Does anyone have experience of increased stress levels increasing cholesterol levels?

[pinkrattan]

[2squirrels]

My stress levels always increase with any extra medication as I take a lot already but the pains which I got once taking simvastatin increased the stress enormously and I have them changed but it seems everybody is different and different statins suit different people.

[pinkrattan in reply to 2squirrels]

Thanks for this. I was thinking of it the other way round. Does being stressed make cholesterol levels rise? I seem to have experienced this.

Hope you are ok.

[foxyrobyn]

I get stressed, and i would say that stress could be a factor to cholesterol rising.... but im not an expert- just a personal opinion. My levels were high and yet i have got them to drop- despite doctors telling me diet and exersize alone wont drop the levels down enough - so i think stress may also play a factor.

Ive discovered i suffer with anxiety lol

[pinkrattan in reply to foxyrobyn]

Yes, it is something I have noticed, but like you, it is a personal opinion. I just can't see another reason for a dramatic rise in cholesterol levels which I am showing at the moment. And think this happened before. I too suffer from anxiety. Thanks for your comment.

[Hidden]

How do you measure stress? How long is a piece of string?

[pinkrattan in reply to Hidden]

Very true. But as an anxious person, I can feel it. Having suffered recent bereavement, facing a house move, having dependent with mental health problems to consider, and another recent family crisis ... I think I am stressed! But I'll recover.

[Hidden]

I'm not denying that you can 'feel' stressed out, I think my own illness has a stress base but how do you correlate it to any medications that you take?

So for example, I have an under-active thyroid, most likely caused by stress which in turn led to an elevated cholesterol and a heart attack. But by the same token, heart attacks can be caused by stress (I don't have a high cholesterol diet) and too much sugar.

[patch14]

Hello pinkrattan, I am not surprised your cholesterol levels are up!" Stress is one of the main causes of raised Blood Pressure, Cholesterol figures rising, heart stress and various other physical and mental troubles. With all your troubles that you have been having lately it is no surprise that your Cholesterol levels are up.

There are many ways of dealing with stress. There is medication, (I, personally, don't like to resolve problems with pills,) there is exercise (OK if your are fit) but if you can manage a daily walk just to blow away the cobwebs and get some endorphins moving (a natural way to calm the stresses of life) in the brain all the better. Perhaps some "me" time - a long soak in the bath with a good book, some nice music and some lovely bubbles - something to look forward to at the end of the day?

Hope you get to see some results very soon. All the best

[pinkrattan in reply to patch14]

Thanks. Sort of fits with my thoughts. Have started the walking regime and will try some meditation time. Onwards and upwards!

[foodblog]

Yes, stress does raise cholesterol levels.

When we are stressed, various hormones are released into our bloodstream from the hypothalamus in the brain. These hormones, cortisol and adrenalin, provide us with the extra energy we need to run or fight ie the flght or flight response. These hormones also trigger the production of cholesterol .Extra sugar is needed by the body to increase our activity level in running or fighting the stressor. Once that may have been a lion about to eat us but nowadays it is more likely to be too much work, family pressure,illness and so on. In other words not something we run away from or fight. So in not using up the extra sugar, it remains in our system and is converted into fatty acids and cholesterol.

To add to this, many of us deal with stress by eating high fat food, drinking too much alcohol and smoking - all of which raise cholesterol.

A study at University College London found that people differ in how their cholesterol level responds to stress. Some people have a large increase in the short term while others respond very little.

You can read more about the details of this on my website fromthehealtyheart.com . I address this very issue over three days this week in my blog. Look out for day 73 and 74 which will be posted this week.

[ashokbapu]

dear friend, you know stress is the root cause of all degenerative diseases like hypertension, caronary artery disease,diabetes, arthritis,asthma and kidney diseases.,cancer etc.stress elevates cholestrol sugar levels.you can try sress releving nutitional medicines like aswagandha,ginseng,and tranquilising medicines like valeriana,chamamilla,theonine,kava kava and anti oxidants multi vitmins,omega3 fish oil capsules,niacin,pumpkin seed oil capsules etc.take healthy diet. do yogic breathing daily.take plenty of fruits and vegatables.you can get relef.