Cholesterol

[Ikey the tinker]

Anyone have trouble with high cholesterol? Despite eating healthily and exercising my cholesterol is above 8 - very dangerous. Not sure what else I can do to bring it down? Am taking plant stenols, garlic tablets in addition to statins, ezetimibe.

 

[Copepod]

The standard advice is that if lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, weight management), then statins need to be added. Statins take a while to take effect, so if you've only been using ezetimibe for a while, then be patient, but if it's longer, your prescribing doctor may consider changing and / or adding another statin medication. You might like to raise the issue next time you see the doctor.

 

[VBH]

Whats the breakdown of the cholesterol? LDL, HDL, Trigs?

Total cholesterol is a virtually meaningless measure and doesn't go anywhere near pointing to a problem. If you can get a breakdown (aka "lipid panel") then it might be possible to come up with some suggestions.

The important measure, as is being more widely recognised these days, is the Trigs/HDL ratio which indicates the level of VLDL (the dangerous stuff). However, getting a doc to even order a lipid panel can be problematic. (I add it in biro to the form just before going to get a blood draw done)

A fiver says a lot of it is down to high triglicerides - which are manufactured by the body from carbs. If "eating healthily" means sticking to the high carb, low fat diet recommended by most dieticians, that might just be the cause of the problem.