What (if anything) would cause a ~10% spike in cholesterol in 6 weeks? This story was told to me second-hand, so here’s all I know. 52 YOF, history of high cholesterol…no changes in diet during the interim period. No new/altered meds. Tests were performed after fasting over night, and were done first thing in the morning, but at different facilities.
Early July reading = 248
test performed this week = 272
I’m not a doctor, but I know that mine tends to vary quite a bit based on diet/exercise. Strength training especially. Just as an example, mine changed 100 points (yes, literally 100) in 9 weeks just based on changes to my diet. And I ate relatively healthy before!
WOW! 100 pts is HUGE. I’m hoping it went down with your diet changes
This lady didnt change anything though.
Yes, it went down 
And then I backed off the diet and within 6 weeks it was back up significantly :\
I probably should have expanded a bit. My point was, I have mine tested fairly regularly - it’s been high since I was 17, and there’s always some variation. Maybe it’s my perspective, but I would consider 10 points just a normal variance. Even if she ate a similar diet, it doesn’t take much to cause little fluctuations. Also, I was told by my doc that strength training increases HDL (that’s a good thing.) Did she have any changes in her workout routine?
Doc - As soon as you finish medical school you’ll be able to answer this yourself. Each laboratory test comes with a normal range. In other words, there’s usually no single number which is correct for everyone…or even correct for you. Although 10 % (or possibly 10 points) is certainly a change, if your practitioner we’re concerned, he/she would have counseled you about potential problems and what to watch for in the future. I’m guessing that wasn’t the case as it’s probably OK.