High triglycerides and cholesterol?

Queen_JessieA
Queen_JessieA Posts: 1,059 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have known for years that my tris and cholesterol are high. Have been taking fish oil and flax oil and the numbers keep going up. Not only does mine stem from weight, it is also a hereditary thing. My three kids have high cholesterol (they were diagnosed when they wer 3,6 and 9 years old).

My dr. Didn't immediately upt me on a statin (thankfully) but she did put me on Lopid.

Anyone have any advice on this? Have you had good luck with this drug lowering triglycerides? Mine were 333 and my good cholesterolol was only 32. Total was 205.

Replies

  • SamirHasanAli1994
    SamirHasanAli1994 Posts: 3
    Even I have high cholesterol levels. It was 232. Have lots of fruits and vegetables (like Apples, Spinach, Peas and Green Tea (A MUST) etc) and do exercise at least one hour daily. Continue this for a month. Then have a check up again. U should see the difference.
  • SamirHasanAli1994
    SamirHasanAli1994 Posts: 3
    As far as possible, avoid fried items. Oil and ghee items increase fat and cholesterol. Reduce the intake of salt and stay away from Non-Veg items. Do not take any pills. They might have side-effects on your body.
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
    I have familial hypercholesterolaemia, but normal triglycerides. I don't know how to compare them to your levels as we use different units in the UK.

    I've been on statins for over 10 years now with no noticeable side-effects. My "bad" cholesterol had been creeping up as I gained weight over the past few years, but since I lost weight this year my statin dosage has been reduced as the levels have gone down.

    Losing excess weight, keeping active and eating a healthy diet low in saturated fat is what's recommended & what I've been doing.

    And the other thing is - don't beat yourself up about having this. You're no more to blame than a Type 1 diabetic is for having diabetes. It's your genes - you can make it a little worse through a poor lifestyle, but the amount you can reduce cholesterol and triglycerides through dietary manipulation is very limited.

    In my case, the mechanism for clearing "bad" cholesterol from the blood doesn't work properly, so my liver makes it from fats in the diet as normal, but it doesn't get taken up as it should. There are worse problems to have.....
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    Flax oil is not all it's cracked up to be, the conversion rate from short chain omega-3 to the useable long chain format can be as low as 10% so doses can be prohibitive. If you do have flax go for ground seeds for the fibre content as well as the oil: you presumably already know that fibre, both soluble and insoluble, is important? Watch your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.

    There is interesting early research on various antioxidant rich foodstuffs (polyphenols/ flavonoids) from standardised green tea extract to grapefruits to berries.Avoid sugar and refined carbs like the plaque and limit high glycaemic index carbs, it's actually blood glucose that is believed to damage the lining of the blood vessels allowing cholesterol plaques to form. Lastly physical activity can be highly beneficial, if you are otherwise healthy and get clearance from your doctor high intensity exercise is most effective. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
  • mikeyrs
    mikeyrs Posts: 176 Member
    Cut out all baked goods and starches totally for 30 days. No bread, no white potatoes, no pasta, no sweets for 30 days. Eat one grapefruit and two apples (I prefer Granny Smith) everyday in between your three meals. Add Psyllium Husks Powder to a tall glass of water and drink it quickly (three times a day). For breakfast, add one tablespoon of Ground Flaxseed to a daily portion of instant oatmeal. For lunch, add one tablespoon of ground Flaxseed to your salad (or your soup) and add one ounce of unsalted mixed nuts on top of the salad. For dinner twice each week, wild salmon topped with Flaxseed oil and sliced almonds or walnuts on a bed of fresh spinach with garlic sauteed in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. If you have a Walgreens pharmacy nearby, purchase Quest Products' Cardio Chews which include plant sterols that block dietary cholesterol and actively reduce LDL Cholesterol by 15% or so. Adults take up to two pieces of the cherry flavored Cardio Chews per day before a meal. You can also find at your supermarket Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juice, Promise Activ breakfast spreads as a substitute for butter, and other foods like whole grain breads that include plant sterols to reduce Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol while increasing HDL cholesterol. Following much of the above advice, I reduced my Cholesterol from 230 to 163 in three months and reduced my Triglycerides by half to 90. The American Heart Association has a lot of great diet and lifestyle tips that will help you reduce your cholesterol. Google them for lots of useful info.
  • d_Mode
    d_Mode Posts: 880 Member
    Two years ago my cholesterol was 975...my triglycerides were above 4,000...I also found out I was diabetic.
    I was put on metformin, tricor and lisinopril. I was also taking insulin injections 4x per day...

    Since then I've begun watching what I eat, stick to a 1700 calorie diet and do my best to get in at least 30 minutes of cardio 3-4 times per week.

    As of last month, I have been taken off my insulin, tricor and lisinopril.

    My cholesterol was at 114 and triglycerides were at 131. I've managed to drop my A1c from 16.3 to 6.1...
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
    I agree with the first guy. Eat a very low fat diet, with nothing but fruits, vegetables, legumes and possibly whole grains for a month and then get your blood re-checked.

    Check into the work of Caldwell Esselstyn and Dean Ornish. They have both been very successful with reversing heart disease, and lowering cholesterol with nutrition.

    Here is a presentation from Dr. Esselstyn
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTf0z_zVs0

    Also, it is not a fix for a bad diet, but fasting can lower your triglycerides and cholesterol. It's only worthwhile if you eat a proper diet after the fast.
    For more info:
    http://www.healthpromoting.com/
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    Trigs in the blood are generally from the over consumption of carbs and generally the refined type....reduce them and trigs will come down.
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
    I agree with the first guy. Eat a very low fat diet, with nothing but fruits, vegetables, legumes and possibly whole grains for a month and then get your blood re-checked.

    Check into the work of Caldwell Esselstyn and Dean Ornish. They have both been very successful with reversing heart disease, and lowering cholesterol with nutrition.

    Here is a presentation from Dr. Esselstyn
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTf0z_zVs0

    Also, it is not a fix for a bad diet, but fasting can lower your triglycerides and cholesterol. It's only worthwhile if you eat a proper diet after the fast.
    For more info:
    http://www.healthpromoting.com/

    I tried a vegan diet for 6 weeks before I went on statins & my cholesterol went up, so I don't recommend that. I do intermittent fasting when I can (not always possible with work commitments)
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
    I tried a vegan diet for 6 weeks before I went on statins & my cholesterol went up, so I don't recommend that. I do intermittent fasting when I can (not always possible with work commitments)
    Were you on a whole foods, low-fat diet?
  • ShawnNhGa1977
    ShawnNhGa1977 Posts: 56 Member
    my triq was 35 cholesterol total of 170
  • clobercow
    clobercow Posts: 337 Member
    I've done some reading on how statins are useless and a waste of money especially for women. I'm not sure exactly how true that is. It's worth mentioning if only to get you to investigate more.

    I have also read, that regardless of diet type, being in a caloric deficit helps lower cholesterol levels to "healthy" levels. If you go low fat, low carb, what ever, there are general improvements across the board. Low carb seems to have more of an impact though. (not high protein)

    The "quotes" were because there seems to be no consensus on healthy levels.

    The best thing you can do for yourself is to not be fat phobic and try to be in a caloric deficit. If you do it with intermittent fasting or just general daily caloric reduction, then generally, you should have improvement. My tri's and cholesterol shot down dramatically shortly after starting IF.

    Also, you could consider eating a low inflammatory diet and consider dropping wheat out of your diet. I've seen studies that show that wheat alone increases cholesterol in a bad way.

    That is all subject to other variables of course, but maybe you can look into them and see if you can get results.
  • dogladytwo
    dogladytwo Posts: 97 Member
    I lowered my cholesterol from 375 to 210, triglycrides down from 241 to 109, ldl from 186 to 133. Low fat, high fiber, avoid 'pointless carbs (ones with no fiber) , eat salmon a couple of times a week, exercise 4X week (cardio 30 mins). it worked for me! oh, and have lost 67 lbs so far. a nice bonus!
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    my triq was 35 cholesterol total of 170
    Nice, my trigs have been in the 30's for a couple of years, and my cholesterol is just over 200, which would normally be a prescription for statins, but thankfully my Dr. knows what HDL of 105 means.
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
    I tried a vegan diet for 6 weeks before I went on statins & my cholesterol went up, so I don't recommend that. I do intermittent fasting when I can (not always possible with work commitments)
    Were you on a whole foods, low-fat diet?

    Whole foods, lots of oatbran in sort of fat free home made "crackers" (I got the recipe from a "Lower your cholesterol the natural way"-type book, can't remember what it was called) with mushroom paste, tofu (yuck), vegetables, fruit, beans and lentils, no animal products at all, no vegetable margarine either. I found it really, REALLY hard - and after 6 weeks my cholesterol was higher than before! (And the "gas" was so bad my OH was threatening to leave, almost!) Was I hacked off!?! (You could say that!)

    I buried my head in the sand and ignored the whole cholesterol business for several years after that...... Eventually the statins got the cholesterol under control, but a small dose isn't enough.

    All my siblings are naturally skinny (I'm the only fat one in the family) and some of my kids (ironically, the thinnest ones) all have sky-high cholesterols if not treated.
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
    I've not been on that particular med. But I was on Tricor for the trig and Prevastatin for the chol. Since losing wenuight, my trig medicine has totally been discontinued and my Prevastation has been cut in half. During my last blood work last month, both of those numbers were between 115-120. Also my BP meds have been discontinued except for one small dose and I was on four different kinds of BP meds. My last two blood workups are the best they have ever been. Everything is now in the normal category.

    I was afraid when he discontinued my Tricor and reduced my Prevastation that my numbers would go up, so I asked my doctor what particular foods should I avoid to keep that from happening. He said the top 3 things to avoid was any kind of white bread, any thing made with white potatoes and beer.
  • Queen_JessieA
    Queen_JessieA Posts: 1,059 Member
    Thanks for the replies, guys! So sorry for it taking me so long to respond. I can't access the community boards thru the mobile app and my computer died back in October. So it is rare for me to be able to snag my husbands work computer.

    But I will check into all the suggestions! Y'all are awesome :)
  • EdwarddeVere
    EdwarddeVere Posts: 178
    Sounds like a kidney deficiency

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