Conflicting high cholesterol and triglycerides advice

Lots of these figures are 'tweaked' by drug companies to sell their drugs. I'm not making this up. Check out 'What Doctors Don't Tell You', and Dr Aseem Malhotra, for instance. We need fat in our diet - low fat diets are bad, especially for the brain (Alzheimers has increased greatly since the 'low fat' fad)
There are bad fats - trans fats, which are created in cooking and processing, oils that are extracted in harmful ways (cold-pressed organic is best) and fats from meat that has absorbed the various additives that creatures are given to keep them 'well' in the awful conditions many have to endure before ending up on our tables. But I believe for the most part fats are good, all fats, including organic dairy, as with all foods eaten in proportion, for a good diet. Eat natural is my motto, ignore all the conflicting information.

I'm a very positive person and never get mood swings but this is getting ridiculous now. Also getting tearful easily. I have appointment enfmd of week to discuss this. Anyone else having these symptoms?

Iv had many mixed messages along the way. Very frustrating. I ask more like 'why can you explain why'. Then at least have more facts to research for an informed choice 🤔 shouldn't have to I know
I'm unsure the numbers are so relevant to the overall how your body ticks so to speak
If eat healthy 80% of time
I had bp confusion
Nurse said she was prescribing tabs. 'As it always goes up as you get older'!!? Doc saw the results as I asked for 2nd opinion. He said they were fine!! Plus I was due a major op so quite stressed out. 🤷‍♀️

ChickenAnnie

I'm a very positive person and never get mood swings but this is getting ridiculous now. Also getting tearful easily. I have appointment enfmd of week to discuss this. Anyone else having these symptoms?

ChickenAnnie As I said upstream ME!

I'll never touch statins again. Felt like I was heading into a full blown depression. When the doctor showed me on screen that depression is a potential side effect, albeit it rare, I started to feel better, because I knew I just had to get the drugs out of my system. Good luck.

Ask for a referral to a clinical dietrician - the hospital where you are being treated must have one.

It is never a good idea to rely on articles online or in medical dictionaries.

I've been on blood pressure tablets for 7 years just 5g a day never any higher. Two years ago I was told I might need statins I refused. I ordered plant sterols and they seem to work. Just had blood test no issues so still working.

My cholesterol was very high last September. Within a short while on avortastatin it was down to normal. I had no side effects apart from wind at the beginning. My high level is probably inherited familial hypercholesterolemia so in spite of having for years the sort of diet recommended to reduce cholesterol it won't come down with diet. I've been referred to the hospital. Monday's Daily Telegraph had an article about a woman who reduced her cholesterol to a normal level by adopting a vegan diet. I always read food labels to see what the saturated fat level is. I still have a small piece of home made cake with my tea made with butter.

Doctor Michael Mosley, the TV doctor recommends a glass of red wine daily. It certainly won’t do you any harm.

ChickenAnnie

I'm reluctantly on low dose of statins but they are making my moods very low and I'm seriously thinking of coming off them- anyone else having that problem?

You’re not alone.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20200108-the-medications-that-change-who-we-are

ReadyMeals

I managed to get mine down into normal range simply by swapping butter for Benecol spread. No I don't work for them :D

We also use Benecol spread and my DH who had a problem with his cholesterol levels has a small bottle of cholesterol lowering drink every morning. These measure have brought his levels down, he also eats porridge in the winter months because oats are supposed to help too.

Statins is the most discussed drug on GN: why is that 🤷‍♀️
If you go back to 2011 the problems we are discussing here are the problems we were discussing then.
That says it all.

I’m taking plant sterol tablets, bought from Boots, two a day. They seem to be working. Cholesterol down from 6.6 to 5.8 after about two months. Still too high but it’s in the right direction.

The only oil which is 'good' for you is oilive oil. All ther others are neutral unless you drink it to exceed your calorie need.

Dairy fats are good, again unless you eat / drink too much. The trouble is that they have no advertising money to compete with the plant oils / fats. Avoid excess as usual.

The moral of this investigation is: use olive oil & dairy where appropriate and avoid excess.

I also had high cholesterol and the GP wanted to put me on statins which I wanted to avoid. She agreed that I could try to get it down myself and they would check after three months. I cut right down on dairy. Another thing I tried is that I take a shot of Benecol and eat a handful of walnuts every day. I sometimes have a glass of red wine or a small whisky in the evening which I enjoy and had read lower cholesterol (maybe or maybe not) . My cholesterol is now normal.

When you are recommended to take statins, ask your doctor for two figures. 1) The probability of you having a stroke or heart attack in the next 10 year if you take them - and if you don't.

I did this and the figures wee so close, it was quite clear that it ddn't really matter whether i took them or not. Obviously for some people, it will be quite clear they should be on statins. But ask the question.

With the oils, the main thing is if you use rapeseed oil to only use it once.
Olive oil is ok but it Apparantly doesn’t cope as well with high heats and can go Smokey whereas rapseed oil can be used at higher temperatures.

Thank you for the article it is very interesting. It is so unlike me to have low moods so it must be the statins.

Thank you to everyone that has replied re depression whilst on statins. I have decided to come off them. Need to get back to my normal happy self.

wazzockbeak

It is all very bewildering isn’t it. I had my results last week. I worked in health and I would like to remind grans that health and medication advice changes as we learn more from the research. Whether you choose to take medication or not is so personal but make sure your advice comes from the best sources. This is where my NHS app links to when I click for further advice and they have a helpful visual tool showing the rate of heart attacks etc per hundred people with differing results with or without statins. Then you can work out what that means to you.

labtestsonline.org.uk/tests/lipid-profile

Thanks for that link. It would seem from that, I do not need statins but the GP says I do!
Do surgeries get paid for prescribing them?

I use rapeseed oil for environmental reasons. it is grown and processed locally. It is cold pressed so no UFs.

How can you use oil more than once? A littl bit in a frying pan, it gets absorbed into the food.

I've managed to get my triglyceride level down by avoiding anything with added sugar in. Difficult to keep up though.