General Q and A Forum - Unusually Low Cholesterol

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Do you know the difference between good and bad cholesterol? When does cholesterol pose a threat to your health? More info here....

Q: Unusually Low Cholesterol

asked by: dersu_uzula on April 13th, 2009

New User

Hi all,

Just got a lipid panel test with the following results:

Chol: 123
HDL: 41
LDL: 69
Tri: 66

What bothers me is the 123 cholesterol result. Some sources suggest an underlying issue such as malabsorption, or liver problem. Thyroid tests, B12 and Folate levels came back OK...

My doctor said it's exteremely healthy but I seemed skeptical about her responce since she said anything under 200 is fine (yet obviously something as low as 50 would not be un-healthy, I would imagine). I am in pretty good shape and eat a wide variety of foods- fatty, mostly good and sometimes bad, fast food on rare occasion, and exercise & workout regularly.

Also I know the ratios (HDL, LDL) are very important yet a lot of websites overlook that and don't mention that... I also feel sorta more sluggish than a few years ago but this might be suggestive thinking. It is also said that unsually low cholesterol is linked with depression and serotonin levels. My question is what came first, the chicken or the egg... Can it cause depression or is depression the cause of the low chol?

What do you guys think, should I not be worried? Also I am open to supplements and such (already take omega-3 fish oils). Would probiotics help?

Replies(1)

deteragram

replied on April 14th, 2009

Supporter

Wow, I love to learn new things and researching low cholesterol led me to several interesting articles. From what I understand, the low cholesterol causes lower seratonin levels. This low seratonin can lead to depression, anxiety, violence and even suicide.
I found a few more causes of low cholesterol:
hyperthyroidism, malabsorption, malnutrition and manganese deficiency.
One article suggests that when you have low cholesterol (for anything other than dietary reasons) it is because your body is fighting off something. So if you had pain or other symptoms that you have been ignoring, you would do well to have the problem checked out.
Another article (from CNN) stated that people with cholesterol levels of less than 180 have twice the risk of stroke than those who have a level of over 230.

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