Cholesterol question

SuperHero

SuperHero

500+ Posts
Got the results from my physical back. For the most part I'm healthy. Good blood pressure and misc. other mineral levels. Thyroid, kidney and liver all working normally. Only problem is cholesterol:

My LDL (good cholesterol) is 41, which is borderline bad (at 40). Ideally is should be over 60.
My HDL (bad cholesterol) is 153, which is bad. Ideally it should be less than 130.

So I can eat oatmeal and Cheerios, cut out saturated fat etc. to cut down on the HDL. But what do you do to increase LDL? Any help is appreciated.
 
eat fish
almonds
flax oil
flax seed
switch to nonfat dairy
fiber, fiber, and more fiber


but you have your cholesterols labeled incorrectly...
hdl = good
ldl = bad
 
Lose weight, exercise, quit smoking. When i really started exercising, mine jumped frmo around 60+ to 76.
 
I ate like crap and didn't exercise the last semester. Was planning on cooking again (I rarely cook red meat and/or use much saturated fat) and exercising. But I'm stuck on the road for work - bad food, and the hotel we're at doesn't have a gym. The neighborhood is shady and not the safest place to go jogging either. **** .
mad.gif
 
My HDL has always hovered around 40. I started taking lovastatin last summer due to very high cholesterol. To increase my HDL, my doctor instructed me to start taking fish oil capsules, so I take one at night with the lovastatin. No readings since February though, but I would guess my HDL level has increased.
 
I also do the fish oil, garlic and a baby aspirin. I'm a little concerned about taking both the garlic and aspirin, since both thin the blood?
 
Believe it or not but Benecol butter will reduce cholesterol. I went from 254 to 211 when I started using it. Then improved diet and exercise lowered it to 167. Then Crestor medicine lowered it to 116 which is where I am now.
 
You should check out the ATP III guidelines for the treatment of cholesterol. The full ATP report is availabe at that directory as well and has good information about risk, drugs diet, etc. Depending upon you risk factors you might not be in that bad of shape...or depending on risk factors or CHD equivalents your target LDL might be different than 130.

Zocor and the statins are good drugs for lowering LDL (bad cholest), but aren't extremely effecitve for increasing HDL (good cholesterol). Niacin or a fibric acid are generally the most effective drug options for increasing HDL. Niacin can be found OTC, but you should talk to your physician first as it has its own problems depending on formulation, ie flushing with immediate release forms...possible liver problems with extended release formulation. Fish oils are suppose to be good for decreasing triglycerides, effects on HDL and LDL are inconsistent. The best "natural" intervention to decrease LDL might be just to increase your fiber intake with a fiber supplement to about 10-25g soluble fiber per day. In addition to decreasing LDL, you will have some real satisfying shits. Probable won't increase the HDL though.
 
Pfizer has a new drug in the system to raise good cholesterol. It will be a huge blockbuster, probably pushing #2 in their pipeline behind Lipitor.
 
Zocor has taken my LDL down from 190 to 97.

Omega3 capsules (fish oil) really does seem to work to raise HDL. Two capsules a day raised my HDL from 33 to 43 over the past year.
 
This is going to sound bad, but I'm so glad there are other people out there who have as high cholestrol as I do. I thought I was abnormally unhealthy. But I can't take the drugs yet.....I'm planning on having children in the next few years.
 
A glass of red wine gave my HDL a good boost.

Still trying to find out what to do about my high LDL. I run 20 miles a week and eat pretty healthy, though not a radical health nut.
 
My dr told me that some peoples livers over produce ldl's. This was most of my problem as with my mother. I was kinda scared to take a statin drug because of the side effects. I did a little research and found out that these drugs just got bad press for one reaseon or another. I have been taken Vytorin for about 8 months now and i really feel better. My dr also told me that high ldl's can cause problem with your pancreas. I still have not figured out why that eskimos ldl's are through the roof and yet have no heart related problems? Vytorin works 2 ways and has really helped my over all health.
 
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