High cholesterol after Hysterectomy

7of9

Anyone else diagnosed with High cholesterol a few yrs after hysterectomy/ oopherectomy? Last 2 yrs 2/3 lipid panels were high. Waiting on results for current one and wondering if I'm going to have to add another damn medication to the list. I cut out nuts, peanut butter, halved drinking from1x a week to bi weekly and almost eliminated fries. Almost. My weight is good, lower than pre cancer by 10 -15 lbs with 20 bmi! Wth!.... I do like dark chocolate but have a nibble every other day, every 3rd day? My dad had fatal heart attack literally 10 days after my mastectomy (because you know, we fighters love a good shit show), but he was raised on red meat, martinis and ate stupid McDonald's breakfast sandwiches for 30 years. I guess it happens to a lot of people due to hereditary but disappointing to have to out duel my genetics with a pill ( again). I won't stop Arimidex as it has bought me 6 yrs so far after recurrence...

Beaverntx

7of9, when I went through menopause, as my estrogen levels dropped, my cholesterol levels increased. The statin I have taken for 25 years has been the least disruptive of any of my meds (at 81 I take meds for blood pressure and cholesterol [thanks, mom], osteopenia, macular degeneration). Totally understand your resistance to another pill, I'm currently trying to avoid adding a pill for gout(thanks, dad) which is probably a fruitless effort but so far so good! Good luck!!!

MikaMika

Hello,

I can't answer your question, but I was told that tree nuts are actually good for lowering cholesterol levels.

7of9

Yay I got it down on my own just under 200 - but LDL was still a little high? The one Cheerios supposedly helps with. And on the game of whack a mole goes. Gotta get a lump checked out tomorrow onc said it's nothing, ultrasound nurse thought it's nothing, ultrasound doc said "it's weird, lets biospsy it". Sigh. Picking up my atttivan script on the way home because my only rule is I NEVER go to a test stone sober. Never again am I getting bad news in a nervous state.

SpecialK

7of9 - hope your biopsy is a nothingburger, totally get the worry though. Yay for lowering your cholesterol - great news! I had very low total cholesterol (in the 150's) prior to a total hyst/ooph at 45, 9 years prior to breast cancer. It shot up well above 200 almost overnight. The good news is that my cholesterol has been elevated for 20 years with no apparent issues so far. I took a statin for a while but requested to come off as I was having joint pain from letrozole, and I had read/heard that statins can also cause this type of discomfort. My new primary care indicated he would have never put me on a statin because what was driving my number over 200 was my good aspect and that the ratio is more critical than the total number, and my triglycerides were not high. He said he would taper me off, and if I stayed where I was, he would approve leaving me off. I did, and actually lowered the total number more with some dietary changes. I have read several articles that indicate that what we eat doesn't move the number all that much - other than saturated fats, and this is a genetic and/or physiological issue, but an anti-inflammatory diet did help me. It has been a minute since I had a lipid panel done, mostly due to a combo of military providers suspending regular well health visits due to Covid, and then turning 65, and no longer able to be seen on the military base. I have my annual MO appt upcoming and will request info about local primary care docs from my MO, I need one who will be collaborative rather than dictatorial, lol! My MO knows me well enough to suggest someone I can work with, but I do need to have a general well health check with a cholesterol check.

MinusTwo

Interesting thoughts. I'd had my uterus only removed 35 years ago & have been in "natural" menopause for a number of years. My cardiologist keeps trying to push statins. My total is just over 200 - but it's all because of the LDL. My good cholesterol (HDL) is fantastic, my triglycerides are great - just that pesky "bad" cholesterol - LDL. I've tried walking 6 miles every day for an entire year; at most I might eat red meat once a month or less; I eat mostly vegetables with fish or chicken added maybe once week; I gave up potatao chips & eat very few desserts. The only really bad thing I eat is butter, and not a lot of that since I rarely eat bread or potatoes anymore (But I'm not giving up my butter). I've tried any number of supplements (COQ10, Niacinamide, doubling the Wild Salmon Omega 3, etc) - no change. I know the cardiologist is going to insist again this fall since I haven't been able to move that darn lower number with life style changes. Ugh.

BTW - 7/9 - my cereal of choice is Cheerios. Hope the lump is B-9.

Thank you for listening even though I never had hormonal therapy.