[BalishBun]

I am very sad and upset, I took hubby to hospital Sat night for chest pains and they admitted him. They are admitting him for one more night, and doing a stress test in the morning. They say his good cholesterol is low and his bad cholesterol is really bad. I am thinking genetics play some part in it because hubby and i have the same bad diet as eachother, and my good cholesterol is low, but my bad is fine. Apparently they are going to get him on a med that lowers cholesterol, but does anyone know anything about cholesterol? That is one "health issue" i never had to look into because it didnt apply to me, now im worried sick about getting hubby healthy, so someone answer my cry for some knowledge. Hes only 33.

[Christina86]

http://www.heartandstroke.com/

This is a very good site to learn about heart and stroke related things.

Specifically this section deals with cholesterol: high blood cholesterol

((((((((((BalishBun & husband)))))))))))))))))

It's okay. They caught it and he's going on meds... that's good, he didn't have a stroke or a heart attack.

To work with your cholesterol: Less alcohol, more healthy foods, and more "heart healthy" exercise. And make sure he takes his pills, that is very important.

Genetics do play a big part of having those types of issues, also because environmentally, what the parent eats... becomes the diet of the child, and then the likelihood of having health problems is there.

Hope that helps.

[SeptemberMorn]

I'm sorry you're both having problems with your cholesterol. It's a scary thing.

Exercise and meds will help your hubby to lower his bad cholesterol. Eating anything with oats will help lower it, too, but you've got to watch your carb intake with that.

Vitamin B or a replacement for the foods that have it will increase the good cholesterol.

My take of "geneticly caused high cholesterol" is that your system inherited the malfunction from your parents. One or both of them had the malfunction and passed it on to you. It could ALSO be your diet but that's not genetic. I very seldom eat the same things my family of origin ate, but I still have both conditions. They seem to come hand in hand. Even if your bad cholesterol is good, you still need the good cholesterol to be at a good range.

Learn from what your hubby has to do to improve his total cholesterol and you do the same.

TC

[(JD)]

Actually, low good cholesterol is a serious problem for women, regardless of the level of bad cholesterol.

Steel cut oatmeal helps, works wonders. There are many healthy foods that can do the same job as the synthetic medicine, some faster! It's a good thing to check into, maybe with a well educated, uptodate nutritionist.

[Perna]

It's a weird combination of things; you should watch more ads on television :-) Ones body makes cholesterol so it's often not possible to lower it enough to suit doctors just with eating, it's a "mixture" sort of thing. But that your husband has a different outcome than you with the same diet is probably his genetics (and age too can be involved; the longer we have these cars, er, bodies the more that can go wrong :-)

[Danialla]

All the info provided so far has been great, so I have nothing to add. I do though have some questions....

What is your husbands family history? Is his dad still alive? Anyone in his family have problems with heart or possible stroke? Does he have brothers? Sisters? Does he smoke?

The reason I ask, is because my father past away at 34 (40 yrs ago) of a heart attack. When they did the autopsy, they found his arteries were packed with cholesterol. He was had an athletic build, but he smoked and his father died at age 40 of a stroke. So my questions are purely curiosity.

Take care and I hope your husband continues to do well.

[BalishBun]

his mom is alive, shes had a 5-heart bypass, and still has many heart issues. His dad didn't have anything with his heart...... BUT died from non-hodjkins lympnoma (sp?). His mom had her first heart attack in her mid 30's.

[Rhapsody]

Ones good cholesterol level can be raised simply by exercising.

[Danialla]

Sounds to me like he definitely has that genetic predisposition for heart disease. It is wonderful that he is "man" enough to tell someone he may need help.

I say "man" enough, only because men tend to hate doctors and consequently don't tell anybody what is going on until it is too late.

Though a change in lifestyle, i.e., diet, increased exercise, etc., is great, if you have inherited the predisposition to heart disease you may need to add meds too.

Take care and let us know how he is doing.....

[Doh2007]

My cholesterol dropped 100 points when I did the South Beach Diet. Bad fats are animal fats including cheese and milk. Good fats are olive oil, nuts, salmon.

I'm sure your husband's doc will give him diet guidelines. By the way, the SBD was created by a cardiologist who wanted to prevent heart disease in his patients.