High Cholesterol

[FoozMike]

I am 24 year old male I weight about 190 with high cholesterol. I was on meds a few years ago Lopid but i was not following a diet and it did not seem to work. 2 months ago i had a cholesterol check and these are my results. TC=225 TRI=424 HDL=32 and i do not know the LDL because my Tri's were high. My cardio told me I need to cut out fast food and exerise more and change my diet I also take omega 3 now. So I have done all that I no longer eat fast food which is awsome but I have cheated slightly here and there. A week ago my primary physican decided to check my cholesterol and these where my results. TC=253 TRI=603 HDL=35. This doctor wanted me to get on crestor 10mg a day and see him in 6 weeks for more blood. I decided not to take the meds but exerise even harder. My question is.. is it possible that the lab results are not accurate? I dont understand how before on the first results i was eating fast food like crazy and when i cut it out my test is higher... Also i had a stress test done and it came back fine. How long does it take for cholesterol to clog artieries?

[FoozMike]

I wanted to ask another question. When i was in the hospital for a panic attack they did a cat scan of my chest and injected some medicine that burned throughout my body... What was that test looking for? And if they let me go that a good thing?

[Sweetwaterguy]

Of course it is discouraging to have heart issues at our age.  (I am 64 and also have treated my body reasonably well).  I am fortunate my problems are only rhythm problems, hopefully solved with ablation.  I had a 64 slice ct scan recently and learned I was 40--70% blocked in two arteries.  That got my attention, and I am working even harder to keep my weight under control and to exercise and eat a healthy diet.  A month ago I did a ten mile hike and fishing excursion in the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming, up to 10500 feet.  
Does life go on as you indicate?  Absolutely, and I suspect we both do our best to maximize our daily experiences.  Now our goal on this forum is to encourage others to take charge of their health and live fully while maintaining healthy behaviors-- knowing there are no guarantees.  
  
Best of luck to you and your pipes.  Let's hope you can keep them from plugging again.  

[jim62]

I spent most of a lifetime doing the right things.  At 59, with NONE of the "risk factors". I had triple bypass surgery.  The only thing that all the docs could say was well, if you hadn't been doing the right thing it could have been worse.  You could be dead.  Yep, could be.  Also, it could be that if I had high blood pressure and cholesterol, and ate fast foods, it may have not happened at all.

I've known many people that have literally turned their lives upside down and inside out when faced with heart trouble.  I haven't seen any particular benefits.  Some are still suffering with it, and some are dead.  Of course, I guess if you were to ask the docs and study writers, they would contend that had they not done the right thing, they would likely be much deader.

Obla di, obla da-------life goes on.

[Sweetwaterguy]

    Not all science is good science.  People with an agenda can slant many things with "research."  However, I believe it is foolish to ignore important data on heart disease.  If you do, ignore it at your own risk.  Good science involves involves blinded studies and sophisiticated mathematics to  
determine if the findings are meaningful.  Most medical research does this.  
     When it comes to human health, of course we don't know all the answers.   But science has allowed us to know a lot, and to ignore what we know can be dangerous to our health.  
Of course there are people like Winston Churchill who had all the bad habits and lived past 90, and others who did all the right things and did not survive to old age.  If staying healthy is our goal, then use the knowledge from commonly accepted good science--eat right, exercise, keep BP and cholesterol under control.   Are there guarantees?  Of course not!  Yet, if you gamble and intentionally stack the cards against yourself, then don't be surprised if you lose.  

[FoozMike]

Its hard to not being able to control things.

[jim62]

I've been reading studies long enough to know that you can make any study "indicate" anything you want it to indicate.  All these risk factors "indicate" that they "may" be involved in heart problems.  On the other side of the coin, they "may not" be.............