My wife's high cholesterol, is it time for meds?

[emtkyle]

My wife who is 25 has had her cholesterol checked a couple times in the past year. It is consistently running:
Total Chol 274, Trig 154, HDL 73, LDL 170.  Our doctor has recommend that we recheck in 6 months and if it remains high to look at starting some medication. She does have a family history of high cholesterol.  We have been working out 5 days a week since January, (these results above are after 3 months of working out). She has also tried to adjust her diet by decreasing her cheese intake. My concerns are about starting her on medication when she is so young.  Also, at some point we want to have children and I have read that the cholesterol meds all have toxic effects on the fetus.  My questions then are, is she too young to start medication, and if we are wanting to start a family should we wait to start her on medication, and what are the risks of not starting the meds now? Thanks so much!!

[CCF-M.D.-MJM]

Hello,

These are very reasonable concerns.

is she too young to start medication,

Never too young if your cholesterol is high.  With risk factors for coronary disease and a LDL >160 not responding to diet and exercise, it is time for a statin.  The early you start it the better.

and if we are wanting to start a family should we wait to start her on medication,

I would be deliberate about using birth control.  When you are ready for children, stop the cholesterol medication while she is pregnant and breast feeding, then restart it.

and what are the risks of not starting the meds now?

The longer you live with elevated cholesterol,the more likely you are to develop coronary artery disease.  Missing  a few years for children and breast feeding is not devastating, but I would take it until you are ready.  It might also be worth seeing a nutritionist to work out a diet, but it sounds like their may be a genetic component involved.

I hope this answers your questions.  Thanks for posting.

[TheMick#7]

That's awfully high to NOT be on meds.  I can't vouch for pregnancy concerns but overall the news on Lipitor other then cholesterol seems mostly good.

[momto3girls]

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear about your poor wife's cholesterol!  I too am female and last year had a thorough cholesterol screening.  My triglycerides were 205, ldl was 120 and hdl only 28.  Not such a good scenario (:  Well, my endocrinologist told me I needed to make very serious life-style changes ie: diet and exercise.  I took his advice and went on the South Beach Diet and lost 20 pounds and started exercising at least 4-5 times a week.  Well, my triglycerides went down to 90, my ldl down to 100 and my hdl went up a tiny bit, not much.  He wants me to try Niacin to raise my hdl since it's so low.  

Having said all that, if she has a family history I would lean more toward starting some kind of medicine in my own opinion.  She is young and it would really stink to be on meds so early I know.  About getting pregnant, I too asked my doctor about this since they were originally talking about putting me on a statin.  He said they don't like to do that with pregnant women and that it would be ok to use diet and exercise while pregnant to control the cholesterol since it's only 9 months.  The good news is that she is still young and from what I understand it's the long term effects of cholesterol that they worry about.  Of course this is only my 2cents, I'm not a doctor.  Good luck (:

[dmil241]

My cardiologist would prefer for me to be on a cholesterol lowering medicine. I am 42 and have a child. He keeps saying, "You aren't going to have any more children are you?"

My answer is always the same, "I don't intend to. However I have not gone through menopause and I am not on birth control. I will not go on birth control so that you can put me on more medication. If I get pregnant, I WILL have the child."

He always says the same thing: "We'll wait until you've gone through menopause." :)

There is NO WAY I would want to be on lipitor or some other statin and risk birth defects. My cardiologist will not even consider it. Statins are for long term effects.

She is awfully young. Is there a history of heart disease and early death by heart attack in her immediate family?

I have a family history of high cholesterol on my dad's side. He had a heart attack at age 65 but because of a valve thing. However he is still alive at age 78. He has not had any more heart problems and it was not until last year that a stress test showed small minor blockages for which he started a beta blocker for. Go figure.

He has been on every statin available and in combination. He still has HIGH cholesterol, especailly tryglercides. Eventually the doctors will give up on this issue with him and let him live out his days in peace!

[Uff Da]

That's high, but it is possible that lifestyle changes might bring it down a lot.  It depends upon how good or bad her diet and exercise program were initially.

My TC was 275 at the highest, and I was able to bring that down to 237 with diet alone.  (Increased legumes, oats, psyllium and fish.  Decreased bread, pasta, rice, sugar, meat, cheese, eggs.  I eat near-vegetarian now.)  And as a person with some training in nutrition, my diet was fairly good to begin with.  Others have made bigger changes, especially if they had been eating a high-saturated and trans-fat diet.  So if the doctor says it would be better to wait on the meds, realize that for many people, major improvements CAN be made with diet, even if they don't get the numbers down to the point they would like.  Your wife would need to do a lot more than just reduce/eliminate cheese, though, to have much effect.  And I don't pretend it doesn't take a lot of researching and determination to change.

By adding 750 mg of a sustained-release OTC niacin daily, I got my TC down to 190, with an HDL of 72.  I have no idea whether or not niacin can be taken during pregnancy.  At my age (64) I haven't had to worry about it!

[Erik36]

Your wife's ratio of total cholesterol to good cholesterol(HDL) is 3.8 which isn't that bad. The high HDL does make up for the high LDL to an extent. If you had a baby now and then got your wife on meds she would probably do fine but this is just my best guess as I am not a doctor. You should take the advice of her doctor and the doctor on this forum. Good luck!


Erik

[Barbarella]

My husband got his TC from 210 to 170 with "Cholest off" its an over the counter supplement.  But his doctor is still  not satisfied because his LDL is over 130.

My TC is 220 but my LDL is 158 and I HAVE to take statins.  Our doctors and Cardiologists are mainly concerned with the LDL numbers.  Even with the statins I cannot bring the LDL below 130, its between 131 and 160 even though I eat very healthy, exercise every day.  They like to see the LDL below 100.

[Frito15]

I am new and can totally understand the battle with cholesterol.  I have inherited my hypolipoproteinanemia from my monther.  I didn't get diagnosed until 3 years ago (I am currently 38 years old) I went to the dermatologist with small bumps on the backs of my legs, arms, back, & bottom.  It turned out to be cholesterol coming through my skin in the form of erruptive xanthomas.  What a way to discover it.  My blood cound not be tested in Kansas and had to be sent off for lab work.  I am officially my hospital's highest number (dubious honor that I would rather not have)  My total cholesterol was 618.  In the past 3 years, we still can not get a reading on my Vldl due to high triglycerides.  My triglycerides were 8,484.  Yes...that is the correct typing.  I was shocked.  I was put immediately on Tricor, Omacor (perscription omega 3--new medicine), and Zetia.  They have dropped and last month were 995 with cholesterol at 150.

My doctor wanted to try something else.  He took me off of the Tricor and Omacor and switched it to Crestor (statin) and the Zetia.  In one month, I have had my cholesterol drop to 97 and my trig. are down to 398.  It feels funny to be pleased with a trigl. number nearing 400, but with my history....we were thrilled.  

Anyone else have this condition?  My mother suffered acute pancretitis when she was my same age, but not much was known about it back then.  She is learning about her blood disorder as I am with mine.  So far, my seven year old daughter has chol. of 210.  It seems to come into play in the female side of our family.  My brother and son are fine.  Any information?  

I am also a diabetic (discovered at the same time).  I am on oral meds and my mother is insulin dependent.  My mom is a tiny thing (size 6) and I could stand to lose some weight, but not obese (size 14).  Let me know if you have information/ideas/support.  It is quite a battle and can be overwhelming at times.  Thanks.

Sharla

[Duchess47]

Everyones story and opinion is so different.  I will say that although a persons family histroy is important in my case I have a lot of things that no one in my family has.  I have thryoid disease and had my gallbladder out at 20.  None of the doctors I had seen had ever had a patient so yong with gallstones.  I weighed 95lbs. at the time so totally didn't fit the profile.  I have had high cholestrol for years but the numbers have fluctuated so much over the years as to what was o.k. and what was high that it wasn't until recently I was put on meds.  You can only do so much with diet and exercise to control cholesterol levels as it is produced by your liver and only a small amount is actually derived from food.  If after trying everything to lower it (I would wait a year and not 6 months) see what happens.  Just know this, once you start meds., it's a life long treatment.  Recently I found out my cholesterol is high even on meds. and really have to watch what I eat.  I am only a size 6, but doesn't matter at all.