Re: Cholesterol, mine has gone up

You may need to read the post again which says the levels will balance. It doesn't say cholesterol levels will reduce. If you liver was very congested and unable to manufacture cholesterol efficiently then cleansing it may increase you levels. You've also got to look at the HDL level because if the is high then it can be a good sign.

Evaluating cholesterol level is all about risk, like the following:

-Cigarette smoking [+1 risk factor]
-Age (over 45 years for a man and over 55 years for a female) [+1 risk factor]
-Low HDL (less than 40 mg/dL (1.04 mmol/L) [+1 risk factor]
-Blood pressure of 140/90 or higher or taking high blood pressure medications) [+1 risk factor]
-Family history of premature heart disease (heart disease in a first degree male relative under age 55 or a first degree female relative under age 65 [+1 risk factor]

-High HDL (60 mg/dL or above) is considered a "negative risk factor" and its presence allows the removal of one risk factor from the total. [-1 risk factor]

Examples:

1. If you have high blood pressure and smoke that equals +2 risk factors.
2. If you have high blood pressure, smoke but have high HDL thats +2 and -1 risk factors equals +1 risk factor.

LDL less than 100 mg/dL (2.59 mmol/L) if you have heart disease or diabetes.
LDL less than 130 mg/dL (3.37 mmol/L) if you have 2 or more risk factors.
LDL less than 160 mg/dL (4.14 mmol/L) if you have 0 or 1 risk factor.

Treatment for elevated levels of LDL can be with diet and lifestyle.

In most screening lipid profiles, LDL-cholesterol is calculated from the other lipid measurements. However, special testing techniques are required if triglycerides are over 400 mg/dL (4.52 mmol/L)

The HDL level which you didn't quote is also essential to interpreting risk as all levels must be evaluated in the context of each other. The ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol is obtained by dividing the total cholesterol by the HDL cholesterol. For example, if a person has a total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL and an HDL cholesterol level of 50 mg/dL, the ratio would be stated as 4 (or 4:1). A desirable ratio is below 5 (5:1); the optimum ratio is 3.5 (3.5:1).

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LIPITOR is a drug type not discussed in my post. It is prescribed along with recommendations with diet and exercise to help lower cholesterol and also reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with multiple risk factors for heart disease including family history, high blood pressure, age, low HDL ("good" cholesterol), or smoking.

Telman