Worried about high cholesterol levels!

Hi all,

I am a 33 yo female with PCOS. In May 2021 I went for a free health check up where they basically do an MOT and carry out lots of tests. This was the first time I had had my cholesterol checked and I was surprised it came back as 5.5. All my other tests were ok, although I needed to increase my muscle mass more. I am vegetarian, generally have a good diet, non-smoker, social drinker (quite rare), not overweight, normal BMI and I exercise regularly too. However, this really shocked me so I decided to increase my exercise levels and have been doing running/HIIT exercises at least 3 times a week coupled with dumbbell and resistance training around 4 times a week. On other days when I am not doing running/HIIT, I still exercise with low impact workouts, walk, and get my 10k steps in. I feel like I have also been more conscious of my diet too and have tried to cut down even more on anything with too much fat in. In September 2022, I did the same test again, however for some reason I never received my results and I just ended up forgetting to chase them for it. So I just got an email saying there was an issue with the emails and not everyone received them so they were resending the reports. I was then even more shocked to see that not only had my cholesterol increased but it had gone to 6.4!! Higher than both my parents who are in their 60s. I am totally freaking out. I don't understand why it has gone up so much. I was expecting it to have stayed the same or even reduced a little bit but I am now despairing looking at that number!!! The other tests were again fine including BP, BMI, blood sugar, ECG etc. all normal. I had gained muscle mass and reduced body fat from my last tests so everything else was either the same or better except for cholesterol! The one main difference between the tests was that when I took it in 2021 I was on the pill and in 2022 I was off the pill. Also I had injured my ankle in August 2022 not so long before the test and so I wasn't able to exercise as I was before. (I am back to the same exercise routine now). What should I do? I've been sat for the past 2 hours googling. It's so draining to feel that my efforts to intensify my exercise and be more mindful of my diet has not helped at all and in fact it's gone super high. My mum has just started statins and there is a history on both sides of my family of high cholesterol levels and also I think PCOS and perhaps coming off the pill could potentially all be related but I am really worried especially being 33 that it doesn't seem to be going down and only up even if I am doing things to lower it myself! :weep: