Slightly high cholesterol

[archiecole]

My husband had bloods taken and he has been told his cholesterol is slightly high and started on a Statins. She kept asking him if he was alright with it. I've suggest he hold back from starting them and try some lifestyle changes first. Is this reasonable?

[NorthantsSteve]

Hi archiecole. I guess that depends on a range of other issues. Is there a family history of heart disease, is he obese/overweight, does he smoke etc? What do you mean by ‘slightly high’? There are a range of indicators that could indicate urgency in terms of taking statins - which like all drugs have their downsides. If these aren’t a factor then trying to get cholesterol down through diet/activity might be a good first step.

I had a slightly high (5 ish) cholesterol level, not obese, no family history, didn’t smoke, pretty fit etc and had a heart attack + stent age 55. Following meds and better diet + exercise, my cholesterol levels are now much lower and I feel great. But this is a much discussed and debated subject on this forum!

All the best.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Unfortunately it is not easy to know what "slightly high" means as we all know people who day they are "slightly overweight" when they are obese. Do you have the numbers?

As Steve has said the area had become a minefield oft debated on social media. The general guidelines are a total cholesterol of 5.0 or below for those in good health and 4.0 and below where there are risk factors. Risk factors include family history, ongoing and/or previous heart disease, PAD (peripheral arterial disease), diabetes, COPD, being obese and a host of others.

Depending on the actual values it may be appropriate to start a statin and the lifestyle changes. Depending how things progress it may be possible to reduce statin dose in the future. Over 6.5 - 7 seems the figure for starting immediately when there are no risk factors; over 5.0 when there are.

[Khonkaen]

Statins treat the symptoms not the cause and that is where I would start, change the diet to lower his levels. Statin have side effects to, but doctors are trained to offer pills as a first response. Statins are now the most overprescribed drug worldwide...and also the most profitable. What other tests have been done, cholesterol isn't the be all and end all of heart disease. Oats are a very good way of lowering LDL cholesterol.

I have my HA 5 months ago and will be talking to my cardiologist about lowering my doseage as my cholesterol is now dangerously low. I eat a lot of oats.

[Lezzers]

Maybe the best thing is to discuss lifestyle changes with the Dr and ask why he kept asking if your husband was OK with the statins. My husband has been on statins for 15+ years and has never had an issue with them, he has regular blood tests as will your husband

[Qualipop]

Why not try both? Statins arenot necessarily bad. The first ones I had ( Atorvastatin) caused problems for me but simvastatin is fine. There are plenty to try of one type doesn't suit.

[Zac11]

I' m 72 and have AF and a long-standing artery blockage that would be difficult to stent. As meds keep me feeling OK, they don't plan any further procedures. Started 80mg Atorvastatin at the end of June when my cholesterol was 6.5. Must admit that, though I eat fairly healthily, I haven't really cut down on occasional 'unhealthy' food, hard cheeses, red meat, moderate but regular alcohol etc, but by the end of July my cholesterol was down to 3.3. No noticeable side effects so far.

[jimmyq]

Try eating nuts:

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