High cholesterol

[bendmeoverbackwards]

Had a horrible shock. I had some blood tests recently and my cholesterol is very high - 8.7. Last time it was tested was about 9 years ago and it was slightly raised, I know I should have go it tested again before now but for one reason or another I didn’t (plus I’m needle phobic).

I am 53 and menopausal. My weight is within normal limits but I’d ideally like to lose a bit (5’3” and just under 10 stone).

Im due to see the GP soon for a follow up. In the meantime I need to look at my diet which isn’t great. I generally cook healthy dinners in the evening but I know I have too much fat, chocolate etc.

Any advice and can I turn this around by diet alone?

I got my results today and it was 7.5.

I'm menopausal with an underactive thyroid (which raises cholesterol levels).

I can't really manage to bring it down without statins but the trouble is they give me bad muscle weakness and heart palpitations.

I've ordered some Benecol drinks and yoghurts to see if they'll help.

Eat porridge every morning. Oats help bring down cholesterol. Good luck.

I take a medication that raises cholesterol.

I have two self experiments that I can share.

It was borderline and I did the Fast800 diet - this bought it down a bit overall. I then increased my overall physical exercise levels while eating healthy with a bit of intermittent fasting. Bought it down a lot more

I think it's the combination of 3-6 months regular physical exercise plus healthy eating that had the best effect.

I then stopped exercising and have generally had quite a bad diet BUT I also swapped out bad fats for more healthy fats.

What this looks like is:

Eating fat free plain Greek yoghurt but with added nuts for healthy fats

Having around 0.5 - 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil with meals

Cutting out cheese - I have it sometimes and my max portion size is 15g (sad face as I love cheese)

Cutting out butter, full stop. If I have bread, I drizzle with the olive oil and Balsamic vinegar, or smash 15g of avocado into it

What this meant is that while I was eating not brilliantly and have gained, ahem, two stone, my cholesterol only went up again by a LITTLE, but my ratio of good to bad cholesterol has improved. I now have more good than bad cholesterol, whereas before it was not a good ratio. The ratio is important - do you know your ratio?

However I have heard that for some people it's hereditary and harder to change.

Mine was also over 8. I was told it wouldn't be possible to get to 2.5 by diet alone (needs to be under 2.5 due to high level of sticky protein in my blood). 40 mgs of statin for a year and still not down to recommended level. I already exercise a lot. I'm REALLY trying with dietry changes now, as they want to add another drug. I don't have FH/obesity/high BP, but the sticky protein apparently puts me at high risk of CV event. Hope you get sorted OP.

My GP told me that it’s very difficult to reduce cholesterol with diet.

Sadly I think we have to accept that while it's possible to bring cholesterol down a bit with diet, weight loss and exercise, this is more likely to work if you have a markedly unhealthy baseline than if you are just a bit overweight/averagely naughty etc. Statins, on the other hand, are very very likely to bring it down by themselves.

What you do need to think about is what your individual risk is. You can do https://qrisk.org and see how much your risk would reduce if your cholesterol/HDL ratio came down. Balance that against how you feel about being on statins.

I am on statins; I have had absolutely no side effects; they have reduced my Qrisk from 6.9% to 5.5% which is from low for my age to slightly lower. Not everyone would make the same choice.

My husband managed to get his down from 9 to 5 ish ( with a good ratio of more good than bad). no cheese or butter, no chocolate or fatty meat. Oats and a benecol type yoghurt everyday, plenty of olive oil. He actually had lots of healthy food in his diet but was too fond of unhealthy snacks.
I bake with olive oil now, even pastry!
Id like him to go on statins so that we can be a bit more relaxed diet wise, especially occasional eating out or holidays (and as the family cook I'd like a more varied menu)but he's a side effect worrier and is proud of his diet discipline.

Thank you all. I’m due to see my GP so will discuss. Is it worth asking to see a dietitian or nutritionist?

I don’t like porridge! Would an oaty granola do the trick?

Im going to miss butter and chocolate very much ☹️

Try the 'forks over knives' documentary and looking up 'the china study'. It's got my cholesterol from 6.5 to 3 in six months. It's not a diet for everyone as it takes a lot of will power but helped reset and I stuck to some of the eating patterns afterwards but not as strict. Just saw it as a long detox.

Maybe but a low sugar one.

I have overnight oats, cba with hot porridge.

I would take that to mean that it's a difficult lifestyle to stick to if you have a lifetime of bad habits - same with weight loss - so not everyone can manage to sustain it.

OP I would definitely talk to a nutritionist regardless of your eventual decision about medication. High cholesterol is a symptom - which you can treat with medication - but addressing the actual cause (your diet and lifestyle) is going to give you better health overall and hopefully stop other symptoms manifesting themselves as you get older.

I'm the same age as you and we have some tough decisions to make at this stage in life. I decided to really prioritise my health and wellbeing, and can't recommend the lifestyle enough. I know it must feel like you'd be depriving yourself of the things you enjoy, but I promise there's a lot more enjoyment to be had from life when you're healthy, slim, fit and just full of beans, literally and metaphorically!

My cholesterol level was 6:3 a year ago, I brought the Tesco own brand Cholesterol drinks and when I had my Cholesterol test done as part of my yearly review it had come down to 5:3 normal range is between 3:6 - 5 apparently the normal range for cholesterol was changed that’s why nearly everyone I know who have had a Cholesterol test is over the normal range, but the drinks I think help

DH had a similar reading and managed some improvement with diet. He started statins and it dropped to 3.7 within months.

Personally I think statins are pretty amazing, he hasn’t experienced any side effects at all.

DH had high cholesterol. We stuck to less that 200 mg per day. Though he had a generally healthy diet there were some things he needed to change. Benecol butter for all baking, no sausages. Chips only from airffryer. Low fat biscuits. He is one of those annoying people who can eat loads without gaining weight. At his six months check it was much lower didn’t need statins.

I’ve been through similar, though mine was over 9.0, which where I live flags up a referral to endocrinology. I had a healthy lifestyle and was within normal weight range, though at the upper end.
Lifestyle changes helped a little, but nowhere near enough, so I’m now on medication long term. Turns out that I do have an inherited condition, so you might want to get checked out, though as I mentioned the point for referral here is 9.0 or above.
Good luck- it’s a shock I know, but the good thing is that it can be sorted.

Your GP will ask you about your family history as well as diet, when my bloods revealed high cholesterol I told her that my Dad had to have a triple heart bypass at age 75 and my my Mum died of a stroke at 75, so really even if I could have reduced my levels with diet, she strongly advised me to take statins which I have now been on for over 15 years, dosage has been the same throughout, just 10mg.

My father died of heart disease aged 56 BUT this was in 1976 and he was a heavy smoker. So this doesn’t count as family history does it?

That's the thing with family history, a Dr will err on the safe side if your parents have suffered from similar but there's no guarantee you have any sort of hereditary condition. It's just as likely that you all have contributing diet and lifestyle factors, since they raised you that way.