Cholesterol much too low - help!

[Smiekie_t]

Hi there! I understand most of you have high cholesterol. I had a blood test today for my work. Everything fine except for extremely low cholesterol. Thing is, they said that low cholesterol doesn't matter, but now I've looked on Google, and there's lots of research saying low cholesterol can be a marker for cancer. Is there anyone who has experience with really low cholesterol?

These are my readings:

Total Cholesterol: 2.4 mmol/l

HDL: 1.16 mmol/l

LDL: 0.92 mmol/l

So it's all pretty low. Any advice is much appreciated.

[sandybrown]

Hi,

I am afraid your total cholesterol is very low. Please check with your doctor.

Human body need cholesterol to function properly. In my case after taking statin medication for 4 weeks my total cholesterol came down to 2.8 mmol/L

My doctor wanted me to take medication for 6 months and go for a test but I took my test at the local chemist after 4wweks. That was a last of my statin medication. My life style change is helping me to control cholesterol and blood glucose.

How is you general health, blood pressure , blood glucose, are you on any medication and weight ?

Take care.

[Smiekie_t in reply to sandybrown]

Thank you. Yes, I'm quite worried that I have some underlying health issue. I haven't been feeling well for over a year. Lots of heart palps, digestive issues, anxiety. My gp keeps saying to reduce stress, but I thought stress would increase cholesterol, not lower it. My glucose levels are 5.2, which I think is okay.

[arty_sax in reply to sandybrown]

Mine was 0.8 for 6 months after taking statins!!

[sandybrown in reply to arty_sax]

This is the first time I have read very low cholesterol of 0.8.

Could you please give more information on how your daily activities go.

What is you daily dosage of statin and any side effect.

Did the doctor say if your blood cholesterol can go to a negative number?

Thanks.

Take care.

[arty_sax in reply to sandybrown]

80mg a day... Slight effects... Vit d deficient for a while... I sometimes miss it ir go half doses as 5 years now..

[Smiekie_t in reply to sandybrown]

My doctor says there's no such thing as too low cholesterol and I shouldn't be worried. I'm not convinced

[Berkoff]

Hi Had stent 18 months ago ...all good now ...cholesterol now 2,2 and doc very pleased with this and told me to try and maintain this so dont think there is any need to worry in my opinion,

[arty_sax]

2.4??? Its not too low... Its perfect.

[Batty1]

Do you have graves disease and you stated you suffer from palpitations? I bet you have graves disease. You need to have a complete thyroid panel done.

Low cholesterol has also been implicated in people with dementia. My father in law has always had low cholesterol and now he has dementia.

[Smiekie_t in reply to Batty1]

Could very well be! I was thinking of hyperthyroidism, but my TSH came in at 0.95. Although I've also heard it's not always detected if you test TSH alone.

[Batty1 in reply to Smiekie_t]

0.95 what is the lab range ? You should post your thyroid labs and ranges on theThyroid site here to me it appears you have hyperthyroidism.

[Smiekie_t in reply to Batty1]

Good advice. Apparently TSH levels typically fall between 0.4 and 4.0 milliunits per liter (mU/L). So I'm low but not below range.

[Batty1 in reply to Smiekie_t]

True but their is more to thyroid then the dreaded TSH test you need FT3, FT4, T3, T4 and antibodies tested.... A low TSH does not necessarily mean your hyper but a high FT3 can mean you are and rarely does any doctor test the FT3 levels. I have a TSH of .25 and I have no palpitations or excessive sweating and any other hyper symptom so don’t hang your hat on the TSH alone to see if your hyper.

[Smiekie_t]

I'll have to do it privately then, because my Dr thinks she's ruled out everything. I've caught her numerous times making incorrect statements. I'm one of those know it all patients and I think she pretty much hates me 😅