High cholesterol medication vs. Exercise

 Hi Will, i definitely think losing weight would be my first choice, but if you cannot do it and add excersize than you will need to do something. your numbers are a bit scary especially at your age, really any age, but you are very young.  your hdl is too low, needs to be at least 45 and preferably 50. the triglycerides are okay.  i will tell you right now that if you will add fish oil capsules to your daily routine and only a palm full of raw almonds, in three months or less your good cholesteral will raise and your triglycerides will go lower.  please try to lose the weight and start to walk at least three times a week, and i bet you will not need any meds.  good luck, i know you will get a lot of good advise from others. bye

I totally agree with Dreamgirl. I thought it was a well known fact that you always try diet and exercise first.

Your current weight will cause you much more trouble than your cholesterol, I think. It should be your goal to lose some soon, regardless of your cholesterol. You are looking at diabetes and heart disease down the road. Obesity by itself, can cause heart disease. Obesity also causes diabetes, which in turn can cause many problems, including heart disease. It doesn't matter whether diabetes runs in your family, or not.

I am about 25 lbs overweight. I know just how hard it is to lose weight. If you could forget about a diet for right now, and just start to exercise and not increase your caloric intake, you would start to lose. This would also fight diabetes and heart disease. For every inch of fat you have, your body has to develop something like a mile of blood vessels to feed it. It is very hard on the heart to have to push blood to and through it. It will wear your heart out.

Best of luck :)

Rj

Thanks very much to everybody who responded to my thread.  I took all of your suggestions to heart and spoke to my physician.  He has agreed not to prescribe meds but STRONGLY encourages me to start exercising regularly and modifying my diet.  I took DREAMGIRL's suggestion and started eating a handful of raw almonds each in addition to a capsul of fish oil.  My physician is going to give me six months to improve my cholesterol.  Hopefully the culminate effects of exercise and a modified diet will help me avoid the meds.  This site is great.  I look forward to sharing good news with everybody along the way!

-Will

Trekgeek.

There is a growing body of opinion that 'anti' cholesterol drugs may be dangerous.

Have a look at

http://statinalert.org/mainpage.html

The argument, essentially, is that cholesterols are naturally occuring substances in the body, and that no good link has been shown between high/low cholesterol counts and high/low heart-disease risk.

There are too many other factors involved, and in long-term experiments, the value of drugs like 'stattins' has been questioned.

The very sceptical amongst us (particularly on this side of the Atlantic) see drug companies inventing a problem (high cholesterol) and then inventing a cure (stattins) and then making big profits.

Obviously you have to be very cautious, but certainly try to sort out your weight and diet before opting for the drugs.

Good luck.

Allen-UK, London.

 hi trek, one last thought, take more than one fish oil a day , up to three of the 1000mg is not too much. i take 1 three times a day of1200mg,it won't hurt you.