My doctor has said I have high cholesterol levels - see attached for recent blood levels. He said it shouldn’t be anything to worry about but then Ive received a message that they are suggesting statin treatment - but I have a call with them on Wednesday. I also suffer from an anxiety.
I’m 38 years old, British Indian male.
My BMI is currently 24.4 (and coming down due to diet and exercise changes). I’m 5ft 9.
My father has had a heart attack at around 60 years old
I’m not sure how bad this is and fearing the worst. The information online is misleading and led me down a rabbit hole.
Can people with high cholesterol still lead a healthy life? Are my results considered high?
Many thanks in advance
Hitesh
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Hits1986
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your readings are quite high, so ideally they should be brought down to the normal range shown within your test result. You can certainly have a good look at your diet to see if there are any tweaks you can make, and also your exercise regime.
I would say that you might want to negotiate with the doctor to let you make your own diet and lifestyle changes, and then see the doctor in three months for a review.
If you haven’t already done so, read about cholesterol levels on the NHS website and dont go down too many rabbit holes with Dr Google.
There is plenty of of information about lifestyle measures you can undertake to lower your heart health risk on the BHF webpages. They include diet , exercise alcohol and smoking. I suggest you look them up. However although such measures will undoubtedly help to lower your risk it is unlikely to reduce your lipid profile to one that falls within the recommended limits, given where you are, so that is the likely reason your doctor will offer you statins which are likely to be more successful (nonetheless in conjunction with the lifestyle measures). Although some people may suffer some side effects from statins, the majority (>90%) do not and they are widely prescribed globally. If it is any help to you 25 years ago I was told I have a natural cholesterol level of over 9 and improvements to lifestyle measures alone did improve things somewhat , but not enough, so I have been taking statins for nearly 25 years recently adding ezetimibe and my lipid profile now sits well within the recommended norms. So my advice to you is take up lifestyle improvements, take any medication offered to you, all to reduce your heart health risk, and enjoy life and don't worry about it.
Be aware that lifestyle measures are literally for life, but if you relax them, as I found out, you simply go back to where you were. So imo you need to take up any offers of medication like statins, and trial them. That is especially important for someone like you with a lipid profile likely governed by genetics
Your cholesterol levels are high - particularly for someone young but the good news is that statins work for most people and millions of people take them. I’m the same age as you and my cholesterol was lower than that but I’m on statins and taking injections because of a heart event. If you get side effects, ask for a different option.
Have you cut down on fatty foods,I would try to do this yourself as only 38, you could ask for blood test again 3 months to see if diet working then decide,you don't want to go on statins unless have too
Yes, I totaly agree! My Dr. always encourages natural approaches to fixing something BEFORE prescibing meds. Lots of studies about too low of cholesteral causing havoc on your brain as well.
hi, I’m a slim (9.4 stone) 44 yo male and have had v high cholesterol for a few years. Had a blood test, got told to make lifestyle changes & did so for a year. Cut out cheese and other foods-life was very boring.
Recent cholesterol levels back to v high so am now on statins. No real side effects I can tell.
I’d advise getting on the meds as my high cholesterol levels is genetic so not much I can physically do to lower them
You can’t change your genetics unfortunately. You may have Familial Hypercholesteremia (FH) in which case diet and lifestyle won’t bring it down enough. There are various cholesterol lowering medications. I suggest you see your doctor to see if you have FH and discuss what your options are regarding testing for FH and treatment options
That doesn’t mean JUST take medication. Lifestyle and diet changes will protect you from many other diseases, so it’s better to start when you’re still young. It all matters in the long term.
hi my cholesterol levels were the same in Feb this year, They put me on statins and I cut out butter, cheese, bad fats and introduced more beans, lentils, fruit, veg and oats. Mine was down to 4.0 after 3 months. If you’ve made the dietary changes necessary and you’re exercising you’ll bring it down easily. Try not to worry, when you have your 3 month check and see the change you’ll feel better about it.
Hi Hitesh, I would suggest you read Dr Aseem Mulhotra’s book on cholesterol and statins, it is well worthwhile to give you an insight on this subject which, I have found, can be quite contentious.
My cholesterol level was just over 6 and I already ate a fruit/veg, low fat healthy diet with no processed food but the big change for me came after reading the book and reducing sugar content. After 3 months of following this my levels had reduced significantly to within range.
We are all different and if generic it may not help but definitely worth a read. Good luck, better to do it with diet if you can.
It's likely you have inherited the poor cholesterol profile from your fathers family as he had heart disease at 60. But as you are so young it maybe some of this was in. your mothers family too. I have been diagnosed with FH Familial Hypercholesterolemia. You cannot manage this with dietary changes alone.
Are you a smoker or do you have a lot of alcohol?
There is a charity called HeartUK where you will find out a great deal more.
You should be referred to a lipid clinic - I am at Harefield for this - where you will be monitored and tested for the DNA that causes this genetic disorder. If the gene is identified your family all need testing too.
My son was tested when I was screened after I was diagnosed with Angina. He has the poor cholesterol profile but changed to the Ornish/ Esselstyne fat free plant based eating in his 30's and has kept his LDL under control but attends a lipid clinic - he lives in the United States where there has been more research into this genetic disorder. He is now mid 40's.
Statins are only one form of cholesterol reducing medications and FH patients are offered even more effective medications if you can tolerate these.
you are lucky they found this out prior to any further symptoms but you should be provided with investigations to find out how much damage has occurred to your arteries......CT scan etc.
My Daughter in Law is from South India in origin - there are high numbers of people with FH from this region. My mothers family were Swiss and the disease pattern can be seen in my distant cousin's who have has HA bypasses and stents and were very fit mountain walkers as is the norm over there.
As I expected its not your lifestyle causing this very high LDL reading but clearly genetic.
Definitely check out Heart UK website and be insistent with GP about being referred to a Lipid clinic.
you want to prevent any further damage to your arteries and FH patients need different treatment.
Sometimes being anxious is good for our wellbeing. I am also anxious and the last thing we need is this but the anxiety works for us keeping us very attentive!!!
Certainly the lipid clinic registers you as an FH patient but the endocrinologist are often part of the team. My cardiologist works along side the Endocrynologist at the Royal Brompton as many patients are also Diabetic.
Very good advice, and very good your son’s FH was identified at a young age. I’m totally for a plant based diet, and Indian/South Asian recipes are great for a plant based diet too, with plenty of delicious dahls and curries made with beans. Beans and lentils (at sufficient quantities) have been shown to reduce LDL. Heart UK has some great advice too. The Ornish type diet I presume is WFPB and oil free/SOS free. It’s quite hard to stick to such a low fat as the Ornish/Esseltyn programmes but for someone like your son with FH I would imagine it gets good results. Some would say it’s worth it, though. The rest of us probably don’t have to be super strict in that way, but there’s always something there we can learn from.
Yes - it sadly seems us FH patients have a very tough battle with LDL,
But I’ve been tried on many new cholesterol busting meds as I do not tolerate statin drugs well. I have an older cousin who takes and responds well to statins and has not had any heart attacks or strokes. She’s been lucky. I have not as I’ve had 2 heart attacks and now heart failure. I’ve also done the plant based fat free vegan diet since diagnosis 11 years ago!
I had a friend who was diagnosed with FH in her early 60s and she’d had no idea until then. It was a total shock to her. She took it very seriously. My husband works with someone who takes the opposite approach, doesn’t want to take medication and just buries her head in the sand. It’s a shame because she’s not yet 60 and has little grandchildren now, and a lovely husband, so she has plenty to live for. In both these cases, they didn’t have any symptoms but there often isn’t. It’s the chronic exposure over the decades that does the damage.
Just echo what has been said above. Your cholesterol is definitely on the high side. Also, your ratio of bad to good cholesterol is not the best. You have a lot more bad cholesterol that can cause issues. Also, hard to assess if it is driven by lifestyle or genes or mixture of both. You may be healthy now, but perhaps not before.
Compared to when I was your age, mine was 6.2-6.9 for total and around 3.5-4 for LDL. That was considered 'elevated'.
My advice would be to speak to your GP and assess your situation carefully, especially since there is heart disease running in the family. No reason to panic, but time to spring into action for sure.
Hello - I too experienced very high cholesterol levels 9.6. I was put on all the usual statins but did not tolerate them very well and was referred to a specialist who put me on a low dose 5mg Rosuvastatin and my levels went down to the normal levels. However this did not stop me from having a double emergency heart bypass operation at 61 This was 9 years ago and down to Familial Hypercholesterolemia and having lost several family members to heart attacks at fairly young ages (59 -66). No amount of diet or lifestyle changes will help. I live a very normal life now post op and on both a statin and Ezetimibe. I don’t want to scare you but take the meds; you and I are exactly the people this medication was created for and learn as much as you can about heart health. Good luck😊
Two and a half years ago, my cholesterol levels were 6.5 so not as high as yours. My doctor said it was nothing to worry about but I then had a heart attack caused by high cholesterol making a blockage in my right coronary artery. As I cannot tolerate statins, the hospital put me on fortnightly injections of Evolocumab and this has brought down my cholesterol to just over 3. So if you can tolerate statins, take them. Unfortunately, GPs don't know enough and have differing opinions.
Reading from the comments above, it seems that the current guidelines on statins is a bit outdated. Personally, I think the intervention with Diagnostics and Statins should be a lot earlier if you have heart disease in the family and other risk factors. To say, just be healthy and see what happens is very passive.
In an ideal world - if you are higher risk - everything should be brought forward by 5-10yrs at least. On top of your usual lipid tests, you should also have your cac and ctca. Might be costlier in the short-run, but medium to long term it can save money and lives.
Given I am where I am, I guess it’s a case of understanding the risks now with heart disease and time frames if this is not reduced and life style changes implemented. Does anybody have any insight into this? Thank you
If I was you I would up Libre 2 and you can get the first CGM free. The most worrying marker is the tryglycerides which is very high and your trig/hdl ratio is also very high. If you avoid massive glucose spikes then you are doing well.
High LDL has an increased hazard ratio of 1.3 while anything greater than 1.5 for tryglycerides to hdl ratio has a hazard ratio of 1.9 or in other words you are nearly twice of the average Joe to take a heart attack.
It maybe that your markers are heridetary and you may need more than standard statins.
I also recommend taking Randox everyman blood test that does a full lipid profile. The one marker you really need to measure is Lipoprotein little (a) and Apollipoprotein B. Both these tests are done as part of the Randox. I weighted for a 20% discount which was on Father's day.
Whats the significance of glucose spikes? If you spike, but your body produces enough insulin to bring it down? Consensus is that spikes are not an issue per se. Everybody is different and react differntly too food in general. I for one, have huge spikes with Oats, above 10mmol/L, but it normalises after 2 hours.
Continously glucose spikes makes your body insulin resistant over time. Insulin isn't just something that your body produces to keep blood sugar down. It tells your body what to do with the energy that you have consumed.In a non active person this excess energy is stored as fat.
Look up insulin restance and it's impact on heart health.
I don't eat foods that cause my blood sugar to spike.
I would never encourage anyone to ignore their doctor's advice, but I would encourage them the check possible side-effects, in official literature, so they can have an informed discussion with their doctor.
I resisted statins for years because of the risk to my kidneys, damaged by a delayed E-Coli diagnosis. I was put on them as part of the standard cocktail of drugs after I had stents. When I realised they might be the cause of my Achilles Heel, I was taken off them for a month then given a blood-test to see the result. The locum who gave me my test results didn't read the notes properly and when he said my Cholesterol had gone up, despite being on Statins, he also remarked that my kidney function had improved.
A couple of different statins and alternatives were tried before the doctor agreed it was not a suitable option. They suggested the Inclirisan injection, but the NHS website said there was a 1 in 5 chance of respiratory problems and I already have Asthma, so I declined.
My recent blood-test was actually titled "Statin Review" and I'm waiting to see what they say about the results
If it can be controlled then diet & exercise (a lot of these things aren’t rocket science) plus statins. If there’s genetics involved then that’s different. For example I have above average lipid levels (lpa) and also getting tested for Familial Hypercholesteremia. Those are the uncontrollable bad hands we can be dealt in life unfortunately that put us in the higher risk categories.
Latest test results are back in. All seems to be heading in the right direction after significant diet changes and exercise. Only thing I’m confused about is my LDL has gone up. Any thoughts on why this could be?
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Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (Inherited High Cholesterol) alias FH
