Dear CinDee
My husband was in the same situation as yours. His dad died at 60 from a heart attack and an fraternal uncle died at 45 while shoveling snow.
At the age of 32, my husband's total cholesterol levels were in the high 270's while his HDL was in the very low 20's. In an effort to combat this using non-medical methods we started an exercise regime and completely revamped our diets. For more than 8 years we tried every thing that we could. The glass of wine, grapefruits, walnuts, olive oil. But the cholesteral levels hardly budged. You know I don't think at the time his doctor believed that we were exercising as much or eating as healthy as we said we were.
When he turned 39 he made an appointment with a cardiologist. The doctor put him on 10 mg of Zocor daily. Within 2 weeks (no kidding) his total cholesterol droped to 165! His HDL's inched up slightly. We were stunned, but his doctor explained it by saying that even though my husband's diet was so healthy and his exercise routine so intense (we were totally into cathe at that time, still are!) that his liver was still producing an over abundanace of cholesterol and that the Zocor was need suppress his liver's excess output of the cholesterol.
Today, at age 46, my husband is still on Zocor, (he has added Niaspan which is a niacin product to increase his HDLs), we eat very clean and he does all of Cathe's workouts, including Rythmic Step :-wow His total cholesterol is in the 170's and his HDLs have edged into the mid 40's (not great, but way better than 22). He has passed 2 nuclear stress test with flying colors.
Cindee, I am certainly not trying to make a case for going on meds, but if your doctor feels the problem is genetic...
My husband did every thing right but nothing worked until the Zocor. So you can understand that after 8 years of banging my head against the wall how I feel now. During that time I became an expert on low-fat and no-fat cooking. I can modify almost any recipe! I also became a certified fitness instructor and a certified personal trainer.
If you have not seen a cardiologist I highly recommend it. It's worth the $$ to get an expert's advice.
Sorry to be so wordy but this is a topic that is near and dear to my "heart."
You can e-mail me at
[email protected] if you would like.
good luck
debbie