Endo Visit, Refuses to do LDL-P
Aquawave
Posts: 260 Member
I went to my Endo office today to see his nurse.
My A1C reduced from 7.2 to 6.3 after two month of LCHF, resulting in prediabetic status. Normal is <5.7
Weight Lost 16 pounds (163)
All is happiness and joy until I ask why they did not recommend a Low Carb diet to me. Of course, she said they always tell their diabetic patients to do low carb, and they have a nutritionist on staff for this. Since this is the South and she was new to this practice, I did not call her a liar to her face. Maybe they do that now, but, since 2002ish, not one person there recommended a LCHF diet to me. None.
Now for the "bad" part of this visit, lipid profile.
Total Cholesterol 241 (normals 125-200) High
HDL Cholesterol 66 (normals >46)
LDL Cholesterol 146 (normals <130) High
I dropped my Lipitor a month ago, to see if my joint pains went away and for other reasons. The nurse was extremely unhappy and argumentative, practically saying my demise was imminent if I did not get back on statins. This is where I brought up the LDL-P test. I reminded her I was a medical laboratory technologist and explained to her about the new tests that have been developed. To no avail. It was not their guidelines and they will not do it. She brought up a new statin, I said no. Unless I see a high LDL-P, I will not consider statins again.
After "discussing" this I brought up some complaints about lack of communication. I called a week and a half before my blood draw to add a CBC and a LDL-P. I never received a call back. Explanation was a change in personnel and the move to a giant, beautiful new suite. This has happened many times in the past, every time you call them and takes 4-7 days for a callback. This very large group has over 5 board certified endos and 5 PAs, multitude of staff and their own blood drawing area manned by Quest phlebotomists. They have offices all over the Atlanta area. Their growth has been fueled by the diabesity epidemic.
I personally like my doctor, he is personable, but following ADA dietary guidelines has gotten me into this mess. I just feel I am a piece of cog in a great diabetes clinical machine, where everything is by the book and no thinking outside the box is allowed. Why the frack am I going here at all? My diabetes is controlled by diet and will only get better, not that they have done anything for me, except tell me that Diabetes is a progressive disease as my A1C crept higher and higher over the years.
I have a Primary Caregiver (Internal Medicine) that I see once a year for my healthy check up, I want to call him and ask him to take over my care and scripts (Metformin and test strips), but need to really think through what I am going to say to him and calm down.
My A1C reduced from 7.2 to 6.3 after two month of LCHF, resulting in prediabetic status. Normal is <5.7
Weight Lost 16 pounds (163)
All is happiness and joy until I ask why they did not recommend a Low Carb diet to me. Of course, she said they always tell their diabetic patients to do low carb, and they have a nutritionist on staff for this. Since this is the South and she was new to this practice, I did not call her a liar to her face. Maybe they do that now, but, since 2002ish, not one person there recommended a LCHF diet to me. None.
Now for the "bad" part of this visit, lipid profile.
Total Cholesterol 241 (normals 125-200) High
HDL Cholesterol 66 (normals >46)
LDL Cholesterol 146 (normals <130) High
I dropped my Lipitor a month ago, to see if my joint pains went away and for other reasons. The nurse was extremely unhappy and argumentative, practically saying my demise was imminent if I did not get back on statins. This is where I brought up the LDL-P test. I reminded her I was a medical laboratory technologist and explained to her about the new tests that have been developed. To no avail. It was not their guidelines and they will not do it. She brought up a new statin, I said no. Unless I see a high LDL-P, I will not consider statins again.
After "discussing" this I brought up some complaints about lack of communication. I called a week and a half before my blood draw to add a CBC and a LDL-P. I never received a call back. Explanation was a change in personnel and the move to a giant, beautiful new suite. This has happened many times in the past, every time you call them and takes 4-7 days for a callback. This very large group has over 5 board certified endos and 5 PAs, multitude of staff and their own blood drawing area manned by Quest phlebotomists. They have offices all over the Atlanta area. Their growth has been fueled by the diabesity epidemic.
I personally like my doctor, he is personable, but following ADA dietary guidelines has gotten me into this mess. I just feel I am a piece of cog in a great diabetes clinical machine, where everything is by the book and no thinking outside the box is allowed. Why the frack am I going here at all? My diabetes is controlled by diet and will only get better, not that they have done anything for me, except tell me that Diabetes is a progressive disease as my A1C crept higher and higher over the years.
I have a Primary Caregiver (Internal Medicine) that I see once a year for my healthy check up, I want to call him and ask him to take over my care and scripts (Metformin and test strips), but need to really think through what I am going to say to him and calm down.
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Replies
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I am a firm believer in you are your best advocate. Listen to your gut. Find acceptable alternatives. Find a practice that communicates to your comfort level and responds favorably to your kernel of knowledge.
You not a trained professional endocrinologist... but you are a trained professional who should not be dismissed like this.
Personally, I would do what it sounds like you intend to. Speak to your PCP... let him know why you are unhappy with your Endo doc. Continue to monitor your health...
Your demise is imminent... that's a fact... nobody gets out of this alive. But your demise is not imminent because you won't take a med that may not be necessary, until you have proof it is needed.8 -
Thank you.0
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What were your trigylcerides? The trigs and HDL ratio, rather HDL to trigs - is what's important. Total cholesterol is almost irrelevant. Read "Cholesterol Clarity" by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Eric Westman. Cholesterol is REQUIRED to take glucose to your brain. So, you eat more sugar/carbs, you MAKE more cholesterol to transport it. End of. That being said, if you are in an active weight loss phase or have been in the last 6 months, the total and LDL numbers are not reflective of your true health... You store them in fat, and if you're burning fat AT ALL, it shows an increase in your numbers.
That being said, I agree. I would fire my endo without any hesitation (I'm on my 3rd in ten years, and he's great so far except for a couple tiny blips), but he's very ... open. He'll treat symptoms, even if the lab work doesn't scream a condition - because so many conditions mask results... He's willing to listen to crowd-sourced info (like all the seemingly wacky but proven stuff we share here - in fact he's a HUGE fan of MFP, uses it himself, even gave me macro percentages when I first went low carb and all that) and research himself. He has even taken stuff I've found that worked for me and suggested it to other patients suffering similarly to myself! But if any of that wraps up, after a frank conversation, I will move on, no harm, no foul. My health is too important.
But it might be good to do some more research...the LDL-P test won't be a true health indicator until you're at a steady weight for 6 months. By that time, maybe talking to your doctor about actually being listened to and not told what's standard and what is "never done" will make a difference. Honestly, he might have absolutely no idea what the nurse told you (regardless of how she represented the info), and he might be fully in support of your health requests. Some nurses get on a power kick, she might have been having a difficult day, or maybe she genuinely does not know...I'm sure she gets overwhelmed regularly with belligerent and otherwise patients - and maybe on that day, she'd just run out of steam before you got to her. I know a number of nurses personally, and I would totally call them on their crap if I found out they did this to ANYONE...2 -
Trig: 144 Normals are: <150.
Chol/HDLC Ratio 3.7 Normals are <5.0
Your right, there was an underlying simmering that I was not being taken seriously, even after I explained the basics of LDL testing. Oh and she told me to go to my PCP for my CBC. What the h? A normal CBC is needed for an acurate A1C. I told her that too. Sheesh.
I think she was too used to the sheeple she normally deals with.3 -
@Aquawave -
I feel your annoyance! But I'll endeavor to resist the temptation to vent my spleen again about issues almost identical to yours, or to restate what @mickigoad already captured perfectly....
Here are a couple quick thoughts on your lipid situation:
1. It sounds like you may be in the grey zone of deciding how to deal with your lipids (though you may eventually not be, given your sensational progress to date.... I would sacrifice all my twinkies for your HDL level).
I'm in this quandary myself. My cardiologist recently persuaded me to get a coronary calcium scan, which actually shows you whether there's calcification in your coronary arteries (and calcium deposits in your lungs), rather than trying to pile inference upon inference from biological markers and family history.
The prices where I live ranged from $100 to $500 for the test, which is generally not covered by insurance, though the review and scoring by a radiologist were. So I paid $100 for the test.
The results showed some minor calcification in one artery branch; had the scores in each artery been = 0, I would have felt happy never thinking about statins again.
2. In my situation, I'm taking Crestor. I eventually got my insurance carrier to cover it in place of Lipitor due to leg cramps. Miraculously, I have not had a recurrence since, so your mileage may improve with Crestor, if you are at all inclined to give it a try (perhaps after the coronary calcium scoring... unless you score a perfect 0!).
3. Taking a tip from Dr. Bernstein, I also got my insurance company to cover name-brand Glucophage XR instead of generic metformin due to spectacular but unwanted bathroom pyrotechnics. Glucophage has been a huge improvement. Of course, everyone will say "the generics are no different, name brands are scams" but this ridiculous. I vividly remember getting bottles of metformin divided between two different generic brands and having one of them send me packing straight to the Throne Room.
Dr. Bernstein has treated tens of thousands of diabetes patients, and when he said Glucophage is easier on your digestive system than many of the generics commonly dispensed and also more potent and predictable from batch to batch, I listened - *kitten* glad I did.
Good luck!
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http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/public/796.cfm
http://www.docsopinion.com/2014/07/17/triglyceride-hdl-ratio/
HDL/Total - 66/241 = 0.274 (0.24 or higher is considered ideal)
Trigs/HDL - 144/66 = 2.182 (2 or less is considered ideal, 4 is high)...
So you're pretty close to the lowest risk categories, period...
"It is now believed that the triglycerides/HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of heart disease."
Maybe it set her off because you were "challenging" her in her supposed field of expertise? Then everything you said after that was discounted???3 -
@Aquawave -
I feel your annoyance! But I'll endeavor to resist the temptation to vent my spleen again about issues almost identical to yours, or to restate what @mickigoad already captured perfectly....
Here are a couple quick thoughts on your lipid situation:
1. It sounds like you may be in the grey zone of deciding how to deal with your lipids (though you may eventually not be, given your sensational progress to date.... I would sacrifice all my twinkies for your HDL level).
I'm in this quandary myself. My cardiologist recently persuaded me to get a coronary calcium scan, which actually shows you whether there's calcification in your coronary arteries (and calcium deposits in your lungs), rather than trying to pile inference upon inference from biological markers and family history.
The prices where I live ranged from $100 to $500 for the test, which is generally not covered by insurance, though the review and scoring by a radiologist were. So I paid $100 for the test.
The results showed some minor calcification in one artery branch; had the scores in each artery been = 0, I would have felt happy never thinking about statins again.
2. In my situation, I'm taking Crestor. I eventually got my insurance carrier to cover it in place of Lipitor due to leg cramps. Miraculously, I have not had a recurrence since, so your mileage may improve with Crestor, if you are at all inclined to give it a try (perhaps after the coronary calcium scoring... unless you score a perfect 0!).
3. Taking a tip from Dr. Bernstein, I also got my insurance company to cover name-brand Glucophage XR instead of generic metformin due to spectacular but unwanted bathroom pyrotechnics. Glucophage has been a huge improvement. Of course, everyone will say "the generics are no different, name brands are scams" but this ridiculous. I vividly remember getting bottles of metformin divided between two different generic brands and having one of them send me packing straight to the Throne Room.
Dr. Bernstein has treated tens of thousands of diabetes patients, and when he said Glucophage is easier on your digestive system than many of the generics commonly dispensed and also more potent and predictable from batch to batch, I listened - *kitten* glad I did.
Good luck!
@RalfLott - According to Dr. Berg, the best way to get rid of calcium calcification is therapeutic high levels of D3 with K2, making sure to get sufficient magnesium, potassium, and boron - as well as DROP any calcium supplements. Basically all those things work together to declutter the arteries - along with fish oil to reduce inflammation - and the taking vitamin A offset 12 hours from your D to prevent toxicity...1 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/public/796.cfm
http://www.docsopinion.com/2014/07/17/triglyceride-hdl-ratio/
HDL/Total - 66/241 = 0.274 (0.24 or higher is considered ideal)
Trigs/HDL - 144/66 = 2.182 (2 or less is considered ideal, 4 is high)...
So you're pretty close to the lowest risk categories, period...
"It is now believed that the triglycerides/HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of heart disease."
Maybe it set her off because you were "challenging" her in her supposed field of expertise? Then everything you said after that was discounted???
Nail, meet hammer. I think you may have called it!
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Bathroom pyrotechnic! LOL! I could only wish I had a little of that. I am usually a bit constipated. That's TMI. Metformin ER by Teva USA is what I take. 1,000 (500 x 2) twice a day. I am going to start taking one pill (500) twice a day and see how my sugars are affected.
I had the radioactive stress test 10 years ago. All was normal. In addition about 7 years ago I had an ultrasound stress test , that was normal. I'll check with my PCP about calcium scan.
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »@Aquawave -
I feel your annoyance! But I'll endeavor to resist the temptation to vent my spleen again about issues almost identical to yours, or to restate what @mickigoad already captured perfectly....
Here are a couple quick thoughts on your lipid situation:
1. It sounds like you may be in the grey zone of deciding how to deal with your lipids (though you may eventually not be, given your sensational progress to date.... I would sacrifice all my twinkies for your HDL level).
I'm in this quandary myself. My cardiologist recently persuaded me to get a coronary calcium scan, which actually shows you whether there's calcification in your coronary arteries (and calcium deposits in your lungs), rather than trying to pile inference upon inference from biological markers and family history.
The prices where I live ranged from $100 to $500 for the test, which is generally not covered by insurance, though the review and scoring by a radiologist were. So I paid $100 for the test.
The results showed some minor calcification in one artery branch; had the scores in each artery been = 0, I would have felt happy never thinking about statins again.
2. In my situation, I'm taking Crestor. I eventually got my insurance carrier to cover it in place of Lipitor due to leg cramps. Miraculously, I have not had a recurrence since, so your mileage may improve with Crestor, if you are at all inclined to give it a try (perhaps after the coronary calcium scoring... unless you score a perfect 0!).
3. Taking a tip from Dr. Bernstein, I also got my insurance company to cover name-brand Glucophage XR instead of generic metformin due to spectacular but unwanted bathroom pyrotechnics. Glucophage has been a huge improvement. Of course, everyone will say "the generics are no different, name brands are scams" but this ridiculous. I vividly remember getting bottles of metformin divided between two different generic brands and having one of them send me packing straight to the Throne Room.
Dr. Bernstein has treated tens of thousands of diabetes patients, and when he said Glucophage is easier on your digestive system than many of the generics commonly dispensed and also more potent and predictable from batch to batch, I listened - *kitten* glad I did.
Good luck!
@RalfLott - According to Dr. Berg, the best way to get rid of calcium calcification is therapeutic high levels of D3 with K2, making sure to get sufficient magnesium, potassium, and boron - as well as DROP any calcium supplements. Basically all those things work together to declutter the arteries - along with fish oil to reduce inflammation - and the taking vitamin A offset 12 hours from your D to prevent toxicity...
Here's the rub - there aren't any supporting studies I've found to that effect (you?), probably because the (de)calcification process takes a long time; I don't know of anyone who's gotten coronary arteries cleaned out overnight.
I haven't gone looking for polymorphisms via 23andMe (I'm overdue to get my shekels together and just do it), so for all I know at this point, I may have genetic difficulties with some vitamins/nutrient combinations that would render Berg's protocol inadaquate in my case. I sure would hate to find this out when I'm waiting for my bypass surgery and wondering where I went wrong...
(And of course, I'm not worried about catching diabetes from Crestor, since I already managed to contract it on my own.)1 -
As women, what do we do for Ca supplement? I take 2 calcium citrates (500 x2) a day. My bone scan done about 4 years ago was normal.0
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@Aquawave - most people don't need calcium supplements, period. They just need to update the cofactors necessary for proper absorption. Most people take them with D3 without anything else, and that extra calcium ends up dumping in the arteries. If you do take calcium supplements, they should be taken alone, without food at bedtime, for safest and lowest absorption.2
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Give it time. I have back slid a little on LCHF dedication but in the first year my total cholesterol dropped substantially.
Tri's have dropped about 80% from 4 years ago. Used to be over 300. Now 66.
My doctor looks at the ratios as well. So the fact that my total cholesterol is up a little from last year, the ratios are fine by her.
In a way though, my little deviation from LCHF proved that carb content, not exercise, had more to do with the reduction in cholesterol.
And , my niece's Edno put her on LCHF. After just 6 months she was no longer clinically diabetic or even pre-diabetic. Back to normal A1C. She had developed T2D after her second pregnancy.2 -
@RalfLott - I don't blame you for that, but frankly, what I've read about statins scares me far more than anything they claim to achieve... There are some studies referenced in these articles, but I'm not able to read the studies atm or do more than scroll through the articles...maybe you'll have better luck.
https://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james59.htm
http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2009/1/vitamin-k-protection-against-arterial-calcification-bone-loss-cancer-aging/page-01
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/12/16/vitamin-k2.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/26/the-delicate-dance-between-vitamins-d-and-k.aspx
http://drsircus.com/medicine/magnesium/calcification-and-its-treatment-with-magnesium-and-sodium-thiosulfate
http://longevitypost.com/the-calcium-paradox-calcification/
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/11/can-vitamin-k2-reverse-arterial.html
https://www.jackkruse.com/osteoporosis-two-the-vitamin-k2-story/2 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/public/796.cfm
http://www.docsopinion.com/2014/07/17/triglyceride-hdl-ratio/
HDL/Total - 66/241 = 0.274 (0.24 or higher is considered ideal)
Trigs/HDL - 144/66 = 2.182 (2 or less is considered ideal, 4 is high)...
So you're pretty close to the lowest risk categories, period...
"It is now believed that the triglycerides/HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of heart disease."
Maybe it set her off because you were "challenging" her in her supposed field of expertise? Then everything you said after that was discounted???
Thank you, I personally did not feel that the results were that bad, but to listen to her, I was killing myself! Could be, she felt like I was challenging her, but I was polite explaining the reasoning/biochemistry behind the test. She is new to the office, so maybe she did feel intimidated by my approach? I was trained in pathology and have had to explain to doctors what lab test results mean.2 -
She may also rely on "old-school" knowledge, and be threatened by her own lack of "current" training - many medical professionals have it beat into their heads that there is only one possible truth, and they learned that, so obviously anything changing, if they aren't a person who naturally keeps up with information changes, it threatens their belief in themselves and their profession - and for sad folks, their whole identity. There's a whole lot of "not right in the head" that could be going on there...
P.S. I refuse to remain ignorant of my issues, my tests, or my treatments. F their opinions about having to explain something to someone who may or may not be "fully trained" to understand it. I'm not in the medical field, but I study EVERY GOSH-DARNED THING ABOUT MY HEALTH I CAN GET MY GRUBBY LITTLE PAWS ON...4 -
Statins... Doctors seem to love them, especially the old school ones like @KnitOrMiss said. My mother had a doctor sneak statins into her. Her cholesterol was perfect, which was surprising because she is a good 80+lbs overweight and in her 70s. The doctor told her it was a preventative medicine because she was at higher risk for CAD (because of her weight?). She did not tell her it was a statin. A few months later she is suffering from muscle pain and memory issues so I went through her meds and found the statin. Ugh. Statins have not been shown to be preventative in in women, or in people with perfect HDL and triglycerides.
My vent. Sorry.
I think they are just trained to prescribe statins. nothing sinister but unfortunately not all doctors question why they should prescribe it or if it is even beneficial for that particular patient.
Sort of like how I never questioned the low fat dogma of the 90s. Or like how I taught the universe was expanding at a steady rate but then they discovered dark energy that is accelerating the universe's spread... it still irks me that I was teaching the wrong information. Hopefully more doctors will be irked when they find out they are giving the wrong meds to some patients.
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The same thing happened to my diabetic husband. Although his lipid profile was normal, they put him on statins, Yes, same Endo. His lipid profile has been way below normal for years since. He was flagged on his company's health metric exams and has had severe problems from this. I asked him to go off of them 2 months ago when both of us started this WOE and hope/pray that his body will heal. I have added CoQ10 to his cocktail of pills. Bright note here, he is off of his one nightly insulin shot and one of his diabetes pills. His sugars are in the 110's reliably, he has lost about 20 pounds and his dawn phenomenon is gone!
It seems that giving statins to all diabetics, no matter what their lipid levels are, is standard operating procedure.5 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »Trigs/HDL - 144/66 = 2.182 (2 or less is considered ideal, 4 is high)...
So you're pretty close to the lowest risk categories, period...
"It is now believed that the triglycerides/HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of heart disease."
Ok, here's a riddle for you.... Since HDL is relatively slow to change, but triglycerides can bounce around quite a bit, how do you know if you should trust the noon or midnight blood sample? Or the random vs. the fasting sample?
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@RalfLott - the fasting trigs sample after eating a standard dose of your normal average boring diet after a minimum 8 hour fast, preferably 12 hour fast, but no longer, with no medications taken except what is cruicial for survival is considered to be the most consistent average reliable number.
But generally, over a few tests, days apart, I'd do an average, personally. Maybe M, F each week for a month? Or compare results each six months for consistency. Currently my endo and PCP are checking mine each 6 month check up just because my total was higher, etc.0 -
It is a frustrating endeavor trying to figure out whether to take statins or not, and if so, which one(s) are better choices for you.
In the case of T2D, it's often said that statins exert a beneficial, mild anti-inflammatory effect, but despite the billions of $$ earned off metformin and lipitor, I haven't managed to find a study that addresses the incremental benefit of statins for people whose diabetes is relatively well-controlled with metformin.
When you compound this facile question by adding the other lipid and glucose meds, as well as the range of common variables among T2Ds, you have to wonder whether health care providers mightn't be able to come up with something better than "take statins if you're old/female/diabetic/male/unsuspecting......."
Hrrrmmmmppphhh!0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »Trigs/HDL - 144/66 = 2.182 (2 or less is considered ideal, 4 is high)...
So you're pretty close to the lowest risk categories, period...
"It is now believed that the triglycerides/HDL ratio is one of the most potent predictors of heart disease."
Ok, here's a riddle for you.... Since HDL is relatively slow to change, but triglycerides can bounce around quite a bit, how do you know if you should trust the noon or midnight blood sample? Or the random vs. the fasting sample?
I'm a medical technologist (aka Clinical Laboratory Scientist) and speaking from that POV, lipids are always done fasting. Nonfasting is believed to skew some of the results. At the hospitals and clinics I've worked at, we always turned away anyone who was having a metabolic panel of any type or a lipid panel done who was not in a fasting state. That said, fasting is fasting whether you get your blood drawn at 7 a.m. on your way to work or 4 p.m. on your home. Any lipid factor is not going to bounce around to any significant degree between a.m. or p.m. blood draws, but again, speaking of fasting. There is some current thinking that it may not be necessary to test prior to lipid tests, but as I have been medically retired for 3 years, that is a change that hadn't even been whispered yet.
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »@RalfLott - the fasting trigs sample after eating a standard dose of your normal average boring diet after a minimum 8 hour fast, preferably 12 hour fast, but no longer, with no medications taken except what is cruicial for survival is considered to be the most consistent average reliable number.
But generally, over a few tests, days apart, I'd do an average, personally. Maybe M, F each week for a month? Or compare results each six months for consistency. Currently my endo and PCP are checking mine each 6 month check up just because my total was higher, etc.
Somehow, to my old nose, that smells a lot like relying on isolated fasting BG readings rather than A1c and multiple pre- and post-prandial BG readings to get a more complete picture - it seems easy to miss spikes and sustained high levels in people who never fast and thus to underestimate the seriousness of a genuine lipid issue.0 -
Not to hijack here - but I'm gonna, because I think it's fitting:
How long of eating LCHF do you think it would take to start seeing changes (improvements) in your numbers. My numbers (the triglycerides, unfortunately) were not too good. I have bloodwork probably in December - I'm dreading it because at the last appointment the doc wanted to push the statins. I of course have no intention of that, but to even have to argue it sounds so unappealing to me. So I'd rather just fix it...I'm hoping a few months will help some.0 -
Arguing with doctors is really tough! I was brouht up to think doctors knew so much - don`t question them,. Plus then there is the little voice asking who am I to question their years of medical training and experience... It`s hard.0
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Deena_Bean wrote: »Not to hijack here - but I'm gonna, because I think it's fitting:
How long of eating LCHF do you think it would take to start seeing changes (improvements) in your numbers. My numbers (the triglycerides, unfortunately) were not too good. I have bloodwork probably in December - I'm dreading it because at the last appointment the doc wanted to push the statins. I of course have no intention of that, but to even have to argue it sounds so unappealing to me. So I'd rather just fix it...I'm hoping a few months will help some.
@Deena_Bean - it really depends on your carbs...but mine dropped about 20 points in 3 months (including the holidays and 3 months low carb following it), and another 20 points in the next 6 months after that... Also, mine were over 200 back in 2009...so it really depends. During that same timeframe, my total yo-yoed around because I was losing weight and went up before going back down.0 -
@KnitOrMiss --- Yeah, I don't know what to expect. I've been sort of low carb, I could definitely have been worse. I'm trying to really nail it down now, though. I'm hoping to stay under 75 total/day, but really reaching for 50 to be my target. It's been going ok. My numbers at the end of 2014 (December) were HDL 48 LDL 143 and Tri 192 --- so not great. I'm hoping that even the yo-yo version has been helpful. I guess I'll suck it up and do the test in December and see where I stand. I think if I request it at work, they'll also do a test. So I could do that and see what happens. That way I have a test now and then I can get another one in December. Maybe that's a good idea.0
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Deena_Bean wrote: »@KnitOrMiss --- Yeah, I don't know what to expect. I've been sort of low carb, I could definitely have been worse. I'm trying to really nail it down now, though. I'm hoping to stay under 75 total/day, but really reaching for 50 to be my target. It's been going ok. My numbers at the end of 2014 (December) were HDL 48 LDL 143 and Tri 192 --- so not great. I'm hoping that even the yo-yo version has been helpful. I guess I'll suck it up and do the test in December and see where I stand. I think if I request it at work, they'll also do a test. So I could do that and see what happens. That way I have a test now and then I can get another one in December. Maybe that's a good idea.
Your numbers don't look that bad. I have seen much worse. Imagine a whole blood sample that looks like a pink frothy milkshake in a test tube. Imagine triglycerides in the thousands. Disgusting, yes?
HDL of 48 is good. Normal is >(greater than) 46
LDL of 143 a little high. Normal is <(less than) 130
Tri of 192 is a little high. Normal is < 150
But 2014 is a long time ago as far as testing goes. Not all LDL is bad, there is good LDL-a and bad LDL-b. LDL-a is large, light fluffy molecules which are good for you. LDL-B are small, tight dense particle which can invade your arterial walls and cause plaque. This is why am insisting that I have this LDL-P test to quantify the bad LDL-b.
I am eating about 16-20 g of carbs daily. From what I understand, LCHF Woe will give you better numbers, but as been previously posted by KnitOrMiss, "wait until your at a steady weight (about 6 months)" which is what I have decided to do. Thanks to KnitOrMiss!
Edited for typo LFHC-oops!2 -
Cholesterol is a hormone that is needed in every cell membrane to be healthy. Decreasing it leads to unhealthy cells that don't function properly! "Grain Brain" by Dr. David Perlmutter is an awesome read, as well as "Cholesterol Clarity" by Jimmy Moore! I highly recommend both, and they are very easy to understand!
Being an RN myself I can understand where these medical professionals are coming from, which is a state of ignorance regarding any further lipid testing. They are guided by the pharmaceutical companies in what they are told about the levels vs statin recommendations, and what to tell the sheeple about them too! They become defensive when a patient challenges their recommendations, because they don't know anymore than what these "profiteers" tell them! They don't take/have time to further educate themselves! They rely on the pharmaceutical companies (who are making the money) to tell them about it! It's terrible what has become of healthcare because of this! And, it's become that way with all medications I'm very sad to say! I'm terribly ashamed of what healthcare has become, and if the professionals who know differently try to tell patients differently they get in trouble for doing so (yes, I have now been written up for this very thing!)! We don't "help" patients anymore!
Patient must educate themselves, and be their own advocates (and stand up against what healthcare has become, with detrimental medications being forced on them, instead of finding, and correcting the cause!!!)!! Otherwise it will never change!! Yes, I'm a bit passionate about this topic, and is all that I've ever tried to tell my patients!
I will say that I would never take a statin medication! Even if my triglycerides were >500! I would insist on finding the root cause (usually some form of inflammation, such as diabetes, or arthritis) and correcting that first! Then there wouldn't be a need for the poison, and the terrible side effects that come with it!
Thank you if you made it this far! I went in to nursing because I wanted to be able to help people, and we can't truly do that anymore!
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I did some preliminary research on the web and from what I found out, even if I had a high LDL-P count, statins would not lower it. Said statins lower the light, fluffy good LDL, which is why people with low LDL-C still have heart attacks! The recommendations for lowering LDL-P were low carb diets and the Mediterranean diet. I can see why big pharma, big medical, and big labs would not want to change, there are billions of dollars at risk for them. Never minding killing your customers, with the SAD there will always be new ones.3
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