Medical & HealthNews and debate about medical and health issues as they relate to aircrews and aviation. Any information gleaned from this forum MUST be backed up by consulting your state-registered health professional or AME.
I just had a blood test and my cholesterol count was 6.4 which is a tad high. I thought the upper limit was 5 but its apparently 4.
I must admit I had been caning the old saturated fats recently, so fair enough, I've got to cut back.
I'm eating sardines, fish etc and in place of butter I have bought some vile Flora stuff which is supposed to lower your cholesterol. I'm also drinking some yoghurt concotion which claims to do the same.
And yet some brochure I've just read from the British Heart Foundation says improving my diet can reduce cholesterol by 'up to 10 percent.' Surely this is cobblers? I thought cholesterol count was mainly due to your diet?
If that 'up to 10 percent' is right I think I may just go back to enjoying Haagen Dazs!
How else do I get my cholesterol count down?
Any tips gratefully received, and yes, I know some miscreant is going to post a picture of a ginormous fry-up on here.....
Edited to add the doctor didn't want to put me cholesterol reducing drugs.
Location: Home- The place that, when you have to go there, they have to let you in.
Age: 41
Posts: 49
My cholesterol is at 250-ish... Obviously not much standardization across the EU, maybe something they should look into?
My reading is somewhat high, but my doctor (fat-ish, with a gigantic bushy beard, looks somewhat like a pirate, a little worse for the wear) told me that there is no "absolute" in this respect- I am close to 42, and weigh around 63 Kg fresh out of the shower- I am also "hyper-nervous", ie my fingernails are chewed to the quick (since I was 7), and I always shake- Not debilitating, but there is a definite permanent tremor to my hands.
So- I currently have a fast metabolism and pay scant attention to my diet. Doc says that while my reading is on the high side, I shouldn't worry overmuch
Also there should be 2 readings- the "good" cholesterol, and the "bad"...
I guess if you're not on lowering drugs you are basically OK
I wouldn't settle for less than a good 23 or 24 cholesterol count.
Oh, and wait a few weeks a some new study will tell you that high cholesterol is ideal. And you should:
1) drink like a fish / not drink at all
2) smoke until you can't see youself in the mirror through the fog / do not smoke
3) eat 5 weekly doses of oily fish and die from mercury poisoning
4) eat 5 daily doses of fruit or veg and contract all kinds of nasty things from pesticides
They all bore and irritate me, these Western medical experts
Had high cholesterol when I had a medical prior to a posting abroad in 1994. Whilst abroad I met the now Mrs CP, who introduced me to the joys of red wine (I didn't touch it much before that). When I had a medical on returning to the UK my cholesterol level had plummeted to well under the max suggested, and remains there to this day.
So...crack open the red wine and let it do its work!!
Had my cholesterol checked about 6 weeks ago. Came in at 5.9 (a tad high they said.. check diet).
I avoided fry-ups (not that I ate them much anyway), all egg dishes, and I drank one Flora Pro-Active drink per day. After 4 weeks, the level was down to 5.48 (Almost the 10% suggested!)
By the way, between 4 and 5 is considered good, anything more is high, and the CAA limit is 6.5.
For stroke avoidance my GP put me on a daily 20mg statin tablet (Simvastatin) when I was 60 and my cholesterol reduced from 5.4 to 3.3 and has remained there since in spite of my love of cheese, chocolate, ice cream and other forbidden fruits of life.
Bro Draper was a health/health food/exercise nut long before it became compulsory,when the Min of Health decided they needed some numbers from Doctors that they could fiddle and invented Cholesterol Bro Draper discovered said Cholesteral count was high and went on a even more rigid diet and ran about the park twice as much as before, upon his return to the quacks six weeks later he discovered his cholesterol count was not the same it had been, it had become even higher, ergo we Drapes don't have a lot of faith in diet/exercise best go the simvastatin route as we now do.
Ahhh, but to go down the simvastatin route, you have to know your Kidney and Liver functions haven't been wrecked by years of binge drinking! I'm avoiding the statins!
Since when has the CAA taken an interest in cholesterol readings? I retired from flying in 2000 after 32 years with BA and never had a test from the CAA in all that time. Five years later aged 60 decided to let the GP do a test--total cholesterol was 14.3 (4 recommended) and glycerides 22.7(1.8 recommended). Not known how long this level existed--blood pressure has always been 120/80 since a teenager.
Stress ECG and other tests suggest no long term harm hopefully. Statins,fibrates, and gallons of fish oil have brought total down to 3.9!
Just because your blood pressure is OK dot not assume the cholesterol is too. Would advise everyone irrespective of age to have a test.
Location: In the workshop, next to the beer fridge.
Age: 57
Posts: 258
I'm in the RAF. When I had my first blood test on transfering to aircrew, my cholesterol count was 9.3 - so what? I thought and suggested to the doc that perhaps this level was normal for my body - I'd been born that way? He went to some lengths to explain that; at the time, the national average was 4.2 and that a higher level would lead to severe heart problems in the future, especially with a reading like mine!
Time has passed by, I tried the statins which did bring the reading down but unfortunately, my body is alergic to them (that took some finding out, but at least I no longer have a permanent sore throat and I can now sleep at night!)
Anyway, to cut a long story short, my current reading is 6.3.
The most recommended ways of reducing levels are:
1. Eat more of a mediterranean diet in the way of salads and salad oils.
2. Cardiovascular exercise will help enormously.
3. If you smoke, give up. It won't reduce the cholesterol level but will help to avert the impending heart attack!
By the way, when I was taking the statins, my level reduced to 5.2!
what you are describing sounds like some of the symptoms of an over-active thyroid gland, aka "hyperthyrotoxicosis".
The Thyroid controls your metabolic rate.
If you are (a) skinny, eat anything and never put on weight (b) have tremors in the hands - and generally 'the shakes' (c) are nervous & on edge (d) have disrupted sleep patterns (e) suffer pain/aches in the eyes (f) have slighly protruding eyeballs ... and a whole bunch of other stuff
Then there is a good chance that's what you've got. AND your G.P. won't recognise it .
Suggest you ask for a blood test for that condition.
p.s. You doctor will want to put you on tranquilisers because he WON'T recognies the symptoms, or.. if he does, if you have epithelial ((I think that's the term)) extension ((where the thyroid is not only overactive, it grows as a 2-3 cell thick layer in the tissues of the neck)) he won't be able to feel its presence and will dismiss your concerns. Then you will have to get another GP
Best of luck
p.p.s. yep been there done that, got chucked out of that doctor's patient list, but at least I'm not dead. Never trust the quacks
Had a few heart problems in the family recently, with my contribution being suspected Angina, but looks like being nothing more than very bad indigestion,(seeing the consultant again on the 15th). My brother and sister duly trotted along to the docs for tests, my cholestorel being 5.1 and my brothers being 5.8. My sister was a wee bit smug as she thought hers would be less, but turned in a respectable 8.3. Best comment I heard after my suspected angina attack was my sisters kids 10 and 11 to her, "but Uncle Danny doesn't smoke, and is the fittest off you all". Someone pass me a fag, as I can't be ars3d to get off the sofa to get one myself.
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