Had some blood work done last week and the results where good cholesterol was 248 and the bad was 178. I don't really understand any of this. He put me on cholesterol meds, but I was there for other reasons and didn't ask much about the cholesterol. I go back in one month for a liver test.
Could someone explain bad, good, what total cholesterol means, etc. Would really like to understand this.
Most cholesterol reports show total, HDL, and triglycerides. For triglycerides that are not very high, VLDL is approximated by triglycerides / 5. LDL is then calculated as total - HDL - VLDL. More expensive tests find LDL directly, and may include other tests like HDL and LDL particle size (which can indicate how dangerous high LDL is), Lp(a), etc..
If your HDL is 248 mg/dl, that is extremely high. Are you sure that that is HDL, not total cholesterol?
There are lifestyle changes that can improve blood cholesterol levels, such as avoiding bad fats and bad carbs, increasing exercise, and losing excess body fat.
Sounds to me like your total cholesterol is the 248 and your LDL (bad cholesterol) is 178. Usually your HDL (good cholesterol) is suppose to be above 45-50, the higher the better.
I know they keep lowering the guidelines, but last report I got was..your total should be below 200...LDL below 135....HDL above 40 and Trigs below 150. This is all off the top of my head right now as I didn't look it up. Some Drs. are a bit more number happy then others so an increase here or there doesn't make them nuts and want to shove you on meds. others get nuts if your even slightly over.
Definately try diet and exercise to try and lower your numbers as statins can have some nasty side effects. I tried them once, and will never take them again. I am extremely sensative to meds., so they raised havoc with me.
Good luck....JJ
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