High Cholesterol....in my early 20's?????????????

As afraid as I was to have a blood test (that kind of stuff really freaks me out, i get extremely stressed out and have like an anxiety attack) imagine how much scareder I was to hear a message from the clinic asking me to come in to discuss my blood test.

I'm 23, and I have very high cholestorol.  How can THAT be?

I weighed 170 back in January and decided that for my Birthday (march) I was going to give myself the gift of losing 15 lbs.  Best gift ever!  I have continued the trend of 5lbs a month... okay well missed 1 month :)... thereafter and am now at 145 lbs, which is not too bad for my height (5'8), although my overall goal is 135. 

I thought I was doing so well, and now I find out my blood is polluted with fat.  The mention of going on medication for LIFE if I cannot get it down is really freaking me out.  My dad has been on lipitor for as long as I can remember, and he has had liver problems because of it.

Anyone in the same boat, or anyone have tips for lowering cholestorol???

It could just be genetic.  I had super low cholesterol for my whole life, and as someone who has the diet habits of a rabbit, that made sense.  Then all of a sudden, I turned 21 and my cholesterol went through the roof.  My diet at that point was even healthier than it had ever been before! 

I tried some of those cholesterol lowering drugs for a while, but they didn't help much and also can have detrimental effects on your ability to have normal pregnancies n the future, so I stopped.  Now I just try to eat lots of cholesterol-helpful breakfasts (Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, yum) and I cut back on my one really bad habit: cheese. 

My doctor also recommended that I change my exercise  routine to include more cardio. I haven't been nearly as good about following that direction though.

A couple of more 'natural' things you could try would be flax seeds - they're believed to lower the bad cholesterol and raise the good.  Get some flax meal and sprinkle it on your cereal or try flax oil.  It's good and comes in flavors that are yummy. Also there's something out there called red yeast rice - it's a yeast that's grown on red rice - it's also been known to work to lower the bad cholesterol.  Both of these things will take a month or so to make a difference, but they're worth a try and are inexpensive, especially the flax seeds.

My mother is almost a vegetarian (she eats poultry and fish once a week, maybe, and that's all as far as meat goes) and rarely eats eggs or high-fat dairy, and she still has high cholesterol. And the woman is tiny. Sometimesthe genes just aren't on your side, and if diet and getting to a normal weight doesn't work, medication might be necessary. But not always, and losing weight may help.

Also, total cholesterol doesn't tell the whole story; there are different kinds, and if the better cholesterols are high and the unhealthiest ones are lower, it might not be bad. Did they separatethe HDL from the LDL and VLDL on the blood test?

I'm in the same boat  -- 25 with overall cholesterol of 232 in February.  For me, it's at least half genetic.  My dad's cholesterol has NEVER been below 200 and now my mom's on meds too.

I haven't had it tested since then but I've lost about 12 pounds through d&e (diet and exercise.)  Since I found out that cinnamon may help to lower cholesterol I've added it to my diet, as well as eating more oat-based products. 

Back in March, my husbands cholesterol was 458!  We dramatically changed our lifestyles and in 3-months, it was down to 238.  We're hoping to get it down lower, but will have to wait until our next checkup. 
We changed to using olive oil or extra virgin olive oil ONLY! Never any other kinds of oils.  Plus we eat avocados once or twice a week, almonds as a snack, oatmeal and flax seed.  All these things working together have been the difference.  Hope this helps.

Sounds like it's strongly genetic for you. (It's not your weight, that's for sure!)

Increase your fiber intake, eat oat bran, limit your fat intake and do your best - but know that you might also need medication no matter how healthy your habits.

There is a book called the 8 week Cholesterol Cure diet.  It has all the natural ways to eat to reduce the bad and raise the good.

I had high cholesterol and was able to lower it 30 pts and avoid the medicine just by eating the right foods.  Exercise is also key to helping lower the bad and raise the good.

Oatmeal and milled flax seed are great starters.  Also I stopped eating any red meat or "organ meat"  LIver in particular is very high cholesterol food.  Although shrimp is high in cholesterol its also a good kind cuz its diet is vegetarian and although your body needs cholesterol to survive if you eat a bit of shrimp before a meal your intestinal tract will take the cholesterol it needs from the shrimp and letting the bad stuff go on thru.  Its hard to explain but it works.  Also try taking Chitosan before a fatty meal - if you are not allergic to shellfish that is.  Chitosan is a natural fat blocker made from shellfish.

I agree with the genetics factor in the high cholestrol diagnosis, but cholestrol production is not solely caused by the consumption of foods in high cholestrol. I was diagnosed with high cholestrol when I was 12 [see, you're not so young!], and for the past 4 years it has been at normal level. I still eat eggs, avocado and shrimp maybe once or twice a week (if that), and my cholestrol has been consistently down. I never took one drug to lower it, but I did find that I had high cholestrol because of two factors:
1. High consumption of fatty foods [specifically those with an abundance of saturated and trans fat]
2. A highly sedentary lifestyle.

My family has no history of HBP, heart disease, diabetes or high cholestrol, yet there are also enviromental factors that can influence the surfacing of such aliments.  My point is, saturated fats do more to up the cholestrol factor than cholestrol itself, after all, cholestrol is found in every cell in your body, and saturated fats, since they are water-insoluble, accumluate more in your body.
Sorry I wrote a book! Just commit to a healthy lifestyle change  [diet and exercise READ: what you are here to do], and lower consumption of high fat foods [dark meat, animal fats like liver], and you'll be fine!
Good luck!

Thanks for all the tips.

It sure is a scary thing to hear, considering every time I have ever went to the doctors I always seem to stare at the diagram showing choleterol and narrowing arteries in fear!

Luckily I have already been improving my diet over the past 6 months and have added atleast 3 billy blanks tapes a week (plus i walk EVERYWHERE i go since I dont have a car, and my walk to and from work is 30 minutes). I think that is why it hurt even more to hear that my cholestorol is very high.

It just really sucks because I finally got a handle on my diet (or atleast I thought) through counting calories, and now I have a whole new thing to factor in!  I was already working on trying to limit cheese and sausages to only special occasions which I had been successful at - but now I need to try to cut down on eggs (which I was eating a lot of), avacados, milk (er, i guess i can finally switch to skim), and my biggest weakness of all - chips.

I love oatmeal so I just need to get back into that habit.  And I had flax seeds in my cupboard, put some on my bran stix for lunch and didn't even notice them, i'll have to add them to more things

*sigh*

Here's something from the famous Mayo Clinic that you might find useful

Cholesterol

I just remembered This Thread!  I hope you get lots of good information that will help you!

hey angeia!

It seems I'm in about the same boat as you :) 22, 5'7 and 140 lbs... so we're pretty similar.

I just found out recently that I have really high BAD choloesterol... I really don't think it had to do with my eating habits at all but I've been eating well and exercising for the past 6 months straight and plan to get it tested again in August.

I cut out red meat from my diet. The only meat I have is seafood, (tilapia, tuna, or shrimp) turkey and chicken. I barely eat any dairy and switched from cow's milk to soy milk. The only dairy I consume is light yogurt and light string cheese on a weekday basis. They are my snacks at work...

No one in my immediate family has high cholesterol but my 1/2 sister (who I'm almost more like than my 100% sisters... lol) has high cholesterol too.

After the changes I've made I'm curious to see what has happened with it....

But, I know how you feel and I was really really freaked out when I found out... It just seems so crazy!!!

best of luck!!

My husband is as skinny as they come, and he's had high colesterol all his life. He eats mostly healthy food, and is not able to get it down. We're waiting for his next check up, and then we'll decide if he should takes meds or not. It's genetic, I think.

Have been reading all the comments regarding high cholestorol. My husband has had high cholestorol since his early 20's and does not drink, smoke, or have a diet high in fat. His Cholestorol is also not genetic. I have been doing some research on the side effects of Roacutane which is a drug my husband was put onto for acne in his teens and which was prescribed at a very high dose without the recommended routine tests. After looking at the information I believe that it is this drug and the incompetent manner in which it was prescribed that has damaged his liver and subsequently lead to his high cholestorol. I was also prescribed roacutane but was put on very low dosages and had the routine liver function tests every month. My cholestrol is perfect. I would be interested to hear if any of these people with "unexplained" high cholestorol used Roacutane in the past.

Heidi