Anyone on here lowered their cholesterol WITHOUT taking statins ?

easy

OK, DH just been told his cholesterol levels have gone up sharply (quite quickly, was OK 3 months ago).

Dr has suggested taking statins, but he doesn't like the idea, what with side effects (not to mention prescription charges). Dr has agreed to hold off, and test him again in 3 months.

Now a quick read round tells us to cook more carefully (ok we knew that already) altho this might not make a big difference.... Also he needs to do more exercise, and that is something he knew already, but I hope he will now actually DO it.

Anyone on here got any anecdotal 'evidence' of exercise or anything else making a difference?

We know this is serious, and dh is taking it seriously, so any help appreciated.

glowgirl_2

Yes! My dad lowered his rate from high to below where it should be in a very short time by eating raw pumpkin seeds, he took no other medication:TThe doctor was very impressed and the rate has remained stable now for about 3 years:Dhe still eats the seeds just not as many and he eats other foods that are known to help your cholesterol too, I cant remember what they are but I'll ask him tonight and let you know:) It was definitely the pumpkin seeds that did the trick when he had a problem though - good luck to you and your OH:)

easy

glowgirl wrote: »

Yes! My dad lowered his rate from high to below where it should be in a very short time by eating raw pumpkin seeds, he took no other medication:TThe doctor was very impressed and the rate has remained stable now for about 3 years:Dhe still eats the seeds just not as many and he eats other foods that are known to help your cholesterol too, I cant remember what they are but I'll ask him tonight and let you know:) It was definitely the pumpkin seeds that did the trick when he had a problem though - good luck to you and your OH:)

Interesting - What kind of quantities did he eat them in ?

glowgirl_2

easy wrote: »

Interesting - What kind of quantities did he eat them in ?

I'll ask him that tonight too:)

floss2

Yes - mine was 8.1, currently 5.9. No statins as no high blood pressure so diet only.

I reduced animal fats, have low-fat yogurts & semi skim milk, cut out all processed foods including pastry, increased my apple intake (apparently their cells attract cholesterol cells & remove them with waste) increased my oat intake - porridge, Jordans oaty cereal etc.

Gillyx

Replace butter/spread with the healthy lower cholesterol ones, Flora/Benecol (you do find them on offer quite abit) Same with milk Flora do milk which helps lower the cholesterol.

They are abit more expensive, but I'd recommend it. Someone very close to me suffered a heart attack before he was even 50 and now takes statins daily aswell as all the other medication to help deal with things, so I'd say do everything you can to help.

Also lay off the eggs for a bit, when making omelettes etc use one yolk to 2 whites Hope it gets better soon.

Jesthar

Hi Easy

Excercise is good, as is lowering the amount of 'bad' fats in the diet (though personally I loathe the taste of 'spreads' and prefer to stick with 'butter in moderation').

However, a major question I'd be asking is 'what changed in the last three months to cause the increase?' Medical studies seem to indicate that as well as the usual suspects (high fat diet, lack of excercise, smoking, excessive drinking, overweight etc.) other factors, such as lack of sleep and constant stress, can also indirectly contribute to high cholesterol. So if this increase is as sudden as you said, working out how life (as well as diet) is different to a few months ago might help identify potential problems.

Incidentally, exercise is also a great sleep enhancer and stress buster!

~Jes

Pennylane

I have brought mine right down without taking statins. I think my cardiac risk assessment is less than 12% now.
Firstly I quit smoking. I also started doing more exercise. I adjusted my diet and lost weight.

We have a very arrogant GP at our surgery and she looked down her nose at me when I said I didn't want to start taking statins (which she was printing off a prescription for.)

She said "you are very silly. If my cholesterol was anywhere near as high as yours I would be taking them."

After that I did everything in my power to get my levels down and I also discovered why she wanted to get me on statins. Because GPs get a nice big bonus for everyone they get on them!;)

I chose not to start on statins because I had already heard so much negative stuff about them.

Pennylane

Gillyx wrote: »

Replace butter/spread with the healthy lower cholesterol ones, Flora/Benecol (you do find them on offer quite abit) Same with milk Flora do milk which helps lower the cholesterol.

They are abit more expensive, but I'd recommend it. Someone very close to me suffered a heart attack before he was even 50 and now takes statins daily aswell as all the other medication to help deal with things, so I'd say do everything you can to help.

Also lay off the eggs for a bit, when making omelettes etc use one yolk to 2 whites Hope it gets better soon.

I think you'll find that advice is now incorrect.

belfastgirl23

I had a slightly high cholesterol read a few years ago. at the time I wasn't exercising and had been eating a lot of cheese etc and probably drinking more than the official limit for women (though never been a heavy drinker!). I had been thinking about a lifestyle change anyway and started to take proper exercise, cut back on the animal fat, lost a bit of weight (not a lot, probalby about a stone or so). The last time I had my cholesterol checked the nurse said she wished hers was a good as mine. So anecdotally, it can be done.

Why doesn't he give it six weeks of making an effort and have it tested again and see?

nearlyrich

My OH cut his by reducing his intake of eggs and we use skimmed milk low fat spread etc, he likes his food but he is fonder of living a long and healthy life without Statins and only yesterday in the paper they were saying they don't really know if they do any good long term not to mention if they do any harm.