How can I find out what my cholesterol levels are?
407821
Donate blood.\nMany centers offer incentives.  There is much they need to know about your blood and so they perform numerous tests.  At your request, they may well offer that info to you.
612752
You have your cholesterol levels under control, but now your doctor says your triglycerides are still high. Triglycerides, like cholesterol, are blood fats. Research suggests that high levels increase risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. And very high levels (see chart) put you at risk for pancreatitis, a life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas.\n\nThe good news is that lifestyle and dietary changes can significantly reduce triglyceride levels in most people. Mayo Clinic experts offer the following tips to help lower your risk of disease:\n\n* Eat fish high in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, mackerel, and herring.\n\n* Cut back on sugary foods, such as cookies and soda.\n\n* Cut back on alcohol.\n\n* Exercise at least 30 minutes nearly every day.\n\nThe test for triglyceride levels should be done when you are fasting and no extra triglycerides from a recent meal are present in the bloodstream. Triglyceride levels after a meal may be 10 times higher than fasting levels.
573674
Why Is Cholesterol Important?\nYour blood cholesterol level has a lot to do with your chances of getting heart disease. High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. A risk factor is a condition that increases your chance of getting a disease. In fact, the higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack. Heart disease is the number one killer of women and men in the United States. Each year, more than a million Americans have heart attacks, and about a half million people die from heart disease. \n\nHow Does Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease?\nWhen there is too much cholesterol (a fat-like substance) in your blood, it builds up in the walls of your arteries. Over time, this buildup causes "hardening of the arteries" so that arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the heart is slowed down or blocked. The blood carries oxygen to the heart, and if enough blood and oxygen cannot reach your heart, you may suffer chest pain. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by a blockage, the result is a heart attack. \n\nHigh blood cholesterol itself does not cause symptoms, so many people are unaware that their cholesterol level is too high. It is important to find out what your cholesterol numbers are because lowering cholesterol levels that are too high lessens the risk for developing heart disease and reduces the chance of a heart attack or dying of heart disease, even if you already have it. Cholesterol lowering is important for everyone--younger, middle age, and older adults; women and men; and people with or without heart disease.
58011
It really depends on the brand-  I always recommend Lifestream and it has gotten rave reviews about it's accuracy.  It is only 1-2 points off a regular blood test. Their website is knowitforlife.com  The model I recommend is the "Three Minute Cholesterol Monitor".  The strips are a little pricey for this unit, but it is well worth it considering the accuracy.
204465
Absolutely not. Stay on your medicine and discuss with your doctor what your "target" is. Often times your total cholesterol can be good but the HDL, LDL or Triglycerides may be suboptimal. Ask your doctor if you can decrease or stop your medicine depending upon what he/she believes your target cholesterol level to be
1149083
Your total cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dL.  Your HDLs are good and your LDLs are borderline high.   <100 mg/dL is optimal, 100-129 near optimal and 130-159 borderline high.  The HDLs counteract the LDL somewhat but you still need to monitor your diet and increase exercise.  Your health care provider may want to start you on a "statin" med if you are unable to lower LDLs on your own.
303667
Yours is a good question.\n\nUnfortunately, to answer it one would need to know more about your general health: information obtained through a complete physical exam, such as:\n\nBody weight, resting pulse, resting blood pressure, etc.\nAny underlying diseases.\nWhat medications if any you are currently taking.\nWhat your baseline EKG looks like.\n\nThe list is quite long, frankly.\n\nI would suggest that you ignore any answers on this web site that give you a specific number.  At this point without the above information, any such suggestions would be dangerous.\n\nMake an appointment an see a doctor you trust, be as honest as you can about your medical history and allow him or her to perform a complete physical examination.  \n\nYou will have your answer.
294388
There are different ways to lower your cholesterol. You should always talk with your family doctor because he/she will know best which changes in your overall life might help the most.\n\nThe following life style changes often help regulate cholesterol:\n* regular physical activity\n* reduce over all stress\n* get regular and enough sleep\n* avoid transfats, instead use fats with polyunsaturated fatty acids (salmon and other fish) or monounsaturated fatty acids (olive oil as example)\n* increase the amount of dietary fibre
965730
Go and have a bloodtest ( chemists do it for free in the UK )\nyou might be diabetic !
969446
Ideal levels of LDL has been shown and the level's actual effects can be clearly told only based on other risk conditions existing such as smoking, diabetes etc., which leads to high risk for heart conditions.\nLDL Cholesterol Level                         LDL-Cholesterol Category \nLess than 100 mg/dL                                                        Optimal \n100-129 mg/dL                                  Near optimal/above optimal  \n130-159 mg/dL                                                       Borderline high \n160-189 mg/dL                                                                        High \n190 mg/dL and above                                                      Very high \nThe main goal of cholesterol-lowering treatment is to lower your LDL level enough to reduce your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack. The higher your risk, the lower your LDL goal will be. \nIf your LDL is less than 130 mg/dL, you will need to follow the heart healthy diet for all Americans, which allows a little more saturated fat and cholesterol than the TLC diet. \nVR
516746
exercise,eat garlic and look up foods to lower your cholesterol...
1130847
I suggest you eat 1/2 cup of oat meal every day. That can lower your cholesterol by up to 35 points. It also has none of the side effects of the drugs they give you.
875821
that's a lot to answer so i'm not putting all the long details here. go to this link: http://www.answers.com/lipids .\n\nthat site is actually really helpful when you need to find out anything.
217915
THe main problems here are a bit high LDL of 136 and a low HDL of 32.  For LDL, follow some of the above advice.  Stay away from fat and red meats as much as you can.  Fish oil is recommended as a great food supplement, and so is Benecol spread.  Both actually lower cholesterol and fish oil is particularly good.  Your LDL goal should be anywhere between 100-130, depending on your other risk factors.  As far as HDL is concerned, your goal should by 40.  The best thing to increase HDL is excercise, so careful excercise regimen would do you best.  Work with your health care professional on that and good luck!
1010868
HDL is a cholesterol test. the acceptable is less than 3.0
396524
Total = LDL + HDL + Trig/5
730123
Your HDL and triglyceride numbers are very desireable.  It is recommended that your HDL, which is your good cholesterol, be more than 40, with normal ranges being between 40 and 60.  I would not be concerned with the HDL being over 60, since this is the good cholesterol which plays a vital role in keeping your LDL bad cholesterol in check.  It is recommended that tryglycerides be under 150, so this number is also very good.  However, your LDL bad cholesterol is pretty high.  It is recommended that this number be under 100 to be in a healthy range.  I would try diet to reduce it before I got on any medications.  There are those that will tell you that diet has little affect on cholesterol and that your numbers are what they are because of your genetic make up.  Although heredity does play a role, a healthy diet is equally significant and can usually keep cholesterol numbers within disired ranges if you are diligent regarding your dietary intake.  Lots of fruits and vegeatables, lean protien, a moderate amount of fish and nuts to provide omega 3 nutrients which have been shown to help with cholesterol numbers.  If after about 120 days of altering your diet I would consider taking a statin medication if your cholesterol numbers do not show significant improvement..  However, I highly recommend you try altering your diet first, as many statin medications have undesireable side effects.  \n\nI think the reason so many of us take statins is that people do not have the will power and dicipline to eat right.  Simple life style changes can put the stop to most diseases, but most people simply don't have the ability to make them and rely on our pharmaceutical industry to provide a pill for what ever ales them, when in fact they are empowered to heal themselves with life style changes if they simply had the dicipline to make them.