High Cholesterol??

[katymac]

I had my cholesterol checked last week and I had a message saying Dr wants to see you.

I've made an appointment to see him - but I'm a bit concerned as it's 7.0 (and I understand that is high)

I have a relatively good diet but with the bits I could change (like butter etc) all the low cholesteriol stuff is packed with additives (which we are trying to reduce)

What else can I do?

I read somewhere that pomegranate juice is good. Will see if I can find the article.

This is about the health benefits of pomegranates. Doesn't really mention juice, but it is the easiest way of getting a daily dose. Bit fiddly to eat the fresh fruit all the time

Hmm - I'll have to try it...not very good with fruit juices (IBS)

Will ask my uncle for you - he is on a cholestrol reducing diet. Might be a couple of days before I speak to him though.

Cut out saturated fat, which will mean your beloved butter has to go!

Doctor will also be likely to check other 'risk factors' such as excersise, stress, drinking, smoking and family health.

It will have to go completely as the IBS doesn't allow any other spreads

Don't Smoke, Am fairly stress free as I changed my life 2.5 yrs ago

...and the drinking, excersise and family health?

Sorry don't drink at all (maybe one or two at christmas) - push a double buggy to & from school (3/4 mile) 5 times out of 10 trips and walk maybe 3 of the others (so some exercise)

DD is a problem...but we cope

Bump - for clever evening Mumsnetter advise.......help?

bump

There has been conflicting advice on this but some foods that are high in cholesterol that you may not be aware of are avocado, prawns and coconut.

When your appointment with GP?

At 4.20

I'm safe as I don't eat any of those

katymac, more often than not it runs in families (my dad has very high cholesterol). After discussing lifestyle issues, if there is nothing that is obvious (like smoking or obesity) you can be given drugs to lower your cholesterol. They will probably ask you about your family history - do you have high blood pressure or does that run in your family? I think normally the doc will assess your family's coronary risk factors and then decide what to do.

My BP has always been (up unitl now) scarily low - when pg they were going to hospitalise me 'cos it dopped so low - but that threat put it up repidly

OK so GP was a waste of time
Cut out animal fats....I rarely eat them...so cut them down.....maybe once a month....yes aim for that....no that's what I do already

So I'm to see the nurse (don't be silly you don't need to see a dietician - it's not that back)

Keep a diary for a week - I'm a Childminde and provide my mindees with a menu (which we stick too).....Yes but what do you eat...same as mindees

pointless

how useless! I also found GPs very unwilling to take cholesterol seriously here. My dad has hypercholesterolaemia (fancy word for high cholesterol!) which he inherited from his mum and dad. His level was in double figures for years and both his mum and dad died of heart problems. When I was living abroad, they insisted on doing a cholesterol test once a year because apparently my dad's level was always moderately high and then it just shot up (but we also had to pay for medical insurance there so I guess they were also covering their backside!).

Here I went to the GP (having not had a test done for years) and they really didn't want to pay for me to have one done. When I finally convinced them I should have one, they didn't give me the results (I wanted to know the level as a comparison to my other tests) only that they weren't overly concerned at the results!

I would speak to the nurse - it really doesn't sound like your diet and it might be worth asking them to monitor you a bit more closely. Do you have any heart or coronary problems in the family? I think if you don't, they don't worry about cholesterol as much as if you did.

Here's the netdoctor blurb (I always find their stuff quite useful). The British Heart Foundation should also have quite a lot on cholesterol if you google them.

I phoned DH's health insurance people - who went through my diet with me. She (a nurse) thought my diet was excellent and that I had lost all that weight was great. She said if all cholesterol people ate like me - it could save lives and that mine was likely to be caused by genetics

Cholesterol the fatty substance is carried in the body by proteins. When the two, that is, cholesterol and proteins they form lipoproteins. These are of 2 types - Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and High-density lipoprotein (HDL).
The low density lipoproteins are also known as bad type of cholesterol as they carry cholesterol from the liver to the cells which need it.
The high density lipoproteins are also known as good type of cholesterol as they carry the cholesterol away from the body to the liver where it is broken down.
When the level of bad cholesterol increases in the blood it leads to the build up of the fatty material on the arterial walls. It is best to maintain a cholesterol level under 4mmol/l. This level should be maintained if there is a risk of getting circulatory or heart disease. Along with this the LDL levels should also be below 2mmol/l and HDL above 1mmol/l.

OP, I know you've posted about other health issues, but I can't remember whether you have an underactive thyroid, which is one of the most common causes of high cholesterol in women.

Also, check out Malcolm Kendrick's book, the Great Cholesterol Con before making any decisions about treatment.