cholesterol levels.

4bettermenow
4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
edited November 9 in Health and Weight Loss
In August I had a physical complete with blood work. All my bloodwork looked good, including my cholesterol. All in normal range. Fast forward to last week, and I've lost 20lbs. I've been working out, eating better, etc. I have a test for life insurance and it comes back that my cholesterol and triglycerides are elevated! I don't understand! I would think they would still be in normal or perhaps dropped more. I am so frustrated and confused.

Replies

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Can you ask for a retest? If your #s were good a few months ago and you're making strides to be more active, healthier: seems odd they would have declined.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Ask for a retest.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    They haven't declined, though I am sure my rate quote will be elevated. I was more concerned that my numbers increased overall. I emailed my doctor to see what she thinks. And I will see if they will retest. I have never seen bad numbers on bloodwork and I am just so darn frustrated that I am trying so hard and it feels like I am sliding backwards. *sigh* Not a good way to start the morning. Ugh.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,217 Member
    edited December 2014
    What does elevated mean.......what your doing generally increases HDL which is what you want to do....it also increases particle size of LDL which is again something we want but sometimes it does increase LDL levels in the blood because your displacing similar amounts of cholesterol with fewer particles....ask for a full panel and ask for someone in that field of expertise to analyze it more closely as opposed to someone reading numbers and giving advice. whoops didn't see that your trigs were elevated....that's not good. Did you fast before your examination........your trigs should not have increased, or at least it rarely happens when losing weight, eating better and exercising, something is amiss.
  • lchadwick2
    lchadwick2 Posts: 49 Member
    Have you been tracking the acidity in your nutrition? Look up what you eat on an acidity scale. The more acid, the more your body may be producing LDL to repair cells. Also, how long did you fast before the bloodwork for the insurance? It may have spiked due to something you had.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    neanderthin wrote: »
    What does elevated mean.......what your doing generally increases HDL which is what you want to do....it also increases particle size of LDL which is again something we want but sometimes it does increase LDL levels in the blood because your displacing similar amounts of cholesterol with fewer particles....ask for a full panel and ask for someone in that field of expertise to analyze it more closely as opposed to someone reading numbers and giving advice. whoops didn't see that your trigs were elevated....that's not good. Did you fast before your examination........your trigs should not have increased, or at least it rarely happens when losing weight, eating better and exercising, something is amiss.

    well put.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    My HDL was good..actually higher than it was in August. It went from 60 to 83. So, as I look further, I see that is a good thing. My LDL was in normal range, on a 0-129, mine was 88. And I am looking more at changes and just found that bc pills can increase the levels of triglycerides. I was not on those in August. I do fear though that the company will not look at all angles.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    I fasted for 13 hrs.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,217 Member
    4bettermenow wrote: »
    My HDL was good..actually higher than it was in August. It went from 60 to 83. So, as I look further, I see that is a good thing. My LDL was in normal range, on a 0-129, mine was 88. And I am looking more at changes and just found that bc pills can increase the levels of triglycerides. I was not on those in August. I do fear though that the company will not look at all angles.
    Well regardless of the recommendations you get, good job on the HDL and your LDL is well below acceptable levels. Like I said get someone that knows what the hell they're talking about or at least question their conclusions.....insurance companies don't have the tallest buildings in every city in every country on the planet for playing fair.

  • lchadwick2
    lchadwick2 Posts: 49 Member
    So your total was 171? I would be surprised if the insurance company gave a high premium rate. Those are good numbers.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    It says my triglycerides went from 85 (in August w/ my doctor) to 184 from this exam. They have never in my life been out of range and I have annual exams and blood work. :\
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,217 Member
    4bettermenow wrote: »
    It says my triglycerides went from 85 (in August w/ my doctor) to 184 from this exam. They have never in my life been out of range and I have annual exams and blood work. :\
    You said medication your taking increases trigs....well then you need another reading without medication, that should be a no brainer for your insurance company, unless they're using that as an excuse.

  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    I agree. Thank you for your thoughts. I contacted my agent and will see if I can do a retest. I will be off the medication next week, so that should be a good time. I think I will also have my doctor re run and see what she thinks. At least then it can give me some piece of mind.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Sounds like your cholesterol was good and only the triglycerides were the problem. If he doesn't let you retest, without medication, find a different insurance company.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    Well some was, and some wasn't.

    Cholesterol 208 -- in August it was 159
    HDL 83 -- August 60
    LDL 88 -- August 82
    Chol/HDL rating 2.5 -- August 2.6
    LDL/HDL rating 1.06 -- August 1.36
    Trigly 184 -- August 85


    No clue. Only thing I can think is the medication. I will ask for restest because it doesn't make sense to me.

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    edited December 2014
    Nevermind - I see you gave further detail. :)

  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
    HDL will increase due to your exercising. This will also affect your numbers. Trigs will increase due to carb ingestion. Did you recently find your carb ratios to be higher than usual? That being said, your overall cholesterol is great (better this time than last year), and your ratio is even better. So your insurance company shouldn't have a problem with this.

    If you have a problem with your Trigs, then you should cut carbs down a little bit to normalize your Trigs. I don't even think your doc should have a problem with these numbers though (even if one number is out of whack).
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    For what it's worth, alcohol will also increase triglyceride levels.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    maxit wrote: »
    For what it's worth, alcohol will also increase triglyceride levels.

    I don't drink. :\
  • lemon629
    lemon629 Posts: 501 Member
    wkwebby wrote: »
    HDL will increase due to your exercising. This will also affect your numbers. Trigs will increase due to carb ingestion. Did you recently find your carb ratios to be higher than usual? That being said, your overall cholesterol is great (better this time than last year), and your ratio is even better. So your insurance company shouldn't have a problem with this.

    If you have a problem with your Trigs, then you should cut carbs down a little bit to normalize your Trigs. I don't even think your doc should have a problem with these numbers though (even if one number is out of whack).

    This is true about the carbs increasing triglycerides. Based on my experience, it takes a few months for this number to go down after reducing carbs. It doesn't have to be a drastic cut, either, so no need to do Atkins or anything like that.

    And 184 is not that high. 150 and below is considered normal, so 184 is not that bad, especially when all your other numbers are good.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    Well the good news is that the insurance company apparently look at everything because they approved me, at a lower rate! So that part is good. I do have an appt with my Doctor tomorrow to figure out what is going on...we will re run the tests. I guess sometimes when one loses weight it takes a while for the numbers to steady to what they should be. *shrug* Just gonna stay proactive on it and make sure things continue to travel in the downward trend. Thanks for listening to me this morning in my moment of pure stress. :cold_sweat:
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Can you ask for a retest? If your #s were good a few months ago and you're making strides to be more active, healthier: seems odd they would have declined.

    This one of my reasons for losing weight so I am concerned about how it turns out. Did you get a copy of both results in black and white or by email? It is good you got the lower rate.

  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
    They sent me the results via the lab they use. Most companies won't do this...my husband's didn't. But, I went through AAA and they use a lab that will release the results if you want. I printed them out and will use them as a comparison for the results I get next week from my dr.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    Cinnamon, Psyllium, Oatmeal, Beans, Salmon, Garlic, Avocado, Spinach, Walnuts, Dark Chocolate, Olive Oil, Red Wine, Red Grapes, Fiber - try to eat as many of these every day. Dropped my numbers like a rock....
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    4bettermenow wrote: »
    They sent me the results via the lab they use. Most companies won't do this...my husband's didn't. But, I went through AAA and they use a lab that will release the results if you want. I printed them out and will use them as a comparison for the results I get next week from my dr.

    That is good you have them in print to take to the doctor visit. I am not sure is all use the same method and if numbers can vary from lab technology differences. Hope that visit goes well.

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