Cholesterol

HI there,

I have high cholesterol - 7.6 just now and has been 8.4 in the past - healthy lifestyle etc - told by Gp possibly genetic. Not on statins.

OK - so here is my theory and both my GP and the endo didn't agree with my thoughts.

If your thyroid is working very slowly and your metabolism is slow - hence weight gain etc etc - how about how we metabolise fats and if that is slow then then can sit in the body longer adn hey presto, high cholesterol!!!!????

Others thoughts would be interesting?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

In the earlier part of the 20th century, before the days of thyroid tests (whether TSH or directly of thyroid hormones) doctors used cholesterol levels as an indicator of thyroid problems.

A lot of the cholesterol in your body is made within your liver rather than absorbed from the gut. The amount produced is related to the amount of raw material (e.g. sugars in ther blood stream from ingested sugars and starches) and thyroid hormone (less thyroid hormone, more cholesterol).

So I end up agreeing that high cholesterol can be due to low thyroid hormone levels - but not about the mechanism. And I would have expected fully treated hypothyroidism to normalise cholesterol levels.

And folks, be very wary of statins (especially Cerivastatin) if you are hypothyroid. The rates of statin-related 'side effects' such as muscle problems (myalgia, rhabdomyolysis, myositis, weakness and cramps) are higher than than in the general population. I commend at least a brief reading of this article:

medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier...

Rod

[RedApple Administrator]

Hi Stacey,

I am very surprised that your endo does not seem to be aware of the connection between low thyroid hormone levels and high cholesterol. GPs may not be quite so clued up, but this is basic info for any endo I would have thought. In your position, I would certainly be refusing statins until I was sure my thyroid levels were where they should be.

[Hidden in reply to RedApple]

Hi all and thanks for replies - 7 yrs ago I was put on Simvastatin for 6 months and I went from 8.something to 5.something - BUT, my hair seemed to thin out and when I spoke with someone else who was on them they said that they stopped taking them as they ached and noticed their hair thinning. This time round my GP did some calcualtion thing on his computer in frontof me and said that I had very low chances of heart probs etc and he wasn't going to suggest statins anyway - so that is something. But the Endo (remember he was a gynae one) said he would expect that with my levels I should be treated with presumably a statin.

I am hoping to get a diagnosis and making decisions on treatment and then I can see how my cholesterol drops! I will then make sure that my GP is a bit more clued up by the proof I present.

Thanks

[suki65]

hi also what people are doing wrong we can eat till as late as possible so sleeping on lots of sugar in your body so this is then turned into fat rather than giving your body a break from food say 4 hours before you go to bed then while sleeping your body is using up fat not sugar stored when you wake you should wait a few hours or so to use energy from the fat that has been stored then eat as late as possible I eat between 11am and 7pm every day at weekends I allow myself one day of eating a little later but sometimes that makes me feel a little unwell ,this process is keeping my cholesterol levels down with the help of 1000ug b12 tablet