High Cholesterol Support Group

I have been diagnosed with it as well... not sure what it is either.. but do know with time it can block ateries,, I am on medication as well... I take advicor.

I suggest looking on webmd.com for a thorough explanation or speak with your doctor again. It is important that you understand the illness. There is no "at-home" test for high cholesterol and doctor's recommend that your total cholesterol be less than 200. Diet and exercise are essential in lowering your bad cholesterol and increasing your good. Stay away from fried foods, butter, oil, etc. Increase your intake of vegetables and fruits. Good luck!

I decided to have a cholesterol test done once I turned 30 and my ob/gyn said that I probably didn't have anything to worry about because I was small and thin and worked out 5 days a week. Ha! Ha! It came back LDL 180 - HDL 100. This is something that runs in my family and puts me at higher risk. It is also something that can be a bugger to get down. I never ate badly, but it still didn't help. The doctor told me because my good cholesterol is so high that medication at this point was not necessary. I have been watching my diet even more closely, taking fish oil pills and a pill called cholest-off. I have not gotten the test done since then, but I believe it is time to dive in and see if any of this helped. As for your favorite foods, if they are high in saturated fat and/or trans fat, yup, you are gonna have to get rid of them! Sacrifices for better health should never feel like a sacrifice.

I am trying to understand all this cholesterol stuff myself. I recently visited http://www.managingcholesterol.com... this site gives some good insight including the levels of cholesterol. Hope you find it helpful :0)

Me too. I am not a doc but here is what I have learned... LDL is the Low Density lipo protein ( the bad cholestrol - sat fats, triglycerides, etc) HDL High Density Lipoprotein ( the good cholestrol - omega and other essential fatty acids, etc) The HDL carries away the LDL, that is why it is important to eat things like avocados, etc. The LDL in your blood that is not flushed away forms little sticky 'clots' ( for lack of a better word) these sticky clots pass through the bloodstream and eventually cling to the side of the artery walls, and after time, narrows them. That is where the danger of heart attack, stroke may come in. My doc told me to cut out fried foods, mayo, sat fat, triglycerides. Use first cold pressed virgin olive oils and excersize. Apparently excersizing to the point of sweating helps to cleanse the blood. My initial cholestrol was at 218 and I brought it down to 147 just with diet and excersize. So, don't be discouraged. It is a GOOD thing that you are aware of your condition and can take action to reverse it, because in most cases, it is reversable. I hope that helps.

Cholesterol can hit anyone, male, female, thin, obese, young, old.. If it is genetic,(mine is), there is little we can do to completely correct it. You have to be careful of the medications out there as well. Most of the cholesterol meds are STATIN based and cause aches and pains in your muscles.. and can cause serious side effects.
Check with your doctor, sometimes your local city or town Social Services has info available for you as well.
Diet and exercise are helpful as well in lowering cholesterol.Ask your doctor about giving you the ok to do some sort of physical fitness program.. Or Just start walking.
Take Care

Hi Dear,
It does run in the family.
Vytorin works the best for me and my husband.
It is very important to have HDL-good cholestorol as high as possible and LDL-bad cholestorol under 100.
Extra virgin olive oil,fish(sardines, wild salmon) have Omega-3 which are essential for lowering cholestorol.
Red vines,dark grape juce and dark chocolate 70% cocoa or above in samall amount are very good for arteries. And of course exersises and be active.
Good luck
rg48772

You can get good overview information on Cholesterol - or any condition - by clicking on the News & Info tab on DS. Other good sources of information include Mayo - www.mayoclinic.com.

I've been able to dramatically lower my cholesterol through meds (Lipitor) AND lifestyle changes. Now I run and I'm more conscious of the foods I eat. I haven't cut out everything but I do make smarter choices. And, as a nice side effect, I dropped some weight as well. So, think of this as 3 steps - meds, exercise, and food. I think you'll find making minor changes in your life will lead to greatly reduced LDL (bad cholesterol). By the way, you should ask your MD for a referral to see a nutritionist as well.