Is LDL cholesterol of 288 dangerous for a 65 year old woman??

Very dangerous. Way too high. 160 or 170, even 180 would be safe.

Your doc will want to prescribe meds, but statin drugs have undesirable side effects. I recommend diet and weight loss, and another lipid profile in 90 days.

Diet: Eliminate all saturated fats and trans fats. Eliminate all fast foods. Embrace oatmeal for breakfast daily. Google ways to lower cholesteral and add/eliminate those foods from your diet.

Weight loss: 5 fruits & veggies daily, minimum. Small portions. You know the drill. Begin walking and keep at it until you can walk a BRISK pace for 30 minutes daily.

I'm not dreaming. I did the above and dropped...
60 pounds
60 points of LDL
...with no meds.

Good luck!

Is this number for LDL or Total Cholesterol?

That would be dangerous for anyone. I hope you are now on medications you need them

Yes, I would think so.
I'm 43 and mine was 252, doc put me on medicine, in 6 weeks, no kidding, I dropped to 152.
I also started walking 4 miles a day and stopped smoking.
Yes, have it checked for sure.

Your best bet is to check through the American Heart Association.

Yes! Especially because your age puts you at a higher risk for heart disease and strokes. Normal LDL is less than 130. Normal total cholesterol is less than 200.
Read this: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20010115/323ph.h... and see your doctor.

My doctor said that anything over 199 is bad--for anybody.

If the woman doesn't want to take cholesterol meds, she can try taking niacin (a B vitamin). You start out by taking 1/2 of a 500mg. pill, three times a day. Then you get yourself up to taking a full 500mg pill three times a day.

Be sure to have Motrin/Advil around--you need to take it about an hour before the Niacin--as you will get "flushes" which makes you feel like you have a bad sunburn--inside and out. They don't last that long, but are painful, expecially at first.

Also, the Niacin that says it won't give you flushes is not good--nor is the type that says "time-released."

Anything over 200 is not good for anybody no matter what their age.
Lay off the saturated fats, get some exercise walking, swimming, bicycling, any low impact aeorbics are good ,every day too!
Good luck.

A normal level is 60-160mg/dL. Greater than 160mg/dL is at risk for coronary heart disease and your levels far exceed that. I hope you have started medication and diet therapy.