High cholesterol and me

[WalkmorePJ]

Hi I am new to the forum after just finding out I have high cholesterol. I have a small window from my GP to try to bring my Cholesterol down myself before he wants to prescribe medication. Any tips appreciated.

[Paul12]

Yes!

1. Schedule a PLAC test to give you better information

2. Omega 3 - increase a lot

3. Omega 6 decrease a lot

4. Sit down as little as possible

5. Go for long walks

7. Lose weight - low carb

8. Also low fat - good for telomeres ( see recent study)

9. Stay away from medication if possible

10. Restricted time feeding and intermittent fasting

11. High quality sleep

12. Yoga or similar on waking and before going to bed

13. Cold showers!

14.Reduce stress as much as possible

15. Severely limit internet time

16. Early to bed and read a book - non electronic

17. Loads of veg. Some fruit and some lean meat

18. Keep a gratitude journal and note how you feel each day on the above

19. If possible. Do voluntary work - maybe dog walking!

20. Low impact exercise eg cycling, swimming

21. Establish a routine

22. Pay particular attention to oral hygiene and sleep hygiene

23. Smile and laugh a lot

24. When you’ve read all the tips people will leave here turn you phone or tablet off and get some fresh air whatever the weather!

25.Go through your kitchen and ditch as many items as you can that have high sugar

26. Prepare a shopping list for today and stock up with healthy foods maybe FODMAP

27. Try not to worry about the cholesterol - but do schedule PLAC and maybe VAP or NMR ( google them)

28. Make sure you’re also doing some sort of strength training

29. Set a milestone - many cheap cruises are currently advertised....

30. Buy a set of smaller, tighter clothes. You get into those in a few weeks time and you won’t need medication!

31. Don’t bother with QRisk3 or anything like that. There’s a heavy emphasis on blood pressure and that changes by the hour. Assume you’re unhealthy - and take steps to make yourself healthy!

32. Minimise your exposure to pollution inside and out.

33. Maximise your exposure to daylight and fresh air.

34. Home cook as much as possible.

35. Whilst cooking or walking learn a language - a new skill. Keep your brain occupied.

[WalkmorePJ in reply to Paul12]

Wow. Amazing info thank you. It’s going to take time to digest this!

[sandybrown]

Human body produces 80% of cholesterol on demand, the other 20% is from what goes into the mouth!!

Life style change can help towards a healthy life.

Did you GP do a QRISK or JBS3 risk analysis check and explain what is going on?

You can ask your GP for the risk analysis check.

[WalkmorePJ in reply to sandybrown]

Not yet. I was keen to try to get my weight down first as he is keen to get me on pills. I’ll ask for the checks. In about four weeks. As I agreed to check back and try to loose some weight first.

[Marz]

Have you had the correct testing for the Thyroid ? The NHS website mentions having the thyroid correctly treated before embarking on Statins. Posting your results may help members to help more with suggestions ...

Weight gain is another Hypothyroid symptom - which I noticed from your other posts ... check the symptoms list in the link below.

thyroiduk.org

[WalkmorePJ in reply to Marz]

I was tested for thyroid issues a few year’s ago and it came back fine.

[Marz in reply to WalkmorePJ]

I have been a member of Thyroid UK here on HU for 9 years and read daily of people being told their Thyroid is fine. Sadly the testing is very poor in the NHS and the test results poorly understood.

So if your TSH was under 2 - your FT4 & Ft3 in the upper part of the range - and Anti-TPO & Anti-Tg were negative - then you could say your results are fine. Mostly only the TSH is tested - telling you very little as it is a Pituitary Hormone - sigh !

You can click onto my username above to check me out - Bio, Posts, Replies ....

[WalkmorePJ in reply to Marz]

Thanks For the help, I look deeper into this,

[Marz in reply to WalkmorePJ]

In my first reply I posted a link - click onto it & then click - About Testing. Private Testing used by 1,000"s as the correct testing is done. Home Testing kits. Medichecks have Special Offers on Thursdays.

Happy to help !

[Fruitandnutcase]

Wow! To Paul’s suggestions- I’m going to work on lots of them.

Agree with Marz, check your thyroid - when my thyroid was very hyper - I’m in remission with Graves’ disease - my cholesterol was the lowest I’ve ever known it, now that I’m in remission and my tsh is increasing so my thyroid is heading towards being hypo but is unfortunately still within ‘the range’ my cholesterol is increasing.

My GP acknowledges the link between low thyroid/ high cholesterol but ‘being within the range’ means she’d rather give me statins than treat my thyroid and get it lower within the range so we’ve reached a sort of stalemate - I don’t want to take statins ( I tried them for a couple of weeks years ago and had problems) and she won’t prescribe thyroxine to lower my tsh. I’m going to work on any of Paul’s suggestions that I’m not already doing.

[Marz]

Any feedback ?

[Lillykims]

My penny worth of advice because of my own experience......avoid statins......I could hardy walk after only taking for two weeks. Thankfully I’m ok now as stopped taking and had a bit of physio and an trying to lower cholesterol with diet. Will see how I go but I defo won’t take statins again. Good luck.

[Hazydaze in reply to Lillykims]

Hi Lillykims, I'm on Atorvastatin but don't really want to take it. Can you tell me a bit more about the side effects you experienced please.

[Lillykims in reply to Hazydaze]

Hi I was prescribed them as I was a bit above the nhs level and was prescribed in January last year and I went on holiday in February. I had been taking them for about 2 weeks then on holiday my legs felt a bit stiff and painful but I thought it was because of all the walking and heels. But on walking down some hotel steps they felt quite weak. I actually took the tablets for two whole weeks then read the leaflet that said could cause muscle pain so I stopped. I had the pain bad all up the back of my calves most of the summer, it was mostly when I actually stood up. Finally I went to docs almost in tears and she said take painkillers and referred me to a physiotherapist who didn’t rule out statin damage but nobody said they were the cause. Anyway I did the exercises she recommended and it eased off.....she said I had reduced muscle mass on my thighs and calves. I am fine now and convinced the statins were the cause but who knows. I now will not under any circumstances take statins after reading up a lot on the arguments about it and I am trying to eat healthier, exercise and lose weight and will get another test in a few months time. I am 63 btw and rarely ill and have taken low blood pressure meds for over 30 years now. Good luck to with your health and maybe read up on it all the statin info and make up your own mind. X

[samara]

Olga