Abdabz

Went to the docs to get my blood pressure checked two weeks ago as I was getting rather stressed out at work and decided to be pro-active and get it checked out. That came in at 148/89 and is being monitored for the next few weeks...
Thing is, while there they took some blood out of me for testing... Amongst a plethora of tests was one for cholesterol...
Im 31 5'8 and 13 stone on a medium frame, eat a lot of processed food and smoke occasionally and it seems its catching up with me as the cholesterol level was 6.8...Everything else was fine
I have to go the docs tomorrow for a "chat" about the 6.8 and was wondering if anyone has any cholesterol experiences to share or useful info to get mine lower (except wisecracks about the processed food and the smoking )...
Thanks
P

PIXIEDUST

cholestrol level should be below 4- 4.5 i think may need to lose weight they could suggest starting a statin(lipid lowering drug)also have been told that the brighter the food i.e peppers crannberries have an effect on cholesterol.processed food contains alot of hydroginated fat this is proably the culprit

Spoon

Spitting a lot can increase your cholesterol level and increase your blood pressure.

jay knowles

I dread to think what mine is.JASON

MartinM

I suspect that 'healthy eating' will be on the agenda tomorrow and there's plenty of very good leaflets and handouts available from people like the British Heart Foundation - they'll have them at the docs.

They should tell you about the different types of cholestrols (LDL and HDL) and, for your 6.8, how many of each make up that number. HDL is good, LDL is bad.

You can change your level yourself, via healthy eating, and there's the statin route. The doc will decide whether you would benefit from the statin from the start. Most statins are prescription only, apart from one sold over-the-counter. Can't remember it's marketing name, but its simvastatin. It's quite expensive and self-prescription of it is not recommended for a number of reasons.

Until recently, the docs were suggesting that 5 was the figure to aim for; I think they're now on a bit of a campaign to change that to 4.75.

My cholestrol was 5.5 exactly this time last year - well in about 3 hours time last year to be honest - as tonight is the 1st anniversary of my heart attack and it was measured from blood taken while I was having it. I was also highly stressed, a bit high on the BMI scale, not on a great diet etc etc

I'm now at 2.75, but that's with an elephant sized prescription statin tablet every night..and the healthy eating thing and much less stressed as well.

I'm sure you'll get on fine tomorrow - don't worry about it - but there's probably a few tweaks that will be suggested to get it a bit lower

(...not a registered medical practitioner, not responsible for anything in the above etc etc, but i must admit I'm looking forward to waking up safely tomorrow morning!)

fast bloke

abdabz - quit the junk food and the ****........................ before they quit you

mart360

I had mine done earlier in the year, i think mine was 4.8 , the doc wasnt too concerned, although i got the diet sheet too.

afaik 5.0 was considerd ok last year


Mart

fast bloke

I think under 4.5 is healthy and under 5 they give you a lecture but you will probably live

Abdabz

Damn those cars parked in cycle lanes causing me arteries to clog up

I was told it wasnt that many moons ago that being in the 6's was no bad thing, then they bring the benchmark down to 5 and now theyre trying for 4.75? Blimey!

Well in 2 hours time I'll know my fate... Here's hoping its just dietry as theres something less ominous about that...

P

MartinM

You may be pleased to know (I was!) that I woke up safe and sound this morning - now at least I can say "I had my heart attck over a year ago :thumbsup:"

This morning's news about rosuvastatin is interesting - I'm on a different one, but on an 8x higher than normal dose which is meant to also reduce the atherosclerosis. Here's hoping....

ozzy

It's poor diet, plain and simple (unless your doc can find a medical reasons).

A friend, who has been fell running for the past 25yrs, had high cholesterol and he's one of the fittest guys I know of for his age.

Good luck, but I hope your doc gives you a bo!!ocking

Paul3446

Get referred to a decent dietician for advice, give up ready meals, eat more fruit and veg, and give up the ****.

I can recommend the GI diet.

Good luck.

Leslie

My cholesterol level always used to be around the 6 mark and I was told that was a bit high but never encouraged to do anything about it.

Later I had an angina attack and luckily was diagnosed in need of a bypass operation before I had a heart attack!

Since then I have done as suggested by the Doc and stuck to a low cholesterol diet and been taking statin pills. My Cholesterol level is now at 3.5 as it has been for a long time.

I think more publicity should be given to cholesterol levels and its extreme importance since usually the heart attack hits you between the eyes and you either turn your toes up or are left with a severely damaged heart at best.

Les

Brendan Hughes

I don't want to be a pedant, but...

kend

Worrying about your cholesterol while you smoke, is a bit like lying down in the fast lane of the M1, worrying about being hit by lightning.

idf101

A few years ago mine was 9.2!! i was surprised i made it out of the surgery, after a radical lifestyle change and my GPs "Death Talk" it is down to 5.1.
I took great intrest in this subject and a few things you may wish to consider:
1 It is called raised cholesterol as depending on who you talk to will depend on what is high however you should aim for sub 5.0.
2 Raised cholesterol may be heridarity (mine is) so check if there is family history or if any siblings you have also have this condition,if so there is only so much you can do on a low fat diet before you may need simvastatin drugs.
The over the counter one is called "Zocor" and retails at £12.99 for one months supply but seek GPs advice first!
3 Smoking in itself will not raise cholesterol levels how ever it help to constrict your arterial flow and thus seriously compound the existing problem,without wishing to lecture you really should quit ASAP!
4 Finally exercise will assist in reducing your level as the heart is exercised so the circulation will improve.

Cheers.

Abdabz

Doc showed me all the blood results and suggested that alcohol and diet were the two main causes of my blood perssure / cholesterol levels... The LDL was around the 4 mark... How was I to know those elephant legs in kebab shops werent full of healthy goodness
Anyhoo - The main thrux of his conversation was that I should focus on reducing the booze and eating more colourful foods (reducing intake of the expected red meats, bacon, marg etc)... The smoking will then reduce if not stop as I only really smoke when boozing...
He also said I should continue with the excercise (I cycle ~50miles a week and run ~5miles a week and have just taken up hill walking) which pleased him.
He said he had no further concerns but to opo back in 12 months and they'll see how Im getting on.
He refuted any need at all to even consider medication at this stage.
So in short Im going to try and drop from 50 units to 30 units a week in the first instance and stop all fast and processed food and see how we go...
I wanna be in my 20's again... I cant poison my hunky masculine figure any more... Poodom!

ozzy

Just bare in mind that exercise doesn't mean you can eat any old sh!te. As I said, my friend was super-fit (he runs 7-days a week and does hill running Marathons) but all the cheese in his diet made him a heart-attack waiting to happen.

The exercise will help you cope and probably explains why you haven't kealed over

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I got a letter from the docs to go for a check up, BP etc, was already cleaning up my act and I am off for a couple of weeks in two weeks so I will go then, my cholesterol was ok last time but the BP a bit on the high side, they put me on a monitor (24 hours) and it was normal most of the time apart from when the kids came home.

I had a minor nose op last year and my BP at the pre op was very high, the nurse got me to calm down a bit and it was still on the high side but every time the nurse took it when I was in hospital, i.e. wandered over with the machine whilst I had my head in a magazine and just put it on it was on the low side ?????? several times it was like 120/70 but the minute I know anything is happening I get an adrenalin rush, I reckon its because I am a lazy get with a bit of excess podge, I get het up because I know I am going to get told that I am so.

So have decided the belly must go, sick of it, so healthy food only, wouldnt mind if I had been caning it before, sat still all day is the problem.

So I dont want the 'you will die' chat with the doc, so I will sort it out before I go or at least have made improvements.

It does amaze me how many huge, sweating, kebab munching, heavy drinking smokers there are out there, they must get a right bollocking or just not go.

Bit worried about a mate at work, he is out boozing, ten pints plus a few nights a week, he binges at home and troughs all sorts of kak, he looks well rough most mornings, trouble is you cant tell a 27 year old, they know best !

PG

9.7 here and a bit too complacent about it too.
I dont smoke or drink, have a fairly active lifestyle and my diet is OK too (the wife is a vegie so I don't have much choice )
I have been a bit laxed with the taking of my statins but I have started taking it seriously with the use of those expensive drinks and spreads and I will need to visit the Dr. and get back on track with the statins.
My old man got his down from 13 to 5 with a lifestyle change.
Of all the things I had to take after him

Leslie

I thought you could do better than that Brendan.

Les

little-ginge

Asked for mine to be checked a few weeks back as our family has a history of heart problems.

I'm not overweight (well in my eyes I am but not for my size etc ) and although I admit to not eating my 5 daily portions of fruit and veg, I'm not exactly what you'd call a junk food eater, so I thought it would be fine.

My result was 6.4. The Dr gave me a list of foods, which should be avoided, eaten in modertion, or eaten regularly. I dont eat hardly anything on the avoidance list etc, but she did say it is not always down to over eating crap etc, and as above can be hereditary.

If you eat fried foods, make sure you use olive or rape seed oil - there is a rape seed oil from Waitrose, Goldenfields RapeSeed oil, which has the lowest saturates