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Diagnosed With Low HDL Levels. Take Tylenol For Headaches. Suggest Diet?
Question: What can I do diet wise for my husband who had bloodwork done by LifeLine screening and they gave him his cholesterol numbers-- HDL was 15, they said that they could not do the LDL's because of the low HDL. His total was 206, the triglycerides was131. He does not have any medical issues. Takes tylenol for headaches that he has every day, due to the stress levels at work. We eat healthy but apparently thats not good enough.
Hello and thank you for sending your question.
This is a very good question.
You indicated that your husbands HDL-cholesterol is very low. Optimally we would like to see this level above 40. The best way to do this would be with regular exercise. In addition we sometimes use medication such as Lipitor among others which does help to increase HDL level and decrease the LDL level.
I think with a level of 15 it will be very difficult to achieve a level above 40 without consideration of medication.
I would encourage your husband to review these laboratory results with his diet and increasing exercise might be recommended. Ultimately within the next few months consideration of the addition of a medication might be warranted.
Thank you again for sending your question. Please let me know if you have any additional specific concerns.
Dr. Galamaga
This is a very good question.
You indicated that your husbands HDL-cholesterol is very low. Optimally we would like to see this level above 40. The best way to do this would be with regular exercise. In addition we sometimes use medication such as Lipitor among others which does help to increase HDL level and decrease the LDL level.
I think with a level of 15 it will be very difficult to achieve a level above 40 without consideration of medication.
I would encourage your husband to review these laboratory results with his diet and increasing exercise might be recommended. Ultimately within the next few months consideration of the addition of a medication might be warranted.
Thank you again for sending your question. Please let me know if you have any additional specific concerns.
Dr. Galamaga
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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