Why is my cholesterol so high?

[Nc4post99]

I’m 33 161cm and 57kg, size 8 (if that matters) wfh but get out and about on the weekend And try to take lunch time walks.

tidying up today some papers and found some blood results of a fbc I had when I was feeling super run down (told all ok) and just saw my cholesterol was 6.5, I googled it and that’s apparently‘extremely high’. Before the dcs it was 5.7 and my then GP went through my diet with me and I was 54kg then and moderately active and said it most likely is a genetic thing. But since then it’s gone up.

the dr never mentioned anything to me this time, but it was the receptionist who gave me my results, I asked for them printed for a private referral. The GPs now have all been struck off (made the news and radio) but is this something I need to worry about? I don’t really know a lot about cholesterol.

might have a takeaway every other week maybe less, that included McDonald’s, I wouldn’t say I overeat them, one medium meal. I have butter on my toast in the morning (a normal amount, it’s not swimming in it). I do add butter to mash but again like a table spoon between 4 people and a big handful of cheese, but then I don’t eat a lot of it, maybe a heaped tablespoon or two. None of my food is greasy and I eat small portions of meat. Rarely have yoghurt (maybe a bowl once a month probably less- it would be full fat Greek for the kids) I have 2 cups of instant coffee a day with a splash of semi skimmed milk.

why is it so high and do I need to be worried?

Oh and I don’t drink alcohol and I don’t smoke

Some people are more prone to raised cholesterol than others. It can be hereditary and/or genetic. It could be for you that even small amounts of fats in foods have an impact. Alcohol consumption can also be a factor.
Some people go on statin medication at that levelsome don't-some bring it down via diet.

It could be genetic - familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH).

Do you have a new GP yet?

Also, think about your family - is there a history of strokes and heart attacks? Sounds morbid, I know, but discussing my family's history with the GP was what got me a test and then statins.

i don’t drink at all

i don’t get it because surely if I was consuming too much fat (and calories) I’d be overweight?

Ask to be tested for Familial hypercholesterolemia.
It's a genetic disorder. In most cases statins can help the cholesterol levels.

We just have locums. Should I call and say I want to discuss?

my maternal GF had angina and died of a heart attack but he was very very overweight and had a big hard belly (looking back clealry a lot of visceral fat) but he’s the only one

My mum was tested first at 50 and then we were all tested and offered statins. Loads of heart problems on her side of the family.

You want to know your ratios, OP, triglycerides, LDL, HDL, etc.
DH has crazy high cholesterol, like 7.5, but he's actually super healthy because his ratios are all terrific. You can google more info. We think his results are because of endurance training, not genetic.

I suspect Boots has some kind of home test that will give you the LDL, HDL, TG etc.

So my results just say serum cholesterol 6.4 (not 6.5 as I said in my op, sorry my mistake)
and HDL cholesterol 1.5 and my triglycerides were 0.8

^ but I don’t know what any of those things mean

I'm not medical, and what I'm about to say is my own fear based on my own experience and may not be correct medically or relevant to you. Now, that said, mine jumped up from 5.5 to 7.3 over the space of about 6 to 8 months. I'm now waiting to have my gallbladder removed because it's faulty. The gallbladder and fat are linked, gallstones are made up of cholesterol, if i understood my surgeon friend correctly. So I'm drawing a link between my gallbladder starting to fail and my increase in cholesterol. But i could be wrong.

You can be average weight and still have high cholesterol if the cause is genetic.

Your total cholesterol to hdl ratio is fine because your hdl level is also quite high, and according to at least some info that's what matters, more than the actual numbers. I keep meaning to look into it more though as I'm in the same position.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-cholesterol/cholesterol-levels/

My cholesterol started rising a few years ago (I’m 48) and I’ve been told it’s genetic. My Dad (85) and my Auntie (78) also have high cholesterol and were put on statins in their 70’s. No idea about other relatives.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much, OP, it’s a manageable condition nowadays- my Dad’s still going at 85!

Eat berries and olives to lower

With my last test results I was referred by the dr to this site - which despite my high cholesterol actually gives me a lower overall risk than predicted just by age sex and ethnicity...
https://qrisk.org/index.php

I don’t quite get this, is it not still high as the total cholesterol is above 6?

Oh and if it matters I have very normal if not slightly low blood pressure

I have high cholesterol too OP. 3 out of my 4 sisters have it too. It's genetic for us. We've all been given stations.

I’m really iffy I want to go on meds for it, at least now, I’m still breastfeeding my youngest and would like to maybe have another child in the not so distance future (post CoL)

Yes, you have high total cholesterol - the question is whether that matters for health. You'll see that the qrisk algorithm I linked above, which is very reputable, doesn't even ask about total cholesterol - it only cares about the ratio of total cholesterol to hdl (in your case 6.4/1.5 = 4.3 which is a fine ratio).

What I don't know is why there even is a standard for total cholesterol if it's the ratio that matters! I expect it's complicated... But you may have heard about "bad cholesterol" (ldl) vs "good cholesterol" (hdl)? Roughly what's going on is that having plenty of good cholesterol cancels out the effect of having extra bad cholesterol. I think. At least in the qrisk predictor of stroke and heart attack risk it does!

I didn’t understand the ratio low… I was there subtracting 1.5 from 6.4

but that makes sense thank you!

what are triglycerides?

Uh, some other kind of fatty molecule it's possible to have too much of in the blood - main constituent of body fat, iirr - but your level at 0.8 is fine.

I think...
Cholesterol is just fat in your blood, and there are different types of the fat in the blood. Triglycerides (TG) are a part of the cholesterol, as well as I understand it.

We need some fat in our blood to function at all, and having more of the 'good' fats than bad ones that means you can have high cholesterol but not have a high heart disease risk. TG are not one of the good types of cholesterol, though.

There's a theory that one of the good fats actually binds to the bad fat(s) & keeps the bad fat from clogging your blood vessels.

DH has high cholesterol total but also a (?) 4 to 1 ratio of good to bads. So tonnes of the 'good'.

We have FM in my family and I’ve been on statins since I was 30. Diet makes no difference at all to my cholesterol levels. I’d definitely get tested.