Cholesterol Problems @ 23 ???

[Jess718]

I was wondering in some one can explain this to me.

I went to the doctor this past May and did my blood work everything came back fine just one thing was off my cholesterol. I’m not sure what this one is called in medical terms I just know that we have to cholesterol counts and this is the second one on the sheet. The level where is needs to be is 40 but my was 39, now is been I would say 3 month I did the blood work again and now its down to 34. What is this? What is wrong with me? I never had this problem before I’m a healthy 23-year-old female.
My doctor told me I have to work out a bit  (im 5’5 132lbs) and eat more meat. I don’t eat much meat anymore because this past winter I had very serious food poisoning for eating chicken. I give most meat up just recently I started to eat some. And im not a fish person.

If anyone can explain this to me that would be great. I just really want to know how serious this is and how I can get it back up.

Thank you very much…
Anya..

[JJety]

You are referring to your HDL cholesterol, or "good" cholesterol level.  You want it to be high, like 40-60 mg, or even higher than 60 is better.

The doc wants you to raise this number.  Even losing 5 lb or 10 lbs would probably help, plus eating a healthy diet, that includes some meat.

You can google "raise HDL cholesterol" and find some tips to help.  

http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/cholesterol/a/raiseHDL.htm

[Jess718]

But what is wrong with me I don’t get it I was fine and now im worried about this. How serious is something like this? And how will it go up if I lost 5-10 pounds? What do I do if it keeps on dropping?

[JJety]

Sometimes it's nothing you did; sometimes you're genetically prone to it.  It's good that you caught it now.  

If you can't get it to increase on your own, then I think there's meds you can take (can't think of the names right now).

It's not unheard of - my DH is only 27 and has the same problem.  He's been losing a lot of weight and has changed his diet.  He goes back in shortly for another blood test to see how much his numbers have changed.