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I'm 46 and have had high cholesterol for years. My LDL was much higher than your's. I exercise 4-5 times a week, maintain a healthy wight and eat healthy (this is subjective and I don't believe saturated fat causes heart disease and my cardiologist agrees there is no definitive proof of this?
My cholesterol issue is genetic. Your's may be too which mean that diet and exercise really won't improve your numbers.
I was put on the second lowest dosage of Lipitor. I took it for two weeks and lost about 70% of the strength and agility in the upper right side of my body. This didn't resolve until about 8 months after stopping the Lipitor. The evidence that shows statins prevents a first time heart attack in people with elevated cholesterol is very suspect. They have been lowering the thresholds for people to be advised to take statins for years too. Statins can have very very bad side effects on the body. they are nothing to take lightly. I am now on Zetia, which is not a statin and has shown no side effects in me and it dropped my ldl from 205 to 163.
Basic lipid panels are not the be all end all predictor of heart disease. For several years I have been getting CAC tests. That is a coronary artery calcium scan. It basically images your coronary artery to see if you have calcium in there because calcium is a marker for cholesterol in your arteries. If you sore a zero it means you have no buildup. I had been scoring zero for several years until this year I scored a 1 which means there is buildup just beginning in my arteries. This test is definitive and something you should have done. Insurance doesn't pay for it and it's about 3-400 dollars out of pocket but it's your health so it's worth it. It's a five minutes test where you lay down and they zip you in and out of a half tube, sort of like an MRI. You should definitely have this done yearly.
Now that I've starting to see buildup in my arteries my cardiologist wants to put me on Repatha which is a non statin injectable drug that is supposed to be very effective at lowering LDL without the side effects of statins.
The most important thing is to find a good cardiologist who listens to you and will not just push the statins. One last thing. I have done a ton of research on nutrition and how it affects health. I am convinced that saturated fat is not the poison it's been made out to be. I think added sugar and junk carbs are the worst things for the body along with processed vegetable oils. I try to stay away from these as much as possible and eat as much fruits and vegetables as possible. I eat meat and dairy too. If you look at the big picture we didn't see an explosion of obesity, diabetes and metabolic disease until the food industry and government started villifying fat, removing it from food and added ****loads of sugar to make the food palatable.
I hope you find some of this helpful and I wish you the best of luck in pursuing good health.
How much does genetics play a role with cholesterol? My LDL was better when I wasn’t in my 40s.
I will look into the calcium test. Why hasn’t my doctor ordered it yet?
Trans fat is the bad one.
I don’t eat processed sugar nor junk food. I mean I will have my cheat meals once a week. I get my sugar from fruits and vegetables.
I can't quantify for you what role genetics plays in high cholesterol because it varies for person to person. For some their high cholesterol is mainly because of their lifestyle choices. For others, like me it's because of genetics. It seems that it's not just cholesterol issues but all health issues that tend to get worse as we age. Our bodies start breaking down and losing the ability to bounce back and fight illness like we could when we were younger. We can make healthy choices to minimize this but it's an inevitable process for all of us. I have used to have a friend who'd say "aint none of this getting out of this alive." Isn't that the truth.
I don't know why your doctor hasn't mentioned the CAC to you. Is your doctor a cardiologist or primary care physician? I was prescribed the statins by my PCP because that's what most of them do. They follow a protocol which in my opinion is too one seized fits all and not the best approach. If you're not seeing a cardiologist you should find a good one to see. I wouldn't trust a pcp to manage my cholesterol issues and a good PCP shouldn't have an issue with you wanting to see a cardiologist. There are unfortunately a lot of bad doctors out there. A good doctor will have in depth conversations and explain things to you while addressing your questions and concerns. Bad doctors won't listen and will treat you like an idiot.
It sounds like you're making a lot of very good lifestyle choices and trying to take a proactive approach to maintaining good health which is more than can be said for most people.
Doc is a PCP, internal medicine. I can see a Cardiologist if I want to.
"The American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and the United States Preventive Services Task Force do not recommend the use of heart CT scans for patients with a low or high risk of heart disease because CT scans could be more harmful than beneficial due to the relatively high dose of radiation"
"The American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and the United States Preventive Services Task Force do not recommend the use of heart CT scans for patients with a low or high risk of heart disease because CT scans could be more harmful than beneficial due to the relatively high dose of radiation"
cholesterol is a vital substance for many bodily functions. your numbers look fine to me. still, if you want to go lower i suggest working on lowering blood sugar.
cholesterol that sticks to artery walls is put there by your body to patch deterioration/cracks in the veins. keep your veins/blood in good shape to avoid clots
Mine was over 256 for over 15 years and i feel better than i did 40 years ago bro.
cholesterol is tricky - you have the sugar thing and the blood vessel repair thing. those are two drivers of it. niacin is a really good prospect for you - it works on sugar and cholesterol. i take the time release no flush niacin. 250 mg/day
i do too, except it's 500 mg twice a day. My dermatologist told me to take it since studies have shown that it can reduce the probability of skin cancer by around 25%.
I had a blood draw last week for my physical coming up next week. It'll be interesting to see if the niacin had a good effect on cholesterol and/or A1C.
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