Hello
Sorry for the delayed answer. My notification feature didnt work. Your question is very interesting. It sounds like your personal risk factors are limited to your father's bad lifestyle (and that may be a neglible genetic contribution since you have attributed his health to his behaviors). Most aggressive treatment for the prevention of cardiovascular risk factors is based upon a person's risk profile. This is important because as you know, all medications have potential side affects and if the benefit of the medication is neglible- the sideaffects may outweigh the benefits
Having said that, other lab indicators of your cardiovascular health include CRP level, a measure of chronic inflammation and fractionated measurement of your cholesterol. (learn more at www.optimalhealthtoday.com-click cardiovascular testing link). If your risk profile is low, at your age I would recommend a sound exercise program and a low fat diet (by low fat I mean <30 gms total fat and <15 gms sat fat).
In my opinion, we may be a little bit too quick to recommend pharmacologic therapies before maxing out behavior modification. If people are really interested in lowering their cholesterol without medication-a plant based diet would be the first place to begin
Failing that, niaspan, crestor or trilipix are considerations for HDL directed therapy. If you elect to use fish oils, they must by pharmaceutical grade to provide benefit or else your just throwing money away. We use douglas labs in our practice.
Good luck
Am i in danger of an immediate heart attack? It is highly unlikely that a 35 yr old female who doesn't smoke, is not diabetic, has normal BP, and LDL of 95 is in immediate danger of a heart attack.
Technically, your only risk factor is HDL. I would recommend getting a test that shows the subfraction of HDL. There are different forms of HDL. HDL 2 is more powerful than HDL 3. So, if you HDL 2 is in range, you may be worrying for no reason. HDL can only be readily raised by losing weight, controling diabetes or prediabetes, or by taking niacin. Avoiding execessive carbohydrates even in people with normal glucose control may be helpful as well.
How much fish oil can I safely take?
Look at the AHA website. They give recommendations as to intake of fish oil. The amount is gaged by adding the mgs of EPA + DHA.
Niacin........how much can I safely take of that without having to get liver test done by my doctor so often.
The amount of niacin that increases HDL requiers monitoring by your doctor. Dont do this on your own. Niacin can negatively affect the liver.
I hope that this helps.
I suffer from anxiety myself and have a very bad family history of CAD. I say that to emphasis that I am not being glib when I say that you most danagerous risk factor is your stress level. You are a great candiate for regular aerobic exercise and mediation.
I would REALLY appreciate it if my question would get an answer.