication I take since I'm a private pilot and if the CAA don't like it they'll suspend my license. So I'd really like to stay off any pills if I can help it.

Statins are amongst the safest drugs marketed as far as I'm aware.

Here's a summary of some side effects that are well known. Kidney problems are not even mentioned

http://medicine.ucsd.edu/ses/adverse_effects.htm

I'm with ST and Orcus. I know a couple of people who are predisposed to high cholesterol, and your diet sounds excellent (way better than mine anyway).

Statins are considered so effective that the goverment are seriously considering giving them to all blokes over a certain age.

Statins have no side effects on kidneys. Liver Function Tests can sometimes be affected if on a high dose over a long period of time. In exceptional cases, muscle cramps can occur but in general statins are 99% safe and is usually prescribed as a small dose anyway, 10mg. 20mg is usually given to start in order to get levels reduced fairly quickly and so long as that works then 10mg is the norm. I as usual am the exception to the rule due to the hereditary condition, I was started on the maximum of 80mg now on 40mg and will be probably for rest of my life.


10mg doses can be got without prescription on advice from a pharmacist in the UK. A blood test would still be required and as DB said, the government are considering giving them as standard to over 40's as thats when cholestorol really starts to show itself. There are no symptoms as such, first I knew was when I had angina, too late then sadly so routine blood tests from age 40 is a good thing to have.