Newbie needs help - High Cholesterol Message Board

MovieMkr00 · 12-28-2004, 11:21 AM

This is my first post here. After sitting up til 2:40 last night reading
posts, I have no idea what to do.

I recently had blood work done along with an EKG for chest pains but I am pretty sure its real severe heart burn. My doctor has given me pills for that and seem to make a difference. Anyway my blood results came back that I have high cholesterol.

I am 34
5'9"
240 lbs
Chol - 257
LDL - 150
HDL - 50
Tri - 287

I love to eat, havent excersised in a long time, have chewed tobacco for about 10 years and have sleep apnia. I also had a body scan about 5 years ago when I was having chest pains (heartburn) and they said I had a less than 1% chance of having a heart attack. So now ive got high cholesterol which my cousin who is a doctor says isnt all that high and just need to excersise and eat right. But I am here to get other opinions and see what is the best thing to do.

Is my cholesterol that bad? My doctor gave me a statin (I will have to get the name of it later, not one of the common ones) but after reading here and the label for the medicine about the side effects. I am scared. I took one pill so far and that was last night. I felt funny so I think I might stop.

There is just too much information on here about alternatives, how can I decide what to do.

Choloristaid (sp?)
Red Rice Yeast
Niacin
CO10
Power protien diet
How about Bios Life 2 ?
and the list goes on and on.

Thank you in advance,

Kevin

Lenin · 12-28-2004, 11:42 AM

Hi Movie Maker..

Your cholesterol numbers are bad...but not much worse than average. At 5'9 and 240# you are the magic word: (I apologise in advance) OBESE.

Your worst number, the ratio of Total Cholesterol to High density lipoprotein is 257/50 = 5.1. This should be below 4.

A big heads up is the CHEST PAIN = HEART BURN diagnosis...I got it often: Mine was REALLY heart disease. Add that to your sleep apnea and the net is that you MUST do a few things.

Take the statin for awhile and see how you feel and see if it gets your TC and LDL down.

Maybe toss the "chaw."

ps...that "ok" EKG is really NO guarantee against heart disease, it really isn't.

Can you run a mile in 12 minutes?...better yet, 1.25 miles? When's the last time you tried.

I wish you the best, Kevin. (And lose 60 pounds

)

Moxie75 · 12-28-2004, 11:44 AM

Your cousin is right. I'd start by excercising and eating right first then get your blood work done after losing weight and getting fit. If the Cholesterol goes down then you will be fine and no need for meds. It's worth a try and alot better for you than taking meds. Good luck, Lisa

MovieMkr00 · 12-28-2004, 12:58 PM

I am planning on starting to excercise after New Years, with all of the
Holiday stuff going on its hard to work out and eat right.

As for the test I had that I said was OK was a Heart Scan which shows calcium build up. That is the one they said I had a slim chance of a heart attack. The EKG came out good but I didnt put any weight on it.

As for the Heartburn - it all started a few years ago. I eat VERY spicy foods, nothing really bothers me so the spicier the better. Cyenne pepper sauce on hamburgers, chili peppers on pizza, jalepeno's straight, you name it I get the hottest stuff and put it on everything. Even eat habenaro's from time to time.

I am pretty sure that is what it is, since I have taken Prilosec it has gotten better and now im on Aciphex. I mainly only have pains now at night, occasionally during the day. No pains with exersion.

What about the power protein diet or the bios life 2, read that on here somwhere. Any good?

Uff-Da! · 12-28-2004, 02:09 PM

Your numbers are high but IMHO not so high that there isn't a fair chance you could get them under control with change of lifestyle alone, as your doctor cousin suggested. But are you willing to accept a major change in lifestyle? As I see it that would involve, in order of priority:
1. Lose weight
2. Improve diet. Cut out sugars and products made with white flour. Eat little saturated (in meat and fatty dairy) and trans fats (in fried food and convenience foods), cut way back on omega-6 fats like corn oil, sunflower oil and sunflower oil, but eat fish and fish oil, canola oil and flaxseed oil. Eat vegetables and fruit, preferably 7 or more servings a day, but stick to mostly lower calorie ones, since you'll be trying to lose weight.
3. Exercise regularly.
4. Kick the chew.

If you choose to do the above, you will no doubt improve not only your health regarding your lipid profile alone, but your health in a number of other aspects as well.

My numbers were a little worse than yours at their worst. I wasn't overweight, though. Though I have changed my diet considerably (goodbye ice cream and soda pop!), and am still making changes, I improved my numbers but not enough. And since I'm just too lazy to exercise as much as I should, I am taking niacin to get the numbers down where they belong, but at least I'm taking less than I'd have to without the dietary changes. I'm still trying to work at that exercise motivation.

I know nothing about power protein diet or the bios life 2, so I can't advise you there.