opinions?? - High Cholesterol Message Board

sailorbysea2000 · 09-09-2003, 08:20 AM

hi ~ i posted here a few months ago after having blood work done...after having three repeat tests to rule out lab mistake i was told my total cholesterol was 397...i did not know the other numbers when i posted.. i started lipitor and after two weeks i thought i was dying...i was soo weak..my legs ached...i did not know this was a side effect of the medicine...so i called the dr and he changed me to pravachol...well, that did not seem to make me feel much better so i just completely stopped taking them...

last week i went to a new dr....my old one stopped taking my insurance!! she repeated the tests and they came back with total as being 297 ( almost 100 lower than the other tests) and the ldl was 199....don't remember the hdl but she said it wasn't too bad....she wanted me to try the lipitor again but i think i want to wait and see if the #'s come down on their own...

has anyone ever heard of this before?? i didn't really change my diet....i exercise just like i did before...i am 37...female....vegetarian....with family heart history ( mother died of heart failure and father had heart attack)...

i am really looking for a vitamin or supplement to take to help here....any replies appreciated....

cutup · 09-09-2003, 08:44 AM

First of all I would not wait to see if numbers come down on their own. Some of your numbers are way up there and with your family history of both parents having CAD you are at risk. Yes you are only 37, but trust me you are not too young to have a heart attack. I knew that I had a family history with my father having his heart attack at 59. I didn't think I would have to worry until I was an old woman. I was only 41 and my numbers were not even close to what yours are.
If you want to try to bring the numbers down by exercising and eating a heart healthy diet that is great, but if you've been exercising and have been vegetarian for quite some time it obviously is not working well for you.
Some people do have side effects from the statin drugs. There are others besides the two that you have mentioned.
Either way you really need to be under a physicians care and the two of you working together to get you down to some healthier numbers. It would be helpful if you knew what your HDL was. If you really wanted to know you could request medical records that should have that information there.

zip2play · 09-11-2003, 07:52 AM

sailor,

With that family history and those cholesterol numbers, you MUST get your cholesterol under control.

Too bad about the reaction to the statins. Why not explore some of the other drug choices to get things better in hand. There are cholesterol sequestering agents which remove cholesterol from you gut and high dose niacin which helps many people (IF you can take it).

But do SOMETHING. Since you are already a vegetarian, dietary changes can't very well be counted on. Certainly your intake of saturated fats must be far lower than average.

Do you eat fish? If so, increasing it and taking fish oil supplements is always a good idea.

sailorbysea2000 · 09-11-2003, 09:56 PM

thanks for the replies.....i really appreciate any input i can get....i am new to all of this...i just don't understand how my numbers can be what they are...i cannot lie and say i am a total health nut..i have 4 kids and it is easy to eat their junk food sometimes!! but for the most part i try to watch what i eat...i had a hysterectomy and my ovaries removed a few years ago and keep wondering if that has any part in the numbers but the doctors say no....my stress level is way high with four kids, two dogs and ex husband!!! the last doctor i saw said he thought i had inherited high cholesterol....i was just a kid when my mom had her heart attack so i really don't remember it that well...but she smoked, ate high fat diet( but was thin!), and led a very stressful life...my dad's heart attack was due to high cholesterol and stress...the drugs that i have tried just make me soo sick ..plus they are soooo expensive...i only have another few months of health insurance due to the divorce...so i wish i could find a vitamin or supplement to help bring the numbers down...

zip2play · 09-12-2003, 07:19 AM

The one BEST thing you can do is to add fish oils to your diet.
This will at least increase your protective HDL til you can do more.

[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 09-14-2003).]