Cholesterol levels poll: pls answer even if they're normal!

[Mij]

@JaimeS do we need cholesterol to build new cells?

 

[JaimeS]

@Mij -- If we want them to function, and not fall apart! Lipid rafts, of which they are a primary component, are necessary for cell recognition and immune response so far as WBCs are concerned. And in all cells, they help maintain cell integrity and fluidity. A cell would become fragile if the membrane contained zero cholesterol; and depleting the cell of cholesterol is often seen as a way of purposely axing the immune response, in an experimental research setting.

 

[Gondwanaland]

As someone with low cholesterol, let me chime in and say that many of my hormones are on the low end of normal, and my testosterone is very, very low.

From Dr Lonesdale's new book on Thiamine

 

[pattismith]

So this means that people who eat fat and who have low cholesterol might have good T2 level.

People with CFS/ME who have high cholesterol may investigate a possibility of lack of T2.

in this review,

"Growing evidence indicates 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine (T2) as a biologically active thyroid hormone derivative able to affect energy metabolism (Goglia, 2015 and references within). T2 increases resting metabolic rate, enhances lipid utilization as a fuel substrate, and prevents the occurrence of diet-induced obesity and associated diseases, including liver steatosis, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia (Lanni et al., 2005; de Lange et al., 2011), and insulin resistance (de Lange et al., 2011; Moreno et al., 2011).
In SKM, T2 ameliorates the tissue's response to insulin that is impaired by a high fat diet (Moreno et al., 2011). Importantly, previous studies have shown that, contrary to T3, T2 does not induce thyrotoxicity or undesirable side effects at the cardiovascular level at the doses used (25 μg/100 g rat body weight, Lanni et al., 2005; de Lange et al., 2011)."

 

[drob31]

Hey, all. Recently, I uncovered a mutation in my cholesterol-making apparatus, which makes sense as my cholesterol is quite low.

I know I've seen others here on PR who are the same as me, with low cholesterol. At the same time, I've seen a lot of other patients with their cholesterol quite high. I'm wondering what the ratios really are, patient-wise. Please encourage others to take this poll, so we minimize selection bias as much as is possible with a thread title like this!

Please go by your recent measurements in the poll, but please also comment below: has your cholesterol been increasing as you've gotten sicker? Has it been declining? Is it high / low and always has been, even before illness? Answers like this help us make sense of the data.

I was thinking about this. What if the reason that LDL is low is because it's being used up so fast and converted to Preg and downstream hormones? Maybe your body really needs to make cortisol to calm down inflammation and is using allot of LDL?

 

[Sundancer]

a bit higher then average, I've been ill for 5 years now. Bloodwork from last year. My former GP never took cholesterol so cannot say whether there have been changes.

 

[Timaca]

I've been tracking my lipid levels for years....getting them measured anywhere from 1 time per year to 3 times per year. My levels are tied to my diet. I have to eat whole foods, plant based, even low glycemic at times to get a reasonable cholesterol level. I don't really agree with the words "clinically low" in the poll describing a cholesterol level of 131 - 160. That is probably correct for values in the USA, but not an accurate description of those populations who don't get heart disease. Mine is 156 (taken in January).

Some might be interested in these videos by Dr. Kim Williams, past president of the American College of Cardiology, and Dr. Robert Ostfeld. There are more videos by these men (and others) on the Resources page of my blog.