Cholesterol levels

Being a fat git whose dad died at a young age from a cardiac arrest I should keep an eye on my cholestoral and blood pressure than I do.
I've had mine checked two weeks ago for the first time in a decade and was very surprised to receive a measurement of 4.3 with healthy H/L levels. My blood pressure is also very good regardless of stressors or diet. I was actually hoping for a bad result to give me the kick up the backside I need to sort out my lifestyle, but the news was disappointingly good!

I'm now trying to steadily lower my calorie intake and increase exercise (not hard, from 0 anything counts as an exponential increase). My appetite is noticeably reducing without me starving myself or binge dieting so I'm hopefully I'm on the way.
Time will tell obviously.
 
Genetics helps a lot.

My dad is 74 and his brother 91. Never seen either of them do a days exercise. Both have smoked but not anymore and eat what they want. My dads brother still lives on his own, drives and goes for holidays in his caravan. Hope I inherit the same :)

My resting heart rate is 58, blood pressure 110/80 and cholesterol 4.6 last count. Rarely do exercise much strenuous exercise but do walk about 10 miles a week. Eat what I want.
 
I have my bloods checked regular for a load of different things. Cholesterol was good considering very high TSH levels :)

Have to have mine checked yearly.

There's a huge amount of information an misinfomation regarding cholesterol. Including in this thread :p
 
WantoN said:
I have my bloods checked regular for a load of different things. Cholesterol was good considering very high TSH levels :)

Have to have mine checked yearly.

There's a huge amount of information an misinfomation regarding cholesterol. Including in this thread :p
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Isn't hypothyroidism more commonly linked to high cholesterol, rather than hyperthyroidism? Bit shaky in this area, deranged thyroid levels are a whole stinky swamp of causes, effects, artefactual results and contextual normality :confused:
 
Freefaller said:
Generally the whole cholesterol issue is based on Big Pharma making money from statins (which are very bad for you). They've integrated themselves into to society so deeply (with the help of GPs being misled and thus spreading the myth) that it will take many many years to dispel it.
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Can you provide some info on this? Having been on statins for some time for familial combined hyperlipidaemia I've heard all the GP's side of this so I'm a little suprised to hear this. Most people hear what their consultant says and takes their word for it.
 
I must admit I'm not a nutritionist or a medical expert at all - I think that's clear. :) However, I read a lot about health, some medical journals, have friends in the field of medicine and biochemsitry etc... and whilst I couldn't sit down and give you the scientific conclusive proof (and if there was one I'd hope that everyone would know about it!). However, there is enough info out there creating enough doubt that things like statins cause many side effects and aren't the magic bullet cure.

If you want to lower cholesterol, take control of your diet, exercise and lifestyle - those things alone will help. Of course some of it comes down to genetics, and yes, of course, some of it comes down to medical issues. I don't claim to be an expert - however, I've read enough about it to make up my own mind. I'm not suggesting people shouldn't follow medical advice, but at least educate themselves a little before rushing in and shoving products down their throats. A pill won't change your diet/lifestyle - some medication often gets rid of the symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the problem (I said some...). Things like statins are still not fully understood, and blocking your body's production of cholesterol isn't necessarily a good thing, since dietary cholesterol isn't the issue - surely it is best to understand why your body is creating more cholesterol than it should, rather than just using a pill to remove the manifestation. It's the classic, containment solution rather than understanding the full root cause of the issue.

Ultimately, see your doctor, follow their recommendation - however, I will say, don't take medication willy nilly or without some education. There are a lot of natural ways of lowering cholesterol and improving health, without even taking an supplementation (like vitamins, amino acids etc...) - my point is that too many people go down the "magic pill" route rather than actively doing something about it.
 
joxang said:
High TSH generally does indicate hypothyroidism.
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Sorry, never got back to this thread - high TSH would indicate hyperthyroidism, not hypothyroidism. Producing excess TSH would generally keep cholesterol levels low, but as I said, there are a lot of other factors involved. However, having high TSH levels would definitely not mean you'd expect to have high cholesterol - I'll double check that with my seniors, but I'm 98% sure that's the case.
 
Deadbeat said:
Sorry, never got back to this thread - high TSH would indicate hyperthyroidism, not hypothyroidism.
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Sorry but that's quite categorically incorrect.

High T3/T4, produced by the thyroid, indicates hyperthyroidism. TSH isn't produced by the thyroid, it stands for 'Thyroid Stimulating Hormone'.

When your thyroid is underactive (i.e. hypothyroid) you produce more TSH to try to make up for the underactivity. Hence the standard lab results for hypothyroidism are high TSH, low T3/T4.

Producing excess TSH would generally keep cholesterol levels low, but as I said, there are a lot of other factors involved. However, having high TSH levels would definitely not mean you'd expect to have high cholesterol - I'll double check that with my seniors, but I'm 98% sure that's the case.
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Again, you're thinking of thyroxine, not TSH.
 
Freefaller said:
Cholesterol is overly berated.

Too low cholesterol is bad for you.
But too high cholesterol is your body's protection system in place trying to protect the arterial walls and arterial structures. If left at too high a level it will then have very serious health implications.

Generally the whole cholesterol issue is based on Big Pharma making money from statins (which are very bad for you). They've integrated themselves into to society so deeply (with the help of GPs being misled and thus spreading the myth) that it will take many many years to dispel it.

It doesn't mean you should ignore choleesterol levels but just know the real facts. Also, too high cholesterol levels can be easily lowered quite fast to a safe and healthy level by eating & drinking healthily.

I recently bought a couple of books:

http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

From this chap - I've got dozens of nutrition and health books as I like to get a broad picture/idea/knowledge. I can't recommend to anyone enough about reading a bit more about nutrition and on how our bodies function.
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I'm sorry but your post is misleading, and thus spreading further myths about statins. We don't live in an ideal world that advise given is adhered to. Statins can be targeted at people healthy or unhealthy diet wise at low dosages who run the rise of cvd. Yes some gp's can see this as a quick fix and prescribe statins when not needed. But the benefits are there, along side the risks involved.

It's easy to preach healthy eating and exercise to people who are overweight and under active. We live in a society where approval on dietary intake is wanted, thus leading to bias results on a persons actual daily food intake.

Take for example, patient A is borderline overweight/obese. He lies about his lifestyle and also lies about his daily food intake. Doctors used to see recorded dietary intake as gold standard. In fact when they actually probed about his intake the patient is exceeding his rda thus leading to overweight.

It's the probing that gp's don't have time for, so instead of wasting further time and effort or sending to a nutritionist/dietitian they prescribe statins.

Targeted at the correct group statins can be beneficial, there's a reason its one of the most popular drugs ever made.
 
Cholesterol is important to keep at the right levels, however changing to a low Cholesterol diet will only lower your level by between 0.7 and 1.1 in most cases, hoever some people can lower the level a lot lower.

Statins is a very good drug not only dos it lower levels it also hardens the plac that has allready built up making the chance of an anurism lower.
 
joxang said:
Sorry but that's quite categorically incorrect.

High T3/T4, produced by the thyroid, indicates hyperthyroidism. TSH isn't produced by the thyroid, it stands for 'Thyroid Stimulating Hormone'.

When your thyroid is underactive (i.e. hypothyroid) you produce more TSH to try to make up for the underactivity. Hence the standard lab results for hypothyroidism are high TSH, low T3/T4.



Again, you're thinking of thyroxine, not TSH.
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Right, forgot about this again - yeah, my senior explained this to me, makes much more sense now. Hyperthyroidism causes low TSH, hypothyroidism causes high TSH (generally speaking).
 
however, I will say, don't take medication willy nilly or without some education.
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100% agree.

It's amazing the ammount of people who will blindly trust what they are given by a GP without educating themselves as to what it is first.
 
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