Cholesterol

Animord

Hi, I had my cholesterol tested last week. I have been told this morning by the nurse that my cholesterol is 6.3 and my triglicerides are 3.28 and that I must start on tablets at once.

I asked for the LDL/HDL numbers and was told it is not possible to test when there is high triglicerides.

Two things - one, is this true? I don't think I believe it and secondly I have read that losing weight can effectively 'dump' a lot of fat into the blood causing high cholesterol readings until the body has stabilized - I have lost six stone over a period of about two years.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

adox

Animord wrote: »

Hi, I had my cholesterol tested last week. I have been told this morning by the nurse that my cholesterol is 6.3 and my triglicerides are 3.28 and that I must start on tablets at once.

I asked for the LDL/HDL numbers and was told it is not possible to test when there is high triglicerides.

Two things - one, is this true? I don't think I believe it and secondly I have read that losing weight can effectively 'dump' a lot of fat into the blood causing high cholesterol readings until the body has stabilized - I have lost six stone over a period of about two years.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

I cant help with your specific questions but i had a similar reading two months ago - 6.2 and didnt go on medication. I have tried to see if my diet could improve my overall cholesterol level. I have lost half a stone in that time, which is quite a lot for me considering I was only 11.5 stone at the time(5 foot 10 in height) so I hope the bolded part isnt true as Ive had my blood taken again this morning for testing. Should have the results towards the end of the week.

Space Dog

While I obviously don't know anything about your circumstances, I highly doubt that any GP would put you on medication after one high reading. I've also had a very high reading once (actually 6.5). I had it tested again a few weeks later and it was down to 5.5, and by changing my diet and exercising more I brought it down to 4.9, where it stayed for the last two years. Your high reading may have been down to something you ate. I'd say medication is the last resort if changes to your diet and lifestyle won't help.

dragonkin

I'd suggest you read these two links up to you after that...

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-straight-dope-on-cholesterol-part-i

http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Cholesterol-Anthony-Colpo/dp/1471048381/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1353367752&sr=8-2&keywords=great+cholesterol+con

tHE vAGGABOND

http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Chol...holesterol+con

?+1 on that book, really interesting and makes a lot of sense to my "not a trained scientist" ears

siochain

Typical Irish GP solution, write a perscription.

You can easily reduce your cholesterol through diet changes, since going paleo\primal my totals are 3.8 with hdl 1.6 (measured 3 times in 12 months) When I told my GP what I was eating she nearly passed out.

Anyway cholesterol is not so bad for us , it only becomes a problem when we have high levels of imflamation in our arteries.

I know several people who significantly reduced there cholesterol levels by eliminating all types of wheat from their diets.

These options will work for some and not for others, trial a few things and see what works for you.

Animord

Hi, thanks for your replies.

I was actually questioning the fact that the nurse told me that they can't test for LDL and HDL in the presence of high triglicerides.

I am not unduly worried about the test and have no intention of paying a pharmaceutical company to give me diabetes not now, not ever.

I also read on the Whole9 forum that if you have lost a lot of weight that your triglicerides can be up and was wondering if anyone else had seen anything about that.

And just for info, I don't eat grains, have been pretty much 80:20 paleo/primal for several years. I do eat dairy and had forgotten until after I had posted this that I was on a bit of a cheese binge for three or four days before the test (I had the blood test for something else, but they did cholesterol anyway). I suspect there was more cheese than blood in my veins.

In better news, I was being tested for thyroid problems - I have the antibodies and since giving up grains they have not got worse and have actually improved slightly.

El_Dangeroso

Yes, the measurement of LDL and HDL can become comlpletely inaccurate in the presence of high trigs,so the doc was correct in saying that.

Measure again in two months, might be a temporary blip, but those trigs are quite high and could be a sign something's up.

Flier

I'm presuming it was a fasting sample that was taken - since you mentioned the test was done as an extra when you were having thyroid bloods done. Cholesterol test should always be done fasting from the night before.

Animord

No, it wasn't fasting - I went in for the thyroid bloods and she just did it without telling me.

I will get it done again in January and see what it says then.

Doing an unfasted test three days after my birthday (no excuse to over eat I know, but hey I am human!) probably wasn't wise. And I am over my cauliflower cheese obsession that I was having at the time, so I am sure it will be lower next time.

Thanks.

El_Dangeroso

Animord wrote: »

No, it wasn't fasting - I went in for the thyroid bloods and she just did it without telling me.

I will get it done again in January and see what it says then.

Doing an unfasted test three days after my birthday (no excuse to over eat I know, but hey I am human!) probably wasn't wise. And I am over my cauliflower cheese obsession that I was having at the time, so I am sure it will be lower next time.

Thanks.

Jesus, I would be changing doctors if they decided to medicate me on the basis of an non-fasting cholesterol test! That is unbelievably stupid.

Disregard, re-test when fasting and shove the results in their face while asking where on earth did they receive their medical training.

Sorry to be so ranty but I actually find that shocking.

A_Sober_Paddy

If you don't fancy going on a drug, you could try a soya product, called lecithin. Know a few people who have taken it and they found it worked.

Also if your diet is ok and you exercise and your cholesterol is high it may not be a big deal, the trainer in my gym has a 6 in terms of cholesterol but his as fit as a fiddle, its a hereditery thing for him

Cholesterol levels are set by the company's that make the drugs for reducing cholesterol, well that was what I was told by a doctor before

Animord

Oh dear this thread is not going well for my poor doctor!

El_D, I have had high readings before - I didn't say anything about it in my original post as I was asking about what the nurse had told me re not testing when there are high trigs. (thanks for your reply on that)

So here is the whole story so no one gets upset

I have always had high cholesterol - have been seeing that doctor for about 6 years. Personally I am not much bothered by it as my mother has always had high cholesterol and is in her mid 70s and is fine. My father had 'perfect' cholesterol all his life, ate pretty much nothing but sat fat and fried it all in lard. He did have heart disease but it is not what he died of.

It was the nurse who gave me the results (immediately before I posted) and she was pretty hysterical about it - "you much come in immediately and be put on tablets at once" The doctor however wrote to me and her words were "you may want to consider taking tablets, call me for a chat about it".

I posted after speaking to the nurse, but before getting the doctor's letter.

Thanks for all your replies. I will get another test in January and see what happens then.

El_Dangeroso

Oh righty! Ranted too soon I did.

Paul Jaminet's blog has a lot of things on his blog about cholesterol if you have a google.

Basically, the best metric that we know of (bar testing Lp(a) - which you can request if you are really concerned) is the total:HDL ratio.

Keeping that good seems to be all about thyroid function, so maybe if you are having problems there, that could be the route cause of your high readings. From the literature it seems fairly clear that getting one's thyroid back on track will normalise LDL and total fairly quickly.

Animord

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Oh righty! Ranted too soon I did.

Paul Jaminet's blog has a lot of things on his blog about cholesterol if you have a google.

Basically, the best metric that we know of (bar testing Lp(a) - which you can request if you are really concerned) is the total:HDL ratio.

Keeping that good seems to be all about thyroid function, so maybe if you are having problems there, that could be the route cause of your high readings. From the literature it seems fairly clear that getting one's thyroid back on track will normalise LDL and total fairly quickly.

My fault - I should have gone for full disclosure in the first place!

I am told that my thyroid is failing - hence the antibodies - I gave up gluten as that seems to be implicated by a lot of people. So far so good in that it hasn't got worse. The doctor's opinion is that it will probably fail eventually and I will have to go on the meds. At this stage I don't know what to do or not do - I get thoroughly confused by T3s and T4s and TSH blah, blah blah.

El_Dangeroso

Chris Kresser's primer on thyroid is great if you haven't seen it, makes the terminology way easier to understand.

http://chriskresser.com/thyroid

Animord

Thanks so much El_D - because I am struggling with understanding this.

Orla K

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

If you don't fancy going on a drug, you could try a soya product, called lecithin. Know a few people who have taken it and they found it worked.

Also if your diet is ok and you exercise and your cholesterol is high it may not be a big deal, the trainer in my gym has a 6 in terms of cholesterol but his as fit as a fiddle, its a hereditery thing for him

Cholesterol levels are set by the company's that make the drugs for reducing cholesterol, well that was what I was told by a doctor before

The OP has thyroid problems and soy products should be avoided with that.

Animord wrote: »

My fault - I should have gone for full disclosure in the first place!

I am told that my thyroid is failing - hence the antibodies - I gave up gluten as that seems to be implicated by a lot of people. So far so good in that it hasn't got worse. The doctor's opinion is that it will probably fail eventually and I will have to go on the meds. At this stage I don't know what to do or not do - I get thoroughly confused by T3s and T4s and TSH blah, blah blah.

Your not on meds now? If your thyroid is failing now it's not working properly and you probably should be on meds to help it out. people with untreated or poorly treated thyroid problems are prone to end up with adrenal issues.

Here's a website that will help you understand your results a bit more, but it has alot of information so I find it's best to take it slow and go over it a few times

Here's another website which is a fairly new so hasn't as much information but it's growing quite a bit, the guy El_Dangeroso posted is a member of this site.

Animord

Thanks OrlaK.

No, I am not on meds - the doctor's view is that my results are within what they consider to be the 'normal' parameters so she told me to get regular tests and when she considers it bad enough we will do something.

I certainly do have many of the symptoms that are listed on the Stop the Thyroid madness page - including inability to concentrate which makes it harder to take it all in

Is there any way to find out if there are doctors in this country who are specialists or into this subject? Preferably in either Cork or Galway.

Orla K

Animord wrote: »

Thanks OrlaK.

No, I am not on meds - the doctor's view is that my results are within what they consider to be the 'normal' parameters so she told me to get regular tests and when she considers it bad enough we will do something.

I certainly do have many of the symptoms that are listed on the Stop the Thyroid madness page - including inability to concentrate which makes it harder to take it all in

Is there any way to find out if there are doctors in this country who are specialists or into this subject? Preferably in either Cork or Galway.

If it's affecting your ability to concentrate and other things then you should do something about it. Also that page is things that people have found to have gotten better when on glandular thyroid rather than symptoms, but the other one is a bit of a mouthful.

The specialist your looking for is an endocrinologist, I don't know any let alone any good ones but you could have a search in this thread you might find one.

I'm just wondering what are your test results? There seems to be a difference in normal lab ranges and healthy, as you can probably see for yourself.

adox

adox wrote: »

I cant help with your specific questions but i had a similar reading two months ago - 6.2 and didnt go on medication. I have tried to see if my diet could improve my overall cholesterol level. I have lost half a stone in that time, which is quite a lot for me considering I was only 11.5 stone at the time(5 foot 10 in height) so I hope the bolded part isnt true as Ive had my blood taken again this morning for testing. Should have the results towards the end of the week.

Just a quick update, if its not OT, I got retested again last week, after a two month gap. In that time I've made a few changes to my diet and have also kept a food diary with nutritional guides, calorie counts etc to try and encourage me to consistently eat a balanced diet and also control my portions sizes.

Anyway, my overall reading has dropped from 6.2 to 5.5 so a decent improvement in a short space of time. Triglycerides are down as well. I think they were 3.8 originally and now down to 1.9.

Doctor has encouraged me to continue with my current diet as long as it is well balanced, and will test again in 6 months.

leinsterdude

Anyone know of a good home test kit to use ?
Cheers.

space_man

Animord wrote: »

Oh dear this thread is not going well for my poor doctor!

El_D, I have had high readings before - I didn't say anything about it in my original post as I was asking about what the nurse had told me re not testing when there are high trigs. (thanks for your reply on that)

So here is the whole story so no one gets upset

I have always had high cholesterol - have been seeing that doctor for about 6 years. Personally I am not much bothered by it as my mother has always had high cholesterol and is in her mid 70s and is fine. My father had 'perfect' cholesterol all his life, ate pretty much nothing but sat fat and fried it all in lard. He did have heart disease but it is not what he died of.

It was the nurse who gave me the results (immediately before I posted) and she was pretty hysterical about it - "you much come in immediately and be put on tablets at once" The doctor however wrote to me and her words were "you may want to consider taking tablets, call me for a chat about it".

I posted after speaking to the nurse, but before getting the doctor's letter.

Thanks for all your replies. I will get another test in January and see what happens then.

I had a very similar experience last year. My blood test results came back showing very high levels of Iron. My doctor was on hols so I talked to the nurse. After 10 mins she convinced me I might have a condition called Hemochromotosis, which can lead to a dangerous iron build-up, causing organ damage and eventually organ failure! (despite what your granny said, too much iron is not good).

Naturally I googled the condition, causing even more anxiety. Eventually spoke to my GP (after her hols), and she reassured me it was most likely nothing.
Further blood test have indicated slightly elevated iron levels but nothing of any note. For some months prior to my blood test I was taking supplements which contained Vit B15 and Iron, and on the day of the test i was quite stressed because of personal issues (stress can elevate iron levels apparently).

Lesson? do not jump to conclusions after an isolated test (always best to try and establish if there's a pattern/trend), and be aware of other factors which might skew the results.

Oh! and treat hasty diagnosis from overly helpful nurses with caution.

Good luck with your next tests, hopefully they will be good.