Crazy Cholesterol

Hello everyone, this is my first post here :) My name is Melissa, I am 21 years old and am currently 5'6 & 181lbs. I've lost 4 pounds in about a month and am loving this site. So onto my question...

At the beginning of 2009 my doctor saw that my cholesterol was quite high, however as far as I know it has always been high. She told me to watch what I ate, exercise and then we would re-test it in April. I did everything she said and when the test results came back in April...they were worse. They were:

Total Chol: 7.57

Trig:3.97

HDL: 1.37

LDL: 5.53

We were both rather alarmed by this so she set me up to see a dietician and lipids specialist at the hospital. I had about a month and a half before my first appointment so I decided to try and do something about it myself. I joined CC and set my calorie intake to 1700 a day. I ate quite healthy before but I decided to try and eat even better. I switched all my grains to whole wheat, I cut out beef, I incorperated tofu, I began taking a multi-vitamin, I added fiber, the list just goes on and on. I have stuck to this for the past month and a half and I feel great. I have lost 4 pounds and am excersing 3 times a week. I went to my appointment with my dietician and she couldn't really give me many suggestions for improving my diet. The only thing she suggested was switching to light cheese and yogurt (which I do not eat much of anyways), cutting down my protien, and increasing my legume consumption. I had blood tests done while there to see if things had changed in the past month and a half. I got my results back today and they are:

Total Chol: 7.16

Trig: 4.76

HDL: 1.25

LDL: they cannot measure this since my trigs are so high

Needless to say I am a bit devistated. I honestly tried my hardest to stick to eating healthy and excersing and I feel I did a very good job at it. I do have a strong family history of high cholesterol but this just seems ridiculous! Someone recently suggested that perhaps I have Hashimoto disease. I have had abnormal thyroid results in the past but they are normal now, so I am going to get a thyroid antiobody test done to check for that. Has anyone else had similar problems? Am I doomed to go on medication for this at 21 or is there something else I can do?

did you cut out fats, or just bad fats? (that's the only thing you didn't mention)

research the "good" fats to lower LDL and triglycerides.

(someone was on here a couple of weeks ago, his cholest. was high and his stupid doc told him to cut out all fats. Bad. Your body needs fats, just good ones - omegas 3,6,9)

I would REALLY hate to see you go on meds for this. :( I'd get the good fats in, stick to the diet and give it 3 or 4 months of healthy, whole-grain & good fats & fresh food eating. Then retest.

Just the bad fats. I wasn't eating trans fats before, so I just cut down on saturated fats. I eat lots of lean protien like fish, get eggs with omega 3, eat avacado and use omega oil (grapeseed, flaxseed &  extra virgin olive). I make sure to get good amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats daily  My fat intake is around 40-50 grams a day and my saturated fat is about 13g a day.

I have basically been on a cholesterol healthy diet since January, so for just over 6 months now. Its just the past 1 1/2 that I have been literally watching every morsal I put in my mouth. I am just really worried my body is backwards and that I can't fix it myself I am getting retested next month so hopefully my body will figure itself out by then

I have been through a the same thing with my cholesterol.  The adjustment in my diet and exercise did not change my cholesterol numbers at all.  I tried just about everything, but in the end had to start taking medication to lower my cholesterol. 

My doctor feels that in my case the genetics have played a big part.  I am not saying that this applies to you, but do any people in your family also have problems with high cholesterol?  It runs rampant in my family, and that helped my doctor to find the best medicine for me.

I was really very hesitant to take medication, but after doing all the research on the meds and what could/would happen, and learning how it has affected my family, it really was the best decision to start taking the medicine.

And, my numbers have been well within normal ever since!

Have you tried cinnamon?  My mom says that it made her overall cholestorol level higher but lowered the bad number.  Also walnuts according to my grandma's doctor are helpful.

Original Post by rocconess13:

I have been through a the same thing with my cholesterol.  The adjustment in my diet and exercise did not change my cholesterol numbers at all.  I tried just about everything, but in the end had to start taking medication to lower my cholesterol. 

My doctor feels that in my case the genetics have played a big part.  I am not saying that this applies to you, but do any people in your family also have problems with high cholesterol?  It runs rampant in my family, and that helped my doctor to find the best medicine for me.

I was really very hesitant to take medication, but after doing all the research on the meds and what could/would happen, and learning how it has affected my family, it really was the best decision to start taking the medicine.

And, my numbers have been well within normal ever since!

Yes, my mother and her mother both have high cholesterol. My Dad's mom also has high cholesterol. At this point we know it is defiantly partly genetic, I had just never heard of anyone else not being able to control it somewhat with diet and exercise.

I'm glad to hear the medication is working for you :)

Original Post by smwhipple:

Have you tried cinnamon?  My mom says that it made her overall cholestorol level higher but lowered the bad number.  Also walnuts according to my grandma's doctor are helpful.

 I have heard of the cinnamon but I would be hesitant to do that since my overal cholestorol level is already very high.

Havn't heard of the walnuts though, perhaps I will buy some :)

I should add that my mom does take a cholesterol medication although I'm not sure which one because she was unable to control it completely with diet and exercise.

My mom started taking fish oil and cut out refined sugars eats whole wheat instead of white and walks every day this seemed to help her.  She also lost a bit of weight from this (she didn't need to so now we are hoping the doctor doesn't tell her to gain tomorrow).  For the Triglycerides.  She does low fat for the Total Chol.
Anyway I think the fish oil is very helpful, her doctor recommended it.  You might want to give it a try.

Good Luck to you.

Remove as much sugar (Carbs) as you possibly can, it's the number 1 reason for elevated tg's. See if that helps. Constant elevated insulin levels are your enemy.

Original Post by sfredbull:

My mom started taking fish oil and cut out refined sugars eats whole wheat instead of white and walks every day this seemed to help her.  She also lost a bit of weight from this (she didn't need to so now we are hoping the doctor doesn't tell her to gain tomorrow).  For the Triglycerides.  She does low fat for the Total Chol.
Anyway I think the fish oil is very helpful, her doctor recommended it.  You might want to give it a try.

Good Luck to you.

 I cut out almost all my refined sugar but I hadn't heard of the fish oil, I will check that out, thanks!