Can My Cholesterol Be Too Low?

Can Your Cholesterol Levels be Too Low?

When Peter Jaret, author of Can Your Cholesterol be too Low, got his cholesterol tested, the medical technician doing his test didn’t think the first reading was accurate.  With the number only being 120, (60 points below the national average of 180), the technician figured there just had to be a mistake somewhere.  There was none, something that was found out when the test was done a second time.  Peter thought he had a reading he could be proud of… that is until he called Vivian Mitropoulou, Ph.D., a researcher of cholesterol.  She told him that in the 1980s, a wave of people taking cholesterol-lowering drugs were dying of suicides and automobile accidents.  In a more recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, men with abnormally low cholesterol levels were twice as likely to commit suicide, in contrast to the men with cholesterol levels that were either too high or normal.  The reason why this is occurring is due to the connection between low cholesterol levels and depression. It is believed by the medical community that when cholesterol levels are low, so is the amount of serotonin produced by the brain.  Serotonin, the chemical responsible for controlling mood and emotion, can cause psychological problems if it’s not produced at a high enough level.  Depression is one of these problems, a condition that is a lot more serious than what many people make it out to be.  When depression is untreated, people are at greater risk of suicides and/or the type of impulsive behavior that could contribute to a higher likelihood of car accidents, (such as drinking and driving or speeding).  Additionally, since men often times express depressed feelings through anger, they might make themselves more vulnerable to fights or other potentially violent situations, since, due to the low serotonin levels they are not as able to control their negative emotions. What about individuals who have low cholesterol that is not caused by cholesterol medication? 

This is an even more serious problem, because it indicates something is physically wrong with the body. 

Some conditions that result in low cholesterol include: hyperthyroidism, (also known as an overactive thyroid), liver problems, intestinal problems and manganese deficiency.  Individuals that have extremely low cholesterol due to any of these conditions have it twice as bad as those who got it from medication.  At least if it’s from medication, it’s possible to try to experiment with other medications to see which one will result in a normal cholesterol level.  On the other hand, if it’s due to a medical condition, the medical condition needs to be resolved before the cholesterol level returns to normal.  Also, as long as  the medical condition persists, people have to deal with both the problems ensued from them as well as the problems ensued from low cholesterol which, as already mentioned, can include severe depression.

How can you make sure that your cholesterol level is not too low?  Make appointments with your doctor on a regular basis.  This is especially the case if you have started taking cholesterol medication.  If you are lowering your cholesterol through natural means, you probably will not be as susceptible to getting your cholesterol level too low, but make sure you get it checked anyway, just to be sure.