High Cholesterol

I am 26 years old and have been fairly healthy all my life.  Lately I have been feeling run down, tired, have had extreme muscle weakness, heart palpitations, sweating profusely, and have had headaches just about every day.  I have seen my doctor about this and he ran tests including CBC, CMP, ANA, ESR, TSH, Lipids, and one more that I cannot remember.  Every thing came back within normal limits, except for my cholesterol which was 207 and LDL was 141.  My TSH was 0.8, but still considered within normal limits.  Could cholesterol be what is causing my symptoms, or perhaps some other underlying problem?  Thank you for your time, Liz

[Renee Radenberg]

Sometimes increased cholesterol can also be a symptom from an underlying issue. Cholesterol increases from stress. You did not mention your height or weight. Over weigh can tribute to increased cholesterol.
To lower your cholesterol through diet is to eat low fat meats (chicken, fish, loin of pork) or non meat sources (soy products), low fat vegetarian combinations (rice & beans, pasta & beans, low fat cheese & pasta), fat free or low fat dairy products (skim milk, 1% milk, low fat cheese, low fat yogurts, low fat soy milk/yogurt), and eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Eating daily high fiber breads and cereals (oatmeal) and ¼ cup or less of nuts (walnuts, peanuts, cashew) will help in lowering cholesterol too.
Try to eat your meals in a calm and relaxed manner, and not while you are working or doing other tasks. This will prevent over eating. If you change your eating habits to the above and the cholesterol levels do not decrease after 3-6 months, then see your MD about lowering cholesterol-lowering medication.
Best of luck and thank you for your question.