Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I donated blood two weeks ago and do it every two months. They do a cholesterol screening for you where they send you your total cholesterol level( which is nice of them). Last fall I did the complete bloodwork testing and my cholesterol was a not bad 194. The bad cholesterol was a few points over where they wanted it, the good cholesterol was a point over where they wanted it and the doctor said my triglycerides/ lipids were really good. Considering my diet, I was pleasantly surprised but I don't do excess fast food, either.
A month later I donated blood and my total cholesterol was 195. No change. Then in January it went up to 213. I figured it was the holidays and made it a point to cut back on rich foods. In April it was 209, heading in the right direction. I asked the doctor if it might read higher if you don't fast and she said not to really worry. Lose some weight and it will go down. I had lost several pounds.
So today I got my cholesterol results back and it was a 167! I'm thinking they made a mistake because I didn't change my diet drastically. I did lose another few pounds, that being more of an effort to lower my blood pressure which has gone down enough to have my medication lowered.
So is that good or bad or a mistake? I take a regimen of COQ10 daily, along with garlic and salmon oil and have since late last summer. I also started taking a lisinopril mix in with my hydrocholothiazide back since early in the year for my BP. A 40 point drop withought any major changes to diet seems too good to be true. Any thoughts?
Anything under 200 is good. And yes what you eat will cause a variation in your cholesterol count. Mine runs on the average 170-195 and I take a statin (lipitor 40mg) to help control it along with watching what I eat. And what you eat within 72 hours of a cholesterol test will effect your test results, especially the last 24 hours.
Nitrum has it about right. I have heard the only time you need to worry about it being too low is would be if it was a lot lower than it is and then someone would be suggesting more tesing for you. As long as it is below 200 and the good and bad on within a decent range I doubt you have anything to worry about. Exercise can affect your overall reading as well as diet.
Okay, thanks. I didn't fast since I worked right before I donated blood . I thought maybe there was a particular illness that might cause a sudden drop in cholesterol. If I think back I was eating some more oatmeal for breakfast but that would have been a big drop for just a few bowls of oatmeal.
Okay I donated blood again a few weeks ago and this time my cholesterol was 146. I eat meat, cheese, butter, a few eggs. Should it be this low? They accepted the blood and didn't mention anything about liver enzymes so I guess my liver is okay.
I was under some elevated stress at work and pretty sleep deprived from a very hectic schedule.
I'm due to go to the doctors in a month for bloodwork and I'll mention it then. I just read about possible negative side effects from your cholesterol being too low and am a little worried. I also read that you're considered heart attack immune if your cholesterol is below 150. I think that's a crock but it would be interesting. Any truth to that?
I'm going to take some extra B vitamins and was thinking about vitamin D as well. Any harm in that or is it unnecessary or a good idea?
My husband has had a carotid artery issue - increased partial blockage. His overall cholesteral was 165 (the LDL was high though) - yet he was still experiencing increased blockage of his carotid artery. He is also diabetic - not on insulin but his meds have increased over the last few years. He exercises daily - weights, cardio but was eating lots of meat and dairy. He also needed to lose 20 lbs which we both felt was totally doable.
His MD told him to modify his diet and that if he did so, he could probably at some point stop taking his diabetes meds. His cardiologist told him quite plainly "stop eating meat."
So we decided to stop eating all animal products - anything that had cholesterol, we stopped eating it. We don't eat oil. So this is a huge change for us. I have bought cookbooks and experimented and I am getting the hang of cooking vegan.
My husband's doctor also told him to start taking red rice yeast for his cholesterol - she had seen some studies that showed that red rice yeast great reduced LDL cholesterol. We buy it at Costco.
Hubs just got his latest bloodwork back the other day and the results are amazing. His overall cholesterol is 108 - that's right 108. His LDL and HDL are right where the doctor wants them - she said his cholesterol readings couldn't be better. He is even testing in the "pre-diabetic" range rather than diabetic. His doctor told him the other day that she is going to retest his blood in 30 days and that she may take him completely off one of his meds if he has continued to show improvement. He has lost 15 lbs and looks great - his little belly is almost gone.
I know that for some what we have done with our diet is extreme. We are vegan only because of health issues. I love my husband and want him to be healthy, feel good and live a long time and I could see the direction that his heart/arterty health was going...also the slight yearly increase of meds for his diabetes also bothered me (and him).
My commitment to my husband and his health means that we eat most of our meals at home (athough we have found some great vegan restaurants where we eat occasionally). I spend more time in the kitchen and at the farmer's market and store in order to prepare healthy, tasty vegan meals. I've bought 4 cookbooks and will probably buy more. All this extra work is totally worth it. It was very gratifying to see the lab work readings the other day showing the very dramatic results of discontinuing eating animal products (also the red rice yeast may have been a factor as well).
So the statement that anything under 200 is an acceptable cholesterol reading is not always true. It certainly is not alright with our doctor. Many people would love to have cholesterol of 165 which is what my husband's cholesterol was - yet each year he still had increased blockage of his carotid artery and increased diabetes meds.
If you are having higher cholesterol and higher LDL levels, don't wait for a bypass to change a few things. Modify your eating habits - even if you don't become a vegan - try eating less animal products (especially things like sausage, cheese, red meat, bacon). If you have to eat animal products, do eat leaner animal products and smaller portions of animal products (4 ounces per meal for women, 6 ounces for men), and eat more vegetables (we are currently eating 10 to 12 servings of veggies a day and 2 servings of fruit). Exercise is also a very important factor in lowering your cholesterol.
I was not watching the cholesterol at all really, as I'm only 40 and never had a high reading in my life. But my blood sugar had inched up and I did have some weight to lose, in spite of being very very active.
So I really tightened my diet, getting rid of all those nasty carbs and sugars. I do eat the animal products and dairy still, and all full fat at that. I also eat boatloads of veggies. So imagine my shock when I went back for blood work after six months of tightening the diet (I had lost 30 lb) and my cholesterol had dropped down to 116 from 158 where it had been (both times the LDL and HDL were in fine proportion).
Like Cattknap posted, even though you are under 200, it may not be good enough. Consult your doctor. Mine isn't too concerned about the cholesterol, but in light of my heredity, I keep a CLOSE watch on my sugars and my carb intake.
I would also concur with the exercise recommendation.
You're testing it too often and worrying about it too much. If you were bouncing between 250 and 300 I would probably say your testing regime and worry were warranted but not with your good numbers.
However, don't rely on just cholesterol testing to gauge your total health or cardio health. There are other, better tests.
They give you a free cholesterol screening when you donate blood. We donate at work every 2 months. I talked to the technicians about the accuracy of the screenings and they said that it might actually be more accurate than a fasting blood test.
It just seems to vary. It was 194 at the doctors last fall with very good triglycerides and my bad cholesterol was only a few points higher than what they'd like. Then it was 213 after the Holidays, blood donation screening. Then 209. So I tried to watch my diet a bit and it was 167. Then 146. So now I've eased up a bit on avoiding things like butter.
I'm just wondering if I take a fasting blood test in a month or two and suddenly it will be high or low.
One last thing. I just heard that they've cast some doubt on whether fish oil helps your cholesterol or not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
