Cholesterol test

Cholesterol tests
What does the test result mean?
In a routine setting where testing is done to screen for risk, the test results are grouped in three categories of risk:

Desirable : A cholesterol below 200 mg/dL (5.18 mmol/L) is considered desirable and reflects a low risk of heart disease.
Borderline high: A cholesterol of 200 to 240 mg/dL (5.18 to 6.22 mmol/L) is considered to reflect moderate risk. Your doctor may decide to order a lipid profile to see if your high cholesterol is bad cholesterol (high LDL) or good cholesterol (high HDL). Depending on the results of the lipid profile (and any other risk factors you may have) your doctor will decide what to do.
High Risk: A cholesterol above 240 mg/dL (6.22 mmol/L) is considered high risk. Your doctor may order a lipid profile (as well as other tests) to try to determine the cause of your high cholesterol. Once the cause is known, an appropriate treatment will be prescribed.
In a treatment setting, testing is used to see how much cholesterol is decreasing as a result of treatment. The goal for the amount of change or the final (target) value will be set by your doctor. The target value is usually based on LDL.

Also.. . 'Some drugs that are known to increase cholesterol levels include anabolic steroids, beta blockers, epinephrine, oral contraceptives and vitamin D. '


Source: http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cholesterol/test.html

It seems that there are many facotors to contribute, and that there are good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. If you are worried, maybe you should find out what yours is.

Hope this helps

cholestrial
thanks for your comments

some people just have naturally high chlolesterol and no matter what you do, the bad cholesterol just stays high and the good cholsterol stays low. That's when they bring in the meds. I'd talk to your doctor.

cholestral
Thank-you so much for the advice, i'm going to go to the Doctors