Cholesterol medication
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Afroditaa77
Posts: 21 Member
My last blood work was in the 27th of April and I started Keto on the 28th. My doctor found my cholesterol out of control, she said a step away from a heart attack. My question is, should I take the meds she gave me ? I have lost 10 lbs since then and I'm consuming tones of fat, would I be attacking my diet and kick me out of ketosis if I take it.
Please help me.
Please help me.
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Replies
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Ooohhh, looking forward to the replies on this.
My GP has just changed & increased my statins for my 'out of control ' cholesterol reading....7.2 in UK units.0 -
Ignoring your doctor is dangerous quite often.
If you drop your cholesterol by diet and exercise while taking a statin drug it will just happen faster
Dangerous levels
That is what jumps out at me.
I had moderately elevated levels and dropped it way down with diet and exercise, but I was not at risk of a heart attack.
Ignoring your doctor and following strangers on the internet seems almost foolish. Get a second medical opinion if in doubt. It is your health on the line.8 -
Agree with @Working2BLean - follow your doctor's advice. Taking the statin can only lower your cholesterol faster, and if you are truly "a step away from a heart attack," that's nothing to mess around with. In that instance I would (personally) be of the opinion that the benefit from taking the medication and getting your cholesterol under control faster, would outweigh any risk.2
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I'd say this really depends on what your levels are. Doctors tend to exaggerate or get overly dramatic when they think you will put off meds or be non-compliant aka scare tactic. It would take a heck of a lot for me to agree to cholesterol meds under any conditions...6
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I'd get a second opinion from a integrative physician. Docs are notorious for mis reading lab work. I've been primal fat adapted for a few years and my cholesterol lab results read "high" but when I look at the actual details it's the good cholesterol that is high and the triglycerides are very low so WTF! So I totally disagree about trusting the docs. Here is a good place to get some good info:
Cate Shanahan, MD
http://drcate.com
Author Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food
LA Lakers PRO Nutrition Program Director7 -
Thanks for the input. I will take the meds hopping ketosis doesn't have anything to do with it.0
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Have you read cholesterol clarity or the great cholesterol myth? I would do this ASAP do that you can make an informed decision.
I do agree that there are plenty of doctors that jump straight to statins in an over reaction quite often but of course I would never advise you to go against their recommendations.
I do believe that the recommendations are not necessarily the best advise sometimes though and the only way to ask the right questions and make a decision you'll feel confident with is to fully understand all the ins and outs of your situation.
Those resources will help you very much.
Here's a video too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWdHYSrh7M 3 -
Wow fablevins. Thanks for the info. Very interesting.2
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Me personally I would not to go on the drugs until I could get lipid particle test. Different labs have different names for them, but your doctor does know what it is and without question it is a far better 'look under the hood'. The standard cholesterol tests are far too vague to conclude if one really needs to jump to drug therapy. For example, losing weight can cause triglycerides and even LDLs to raise as there is more fat in the blood since the fat cells are releasing the fat. Thyroid issues can also cause LDLs to spike when all else is good because cell receptors which dispose of old LDL do not work as well anymore. Without seeing your numbers, I can't tell what exactly may have prompted your doc to suggest drugs and to suggest 'imminent death'.
I have high LDLs (which I firmly believe is due to losing weight, and will stabilize when my weight stabilizes. I have read about this many times now) so I got a particle test last month after my doc suggested meds. I am so glad I did, as meds are now not even a discussion. The test gave me an overall cholesterol health of 'excellent', and I still have high LDLs. These test are far more comprehensive and have an overall health scale rating of 1 to 20, with 1 being awesome and 20 being deadly. My number was 1.5 which is super great! All my other numbers were fabulous, so my only risk factor of high LDLs wasn't really so bad as most were 'fluffy' and not oxidized LDLs. In other-words, my high LDL poses little risk when all risk markers are properly factored.6 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »I'd say this really depends on what your levels are. Doctors tend to exaggerate or get overly dramatic when they think you will put off meds or be non-compliant aka scare tactic. It would take a heck of a lot for me to agree to cholesterol meds under any conditions...KarlynKeto wrote: »Me personally I would not to go on the drugs until I could get lipid particle test. Different labs have different names for them, but your doctor does know what it is and without question it is a far better 'look under the hood'. The standard cholesterol tests are far too vague to conclude if one really needs to jump to drug therapy. For example, losing weight can cause triglycerides and even LDLs to raise as there is more fat in the blood since the fat cells are releasing the fat. Thyroid issues can also cause LDLs to spike when all else is good because cell receptors which dispose of old LDL do not work as well anymore. Without seeing your numbers, I can't tell what exactly may have prompted your doc to suggest drugs and to suggest 'imminent death'.
I have high LDLs (which I firmly believe is due to losing weight, and will stabilize when my weight stabilizes. I have read about this many times now) so I got a particle test last month after my doc suggested meds. I am so glad I did, as meds are now not even a discussion.wanderinjack wrote: »I'd get a second opinion from a integrative physician. Docs are notorious for mis reading lab work. I've been primal fat adapted for a few years and my cholesterol lab results read "high" but when I look at the actual details it's the good cholesterol that is high and the triglycerides are very low so WTF! So I totally disagree about trusting the docs.Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Have you read cholesterol clarity or the great cholesterol myth? I would do this ASAP do that you can make an informed decision.
I do agree that there are plenty of doctors that jump straight to statins in an over reaction quite often but of course I would never advise you to go against their recommendations.
I do believe that the recommendations are not necessarily the best advise sometimes though and the only way to ask the right questions and make a decision you'll feel confident with is to fully understand all the ins and outs of your situation. Those resources will help you very much.
All gems of great advice.
Of course, there will always be members of the medical establishment who tend to issue attention-grabbing pronouncements with utmost conviction. Many doctors have preached over the course of decades seeking to convert the masses to a low-fat (and what for many of us turned out to be a carb-spiking) nutrition plan, and many prominent institutions still confidently advise Type 2 diabetics to choke down enough carbs in the course of a day to guarantee a market for insulin producers.....
So it always helps to know what, exactly, underlies any piece of advice you get from any health-care provider, blogger, fortune teller, or, er... MFP commenter.
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I do have thyroid problems and I wasn't taking anything. I'm also losing weight slowly but little every day0
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Here is a good article about thyroid and LDL cholesterol. For many people it may just be a result of a mild to moderate iodine deficiency. You really need to talk to your doctor more. Fixing symptoms (the high cholesterol) without really understanding the causes (thyroid, iodine, diet...etc.) is never smart medicine, IMO. Especially when the medicine has such side effects as statins. Let him know if you are willing to do the natural path and if avoiding meds for now would be advisable. Some people love the thought of just popping a daily pill so they don't have to change their bad diets, and maybe your doctor assumed that was your point of view.
http://www.cpmedical.net/newsletter/the-overlooked-cause-of-high-cholesterol
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KarlynKeto wrote: »Here is a good article about thyroid and LDL cholesterol. For many people it may just be a result of a mild to moderate iodine deficiency. You really need to talk to your doctor more. Fixing symptoms (the high cholesterol) without really understanding the causes (thyroid, iodine, diet...etc.) is never smart medicine, IMO. Especially when the medicine has such side effects as statins. Let him know if you are willing to do the natural path and if avoiding meds for now would be advisable. Some people love the thought of just popping a daily pill so they don't have to change their bad diets, and maybe your doctor assumed that was your point of view.
http://www.cpmedical.net/newsletter/the-overlooked-cause-of-high-cholesterol
And definitely don't just take Iodine - it can mess you up!!! My PCP doc put me on it without testing first as I had all the symptoms. By the time my Endo tested, I was at almost triple the max recommended level. Weaned down to half pills, and in 6 months when still high, off to every other day, then off completely. Had to up my thyroid dosage to compensate... So frustrating, for as much as we talk about electrolytes being a delicate balance, so too are thyroid meds. If you tend toward auto-immune, excess iodine can even push hypothyroidism to turn into Hashimoto's!1 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »KarlynKeto wrote: »Here is a good article about thyroid and LDL cholesterol. For many people it may just be a result of a mild to moderate iodine deficiency. You really need to talk to your doctor more. Fixing symptoms (the high cholesterol) without really understanding the causes (thyroid, iodine, diet...etc.) is never smart medicine, IMO. Especially when the medicine has such side effects as statins. Let him know if you are willing to do the natural path and if avoiding meds for now would be advisable. Some people love the thought of just popping a daily pill so they don't have to change their bad diets, and maybe your doctor assumed that was your point of view.
http://www.cpmedical.net/newsletter/the-overlooked-cause-of-high-cholesterol
And definitely don't just take Iodine - it can mess you up!!! My PCP doc put me on it without testing first as I had all the symptoms. By the time my Endo tested, I was at almost triple the max recommended level. Weaned down to half pills, and in 6 months when still high, off to every other day, then off completely. Had to up my thyroid dosage to compensate... So frustrating, for as much as we talk about electrolytes being a delicate balance, so too are thyroid meds. If you tend toward auto-immune, excess iodine can even push hypothyroidism to turn into Hashimoto's!
Very true. How much did they have you take?! There is mixed info on how much we should really take, but iodide/iodine supplementation should never be taken without other supplements like selenium. I hope he had you do that, I have read some sad side effects when people just pop a lot of iodine/iodide without the nutritional support it needs in larger doses. When it comes to having a healthy thyroid it takes very little, a good one-a-day vitamin should have about half of that amount.
As for lowering LDL, I read a study where a company was recently testing a mouthwash with iodine and just the small amount the participants got through rinsing & spitting was enough to greatly lower their LDLs. It was a surprise finding, one they were not even testing for, but now their is a second study being done to see if it can be used as a 'cholesterol lowering' product.1 -
Thank you guys. Wow a lot a things I didn't know.0
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KarlynKeto wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »KarlynKeto wrote: »Here is a good article about thyroid and LDL cholesterol. For many people it may just be a result of a mild to moderate iodine deficiency. You really need to talk to your doctor more. Fixing symptoms (the high cholesterol) without really understanding the causes (thyroid, iodine, diet...etc.) is never smart medicine, IMO. Especially when the medicine has such side effects as statins. Let him know if you are willing to do the natural path and if avoiding meds for now would be advisable. Some people love the thought of just popping a daily pill so they don't have to change their bad diets, and maybe your doctor assumed that was your point of view.
http://www.cpmedical.net/newsletter/the-overlooked-cause-of-high-cholesterol
And definitely don't just take Iodine - it can mess you up!!! My PCP doc put me on it without testing first as I had all the symptoms. By the time my Endo tested, I was at almost triple the max recommended level. Weaned down to half pills, and in 6 months when still high, off to every other day, then off completely. Had to up my thyroid dosage to compensate... So frustrating, for as much as we talk about electrolytes being a delicate balance, so too are thyroid meds. If you tend toward auto-immune, excess iodine can even push hypothyroidism to turn into Hashimoto's!
Very true. How much did they have you take?! There is mixed info on how much we should really take, but iodide/iodine supplementation should never be taken without other supplements like selenium. I hope he had you do that, I have read some sad side effects when people just pop a lot of iodine/iodide without the nutritional support it needs in larger doses. When it comes to having a healthy thyroid it takes very little, a good one-a-day vitamin should have about half of that amount.
As for lowering LDL, I read a study where a company was recently testing a mouthwash with iodine and just the small amount the participants got through rinsing & spitting was enough to greatly lower their LDLs. It was a surprise finding, one they were not even testing for, but now their is a second study being done to see if it can be used as a 'cholesterol lowering' product.
@KarlynKeto - They didn't have me supplement selenium, but all tests showed that to be in the normal range. I was taking one Iodaral pill per day. It is a combo iodine/iodide since not everyone absorbs each type. I was started at 1/2 a pill a day for a week to tolerance, then up to 1 pill a day, and saw DRAMATIC improvement by day 5 of my thyroid symptoms. Feel fabulous until I thought to ask them to test my levels (because of the autoimmune risks), and it was off the charts. My endo did tell me that the body would dump what I didn't need, but went ahead and notched back the dose for 6 months, and was still high, so weaned down. Went from 231 to 182 to 91.6 (upper threshold per this lab is 92, per the original lab said 109). If it continues going down, I'll check into a lower quantity supplement or something. Selenium during this time was 120/121 respectively...
And the diabetes summit thing I just listened to had three different thyroid experts say that using mouthwash was terrible, particularly for those with thyroid issues! I can't imagine how nasty iodine in it would taste anyway. My LDL is going down WHILE I cut out the iodine supplement, from calculated 176 (measured was 164) to 155 (did VLDL, but not measured LDL)...
And as for "one a day" pills, did you realize how many things compete/interfere with absorption? Like taking A and D together essentially negates them both? etc.1 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »And as for "one a day" pills, did you realize how many things compete/interfere with absorption? Like taking A and D together essentially negates them both? etc.
Ulp... Another obstacle in the steeplechase!
A question, if I might..... How do you time & dose your vitamins & minerals?
Thanks.
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »And as for "one a day" pills, did you realize how many things compete/interfere with absorption? Like taking A and D together essentially negates them both? etc.
Ulp... Another obstacle in the steeplechase!
A question, if I might..... How do you time & dose your vitamins & minerals?
Thanks.
@RalfLott For me, it's still a work in progress. I am using a lot of the info I absorbed in those summits to just try to keep things in check. Like, no calcium within 2-4 hours either side of my thyroid medication. D in the morning, A at night. NO COPPER. Don't take zinc with folic acid/folate - they form an insoluble bond that means neither absorbs. No Cobalt with B1 or B Complex. No sugar with Vitamin C, Calcium, or Magnesium, as it blocks absorption. Look for vitamin names with a d-in front of them, not a dL- DL means it's synthetic formulation, D-means its a natural formulation. K needs to be in the body when calcium arrives. Magnesium, Zinc, calcium compete. Zinc and Copper compete for receptors, as do Lutein and Beta-Carotene. Copper reduces B5. No B5 & B7 in same dose.
I'm sure there are more... Those are the ones I found my notes on readily.2 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »And as for "one a day" pills, did you realize how many things compete/interfere with absorption? Like taking A and D together essentially negates them both? etc.
Ulp... Another obstacle in the steeplechase!
A question, if I might..... How do you time & dose your vitamins & minerals?
Thanks.
@RalfLott For me, it's still a work in progress. I am using a lot of the info I absorbed in those summits to just try to keep things in check. Like, no calcium within 2-4 hours either side of my thyroid medication. D in the morning, A at night. NO COPPER. Don't take zinc with folic acid/folate - they form an insoluble bond that means neither absorbs. No Cobalt with B1 or B Complex. No sugar with Vitamin C, Calcium, or Magnesium, as it blocks absorption. Look for vitamin names with a d-in front of them, not a dL- DL means it's synthetic formulation, D-means its a natural formulation. K needs to be in the body when calcium arrives. Magnesium, Zinc, calcium compete. Zinc and Copper compete for receptors, as do Lutein and Beta-Carotene. Copper reduces B5. No B5 & B7 in same dose.
I'm sure there are more... Those are the ones I found my notes on readily.
I am starting to question the value of Multi Vitamins based on this info?
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