High Cholesterol

[IcecreamMoon]

I have a family history of heart disease so my GP agreed to check my cholesterol. It’s come back at 6.5 and I’ve been told to make an appointment.
I’m slim, very active and have a healthy diet. At 56 it’s going to be Statins isn’t it? The note on my records also advises I need to repeat the test because my liver function was a bit off.
Im so fed up

Not necessarily IME. I'm 59 and have recently been called in to discuss a total cholesterol score of 6.36. Statins weren't even mentioned. It was a full blood work up and all my other vitals and my BP were fine and no family history of serious heart disease.

We had a nice chat about cutting down on dairy and cakes and upping my exercise regime and that was it.

Ask what your HDL and LDL scores are and the final ratio. If you have a good HDL score, 6.5 ain't that bad. Also ask about your QRisk score (statistical chance of having a cardiac event in the next 10 years).

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Ah sorry I should have read your OP more careful. With the family history it might be a slightly different conversation.

My sympathies to you. It sounds like hereditary high cholesterol. I'm mid-30s with a diet healthier than anyone I know and my cholesterol is 7.2. I haven't been offered statins yet - I think I'll be recommended some time in my 40s. The good news is that I think pretty much all of the negative side effects of statins have been found to probably be just normal aging.

If you're slim and active I'd hold off for statins for now. Do the Qrisk to establish your percentage risk of cardiovascular problems and suggest that you try diet and lifestyle changes first so lots of low fat food, benecol and more physical activity. Then review in 6mths. I got mine down from 6 to 4.5 purely through diet changes.

My cholesterol came in at 4.9 in January but my qrisk score is high so I was called in to discuss statins. I was very reluctant as I already take a shed load of drugs. However I agreed to try the lowest possible dose and I've had no issues with them.

If it’s hereditary then exercise and reducing stress helps (food isn’t a huuuuue component but it’s always good to cut down on animal fats and alcohol, and up your oat consumption).

Saturated fats (animal fats and coconut) should drastically be reduced.

I went on 5mg per day of Rosuvastatin (Crestor) a year ago with no side effects at all. My lipid levels are much better. I was reluctant at first too, but it really hasn't been a problem. 5mg is a very low dose but it worked a treat for me.

Anyone with high cholesterol and healthy lifestyle - worth getting your thyroid function checked and testing for thyroid antibodies. Thyroid uses cholesterol to produce hormones so an under active thyroid can contribute to high cholesterol

Mine was 8.5 and still considered low risk!

Mine is high 6.7 or something like that. No-one has said anything to me. I have looked at the British Heart Foundation website and they have a quite a lot on lowering it. I'm eating a lot more food with beta glucan in.

My cholesterol was 8.5 and I also have an under active thyroid.
We have a family history of heart problems. I'm late 50s and not overweight but my GP has had me on Atorvistatin 40mg for over two years now.

When I first started taking them I felt nauseous for a few weeks and if I eat anything creamy or oily it will cause the nausea to flare up, mostly at night when I'm in bed.

Mine was 8 last year, slim ,very active, i basically stopped all the cheese ,butter, reduced chocolate, cholesterol drink every day,oatcakes for snacks and under 15 grams of saturated fat for 6 months, my triglycerides were 0.8 ,only my bad cholesterol was high. I managed to get it down to 5.8

Thanks so much for the comments.
I can’t realistically improve my diet much, we eat a lot of home grown veg plus plenty of nuts and seeds. I don’t like cheese, cream or fatty meats.
I’ve just used the Q Risk tool and it was 4.2 which is positive.
My GP appointment isn’t for a fortnight, I’ll report back on suggestions.
thanks again

I think if your qrisk is below 10 they don't offer statins at first (mine is 16 partly due to RA). However there is a push to get even healthy over 50s on statins. Not convinced of the benefits as the statistics don't add up. However in my case I felt my risks were already so high I couldn't say no.
My diet is good and not overweight, fairly fit so I couldn't do a great deal.

I've got cholesterol over 10 in my 30s, so does my mum (obviously over 30).
We're both relatively healthy, so hoping it's genetic.

I haven't seen the GP yet, unsure whether to.

I don't think this is right. I recently had my cholesterol come back at 7.2 and although my LDL was low, my HDL was high. They told me that above a certain level, high HDL is damaging and I needed to reduce my overall cholesterol to a healthy level or would need statins.

What about poultry @IcecreamMoon ? Even chicken and eggs have saturated fats.
If you have a predisposition, most animal foods need to be accounted for, from the butter on your toast to the ice-cream (your username) after dinner. Have a look at the portfolio diet which is a cholesterol lowering diet.

Hi, I also have high cholesterol standing at 7.2 and I’m 28. My health anxiety is extremely high because of it. I panic every single day :(

I've had high cholesterol for many years. over 6 with LDL raised and HDL below optimum. It never really went below that. I tried lots of things to reduce it per advice from GP, it would go up and down. Statins were mentioned but I didn't want to take them so on with trying by eating different foods as recommended. It did improve and then would rise again despite eating the same food groups.

Anyway I had atrial fibrillation (which is a cardiac rhythm issue) and had cardiac CT scan as part of the workup for that. It detects plaque deposits in the arteries which can be a result of high cholesterol. To my (and the cardiologist's) surprise I had a calcium score of ZERO which meant I didn't have any plaque in the arteries at all. This was after 15 years + of the readings mentioned above and probably more before I started annual tests. They then said that I would not need another cardiac CT for another ten years or more.

So having a high reading is not always a danger to cardiac health. Just saying.

@couiza my cholesterol is around 10. My lipid specialist sent me for a carotid artery scan. My artery is clean as a whistle and the readings show as lower than my actual age. So similar to you. And I've had it all my life as it's familial.

There are definitely a lot of other factors that affect your ore disposition to heart disease not just cholesterol and statins aren't necessarily the answer. They were meant to be a game changer for heart disase and it's still the biggest killer.

Metabolic health and diabetes risk combined with high cholesterol is where it gets iffy

@Ridingthegravytrain Yes I agree with you about a combination of factors being important markers for potential cardiac disease, the consultant said as much to me.

I just feel that the push towards statins and the fear mongering about high (ish) cholesterol on its own is not always the right approach. But I suppose lowering our cholesterol by dietary means is not a bad things for cholesterol and other reasons!

I don't know what the protocols are, and maybe this happens already, but referral of patients with other co-morbidities along with cholesterol for cardiac CT might be a good thing. So rather than frightening the lives out of people and pushing them towards statins, those at highest risk are screened.

I'm a dietitian with high cholesterol, likely due to genetics and menopause. I do what I can with lots of cholesterol lowering foods, exercise etc.
I've had many patients who have high cholesterol, have been offered statins, but want to try lifestyle changes first.

If it helps, I've written a free downloadable 'cheat sheet' of cholesterol lowering foods with lots of example meals and snacks. All evidence based.
Cholesterol Lowering foods.
You need to enter your email and phone number to download it, apologies, I can't seem to change that. Promise not to spam anyone!

DH saw a dietician when he was diagnosed (very young - definitely genetics) and changing diet (also exercise and relaxation) definitely worked.

The dietician was very much in the side of what you could eat rather than making him feel that he wasn’t allowed anything (she had ‘cake’ on one sheet of allowed foods!).

Plant Sterols (supplement) can help reduce cholesterol, worth a try before statins as relatively cheap and no side effects other than blocking cholesterol absorption.