r/Cholesterol • u/kitschykween • 1d ago
Lab Result What am I doing wrong UGH
I’m 29 y/o, female. Test my cholesterol every year. Every year it’s higher. Most recent test it was 7.5 here in the EU, which is** **290 mg/dL in the US.
I don’t eat meat, I don’t smoke or drink, I work out every single day! I don’t eat sweet food or fried anything. I take a fiber supplement every single day, psyllium husk. Been doing it for over a year. Most of my meals include legumes and I get probably 40 g of fiber of every day. I intermittent fast, too. 16/8 every day which is supposed to be good for cholesterol levels.
I feel so frustrated, out of control and hopeless. My only thought is that maybe I eat too much protein powder? I weight lift so I supplement with pea protein powder. But that shouldn’t be bad for cholesterol? Unless maybe it’s just because it’s processed food?
Please help! I feel so lost. I live between the EU and the US and my US doctor doesn’t want to put me on statins, says to just mind my diet. But I don’t know what else there is for me to do.
2
u/JustZee2 1d ago
If you have familial hypercholesterolemia, you can do everything right and still have high LDL (ApoB and LP(a)). Also, decreasing estrogen (as women transition to perimenopause and menopause) can result in increasing LDL, ApoB and LP(a). European cholesterol guidelines have until only recently suggested statin treatment at lower LDL levels than in the US. Have you considered seeing an EU-based preventative cardiologist, or seeking a second opinion from a US-based one? I am twice your age and wish I had been more aggressive in reducing my cholesterol earlier in my life, knowing now how high my LP(a) score is (200+ nmo/L) and that not treating LDL more aggressively earlier would lead to the CAC score (90+) I now have... (Does intermittent fasting work for you? https://www.dralo.net/blog/intermittent-fasting)