Cholesterol to take meds or not????

Before I lost my weight, I was on cholesterol medicine for four years or so. At my annual physical, I asked my doctor about going off of it because my legs hurt all the time (I was taking Lipitor). He said that side effect would have been immediate, not cumulative. I went off of it on my own. The following week, when they called to let me know my blood sugar was elevated and they wanted me to come back in two months to have it checked, I told them I had quit taking the Lipitor and already felt better. Long story short, two months later, my blood sugar was still elevated, and my cholesterol had skyrocketed.

My doctor then sent me to a nutritionist who basically told me....write down everything you eat, keep your total carbs to 15 or under (15 grams = 1 carb), and try to get some exercise.....I had been walking on a daily basis, but after I started to lose some weight doing this, I bought a treadmill, and then (despite getting shin splints so bad I needed some surgery), the weight really started coming off. In about 15 months, I lost right at 70 pounds. I regained about 20 (but was still in a healthy weight range), have lost five of that, and would like to lost 10 more.

Yes, cholesterol is both a combination of diet and heredity....but if you can lose the weight, you may be able to avoid the medicine. Since I lost the weight 3+ years ago, my cholesterol and blood sugar levels have both been in normal ranges, and the only prescription medicine I take is for hypothyroidism.
K

The first time the dr. said I had high cholesterol I was 11. Since then it has been up and down depending on how much junk I had eaten that year. Everybody on my mom's side of family has very high Cholesterol. Mine right now is 233 and I also refused to take meds. At this tiem what really scared me was my triglicerides at 500. Our body produces cholesterol (it is not fat, it is a waxy thing that if we have too much it accumulates in the arteries) plus we also get it from food. After convincing my dr. that I need to try to lower it without meds he told me to keep cholesterol intake to 180mg a day. So far so go. Also to keep fat intake to 20% of total calories to lower triglicerides (triglicerides is fat that we eat.). So far so good too!
When taking any kind fat choose the monounsaturates one: olives, olive oil and other oils such as saffoil and sunflower oil, nuts/seeds and dark chocolate. In a very small amount b/c they are full of calories like all fats. But these ones can actually improve cholesterol and heart conditions.
I take up to 4000mg of fish oil everyday and up to 2 tbsp of flaxseeds everyday.
My mom has very high cholesterol even after keeping a very restricted diet, working out one hour 5 days a week and taking medicine. It is hereditary but it need to be controled.
I will be rechecking my cholesterol and triglicerides next month, cant wait to see improvements. I really dont want to go into meds yet.

Hello fellow cholesterol fighters!

Hope you are all well!

It is nice to know there is a group on here for high cholesterol issues! I was very relieved to find some 'friends' who I can relate to!

Ok so here is my background story/sob story:

I have always been healthy and relatively active so it came as a huge surprise when I was told I have insanely high cholesterol levels 9.8 mmols (normal for my age is 3) which is about 3.2 g/l (normal for my age is 1.5). the first time I found out about the high levels was about 2 months ago - at that time it was 9.6. I started going on a diet and since then lost 3 kilos and ate lots of fish, olive oil, avocados etc .

Yesterday I consulted my doctor after being on a diet for about two months and had another blood test only to find out it went to 9.8!! The doctor then explained that my cholesterol is a hereditary condition (yes I was also very dubious at first!) and no matter how hard I exercise or diet, without medication it will not go down. She was very shocked at ages 28, it was so high!
So as of yesterday I have been taking pills called CRESTOR 5mg which of course was very hard to accept! i never had to take any pills or meds in my life!!!

So I have now decided to exercise a lot more and keep up the diet as I don't wanna die young .... not to mention having to take meds my whole life!

So if you are in the same position, please share your story and feel free to add me!!!

All the best,

your new friend!

Fat Fighter!

ty for your support

Got my counts under control with hard excercise and healthier eating. My mom's whole side has high cholesterol so I got some of that, plus years of not-so-great food choices. When I first was made aware of it, I THOUGHT I made some changes that would help. I re-tested and was still high so they put me on a med. It helped my counts but not a ton. I decided to get serious and got off the meds, started working out a ton (safely building up, of course) and watching the diet even closer. Got re-tested again and counts were better than when on meds! So now I keep up what's worked for me which is hard, kick your butt, excercise 5-6X/week.

I use flax seed but not fish oil. Fish oil seems to have some controversy. My doc said it wouldnt do much for me, but my parents doc and a trainer-friend suggests it. Who knows. I also read some articles how there is limited control as to what actually gets put into fish oil and there was some scary and yucky test results. Good luck!

I know I am jumping on this thread late but was browsing through the comments looking for similar information. In June of last year I was told that my cholesterol was way to high. I don't remember the number but it wasn't healthy and actually scared me. I have been fighting going on cholesterol meds for the past 2 years and when my doctor told me that my cholesterol was the super sticky kind (there are 3 kinds: A, AB, and if I didn't do something I was going to die a young death, I decided it was time to get out of denial and do something about it. I was scared to start taking the meds. They put me on Crestor first and I didn't tolerate it very well. They then changed me to pravastatin and I have had NO problems whatsoever with it. I also take an aspirin and I HIGHLY recommend that if you don't take the meds for cholesterol, please be sure to take an aspirin if you can tolerate it. If you haven't been told (or tested) to see how sticky the cholesterol is, please do so. It is so important to be informed and learn how you can make the changes in your body so you can be healthier. I asked the doc if I would be on it for the rest of my life and she said that I didn't have to be if I made the right changes. So, our deal is this, I lose 50 lbs. and then go off the meds for 3 months and get my bloodwork checked. If it remains within range then I can consider myself off the meds with a promise to have it checked 2 times a year to make sure everything keeps looking good! I will stay on aspirin no matter what. Hang in there...know there are others out there who struggle with those decisions as well and do what is best for you.

what meds do you guys take? I am on Crestor (1 month so far) but it is giving me headaches! anyone else experienced this? if u have changed meds, what do u take now?

ty!

what meds do you guys take? I am on Crestor (1 month so far) but it is giving me headaches! anyone else experienced this? if u have changed meds, what do u take now?

ty!

I took Crestor and had headaches as well as feeling as if someone was poking me with a needle in my legs and arms. Crestor is one of the stronger ones. I am now on Pravachol and have had ZERO complications.

Soyos...in an ideal world we would all be healthy and wouldn't need to have this discussion. Statins have saved millions of lives in helping to prevent heart attacks. It is a preventative medication that is proven safe and effective. In an ideal world my husband wouldn't have been born with a genetic disorder that raises his cholesterol to dangerous levels. For people like him, it is the only solution. For people like me...diet and exercise will help but until I reach that point, I am very grateful that there is a medication out there that will protect my heart and keep the cholesterol from causing a blockage that could kill me. I'm pretty psyched about seeing my children grow up and meeting my grandkids one day.