Bad Labs on annual physical

RandJ6280
RandJ6280 Posts: 1,162 Member
edited June 2021 in Health and Weight Loss
WOW.... what a wake up call. I had my annual physical yesterday... last one was 2 years ago. With that, I now have two new medications... lipitor and flomax.... and if I don't improve my B/P in 6 months.... he wants to add a B/P medication.

How fast can I bring down my cholesterol?

Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,808 Member
    What wrong exactly with your cholesterol? did he explain anything. Hopefully he just didn't say hey your cholesterol is high, take this.
  • Dootzy1
    Dootzy1 Posts: 2,116 Member
    Following, as this is concerning to me, too. Keep on fighting......Like @neanderthin said, hopefully you got an explanation, and a reasonable prescription.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    My cholesterol dropped from 220 to 200 in 6 months (and 20 lbs), but even though I lost another 30 lbs in the next 6 months, my cholesterol stayed stuck.

    Just don't be disappointed!
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 4,747 Member
    After almost 4 years in maintenance at a healthy weight. Lots of exercise and eating fairly "healthy" I noticed that my BP was creeping up more than I would like. There are a lot of causes for bad blood work including genetics etc but in my case changing my food choices up really helped with my BP last month. It's not a quick fix for any of it but also earing oatmeal MAY help with the cholesterol. I have an overall # slightly too high (over 200) but my ratios are usually good. I think I was eating too much of one thing or too much of the same. Variety is better, More fruits and veggies is better. I have seem some significant improvements last month in my BP just changing my eating habits. Total cals not changed but the WHAT appears to have a huge effect (at least for me!). I went from 140's over 80s sometimes 90s to my more normal under 120 and under 80.
  • cianag
    cianag Posts: 29 Member
    You don't say what number you got, but I lowered mine 10% by adding black beans to my diet. The reason I added black beans was because I was adding more vegetables into my diet and made a black bean, rice, tomato and corn dish several days a week. I no longer do that (I'm doing IF with low carbs right now) and it went back up just a few points.

    I really hate statins. The doctors really push those and gave me some when my cholesterol was only 220. One day afterwards, I started getting terrible leg pains. If you get those, stop the drug immediately because they will never go away. So, I only took them 2 days and I still have the pain 2 years later.

    There are lots of books on lowering cholesterol and blood pressure by diet. I take a low dosage BP med, just to make my doctor happy. But my BP has been decreasing and I hope to be off that when I lose some weight.

    And for those that don't know, you don't have to go to your doctor for a blood test. If you are curious about your cholesterol, you can order the Lipid test online for $39 and go to the lab yourself. You might find it cheaper at others, but I use directlabs dot com.

    So, depending on your lab results, you may need statins, or not. Some people have genetic predisposition to high cholesterol, but really focus on the LDL. That's the bad stuff the clogs arteries. But you should be able to help it along with diet changes.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,808 Member
    edited June 2021
    cianag wrote: »
    You don't say what number you got, but I lowered mine 10% by adding black beans to my diet. The reason I added black beans was because I was adding more vegetables into my diet and made a black bean, rice, tomato and corn dish several days a week. I no longer do that (I'm doing IF with low carbs right now) and it went back up just a few points.

    I really hate statins. The doctors really push those and gave me some when my cholesterol was only 220. One day afterwards, I started getting terrible leg pains. If you get those, stop the drug immediately because they will never go away. So, I only took them 2 days and I still have the pain 2 years later.

    There are lots of books on lowering cholesterol and blood pressure by diet. I take a low dosage BP med, just to make my doctor happy. But my BP has been decreasing and I hope to be off that when I lose some weight.

    And for those that don't know, you don't have to go to your doctor for a blood test. If you are curious about your cholesterol, you can order the Lipid test online for $39 and go to the lab yourself. You might find it cheaper at others, but I use directlabs dot com.

    So, depending on your lab results, you may need statins, or not. Some people have genetic predisposition to high cholesterol, but really focus on the LDL. That's the bad stuff the clogs arteries. But you should be able to help it along with diet changes.

    They have lowered the threshold over the decades for what is deemed acceptable as far as cholesterol is concerned. This allows more people to come into the statin wheelhouse. At one point they were talking about statins in children's school foods. Anyway statin research has been mostly in the hands of the statin companies themselves and have always used relative risk as opposed to absolute rish to promote statin use. It's vitally important the people do there own research because sometimes the average Dr. is just advising what is considered normal care, which may or may not be correct current science.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    My mom's total cholesterol was very high...because her good cholesterol was very high. And they wanted her on a statin, which made no sense to us. During this time she switched providers and the issue went away.

    She is VERY active. She's like the Energizer Bunny and can outwork me and my brother.

    I would describe her way of eating as similar to Mediterranean. She eats tons of fruit, vegetables, and black beans. Brown rice and barley are also staples. Her plain protein sources are fish and chicken.

    Using the Nova classifications of food, she eats mostly Group 1 and 2 and very little Group 3 and 4.

    https://educhange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    My mom's total cholesterol was very high...because her good cholesterol was very high. And they wanted her on a statin, which made no sense to us. During this time she switched providers and the issue went away.

    She is VERY active. She's like the Energizer Bunny and can outwork me and my brother.

    I would describe her way of eating as similar to Mediterranean. She eats tons of fruit, vegetables, and black beans. Brown rice and barley are also staples. Her plain protein sources are fish and chicken.

    Using the Nova classifications of food, she eats mostly Group 1 and 2 and very little Group 3 and 4.

    https://educhange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf

    In women, total cholesterol is not as important as the HDL, good cholesterol. So your mom doesn’t need a statin, I agree with you.

    For men, LDL, bad cholesterol is more important.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,808 Member
    edited June 2021
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    My mom's total cholesterol was very high...because her good cholesterol was very high. And they wanted her on a statin, which made no sense to us. During this time she switched providers and the issue went away.

    She is VERY active. She's like the Energizer Bunny and can outwork me and my brother.

    I would describe her way of eating as similar to Mediterranean. She eats tons of fruit, vegetables, and black beans. Brown rice and barley are also staples. Her plain protein sources are fish and chicken.

    Using the Nova classifications of food, she eats mostly Group 1 and 2 and very little Group 3 and 4.

    https://educhange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf

    In women, total cholesterol is not as important as the HDL, good cholesterol. So your mom doesn’t need a statin, I agree with you.

    For men, LDL, bad cholesterol is more important.

    Also studies I've read over the last decade show that older people and especially women with higher overall CHO to be protective. Regardless someone with high HDL to be put on statin is kind of telling.
  • RandJ6280
    RandJ6280 Posts: 1,162 Member
    RandJ6280 wrote: »
    WOW.... what a wake up call. I had my annual physical yesterday... last one was 2 years ago. With that, I now have two new medications... lipitor and flomax.... and if I don't improve my B/P in 6 months.... he wants to add a B/P medication.

    How fast can I bring down my cholesterol?

    No way to know...high cholesterol is sometimes just a genetic glitch.

    Good luck, weight loss and regular exercise is going to help with both those things, so you know what to do. :)

    Sadly I was adopted and I have NO clue as to the heathy of my biological parents. All the reason to work hard and eat smarter.
  • RandJ6280
    RandJ6280 Posts: 1,162 Member
    After almost 4 years in maintenance at a healthy weight. Lots of exercise and eating fairly "healthy" I noticed that my BP was creeping up more than I would like. There are a lot of causes for bad blood work including genetics etc but in my case changing my food choices up really helped with my BP last month. It's not a quick fix for any of it but also earing oatmeal MAY help with the cholesterol. I have an overall # slightly too high (over 200) but my ratios are usually good. I think I was eating too much of one thing or too much of the same. Variety is better, More fruits and veggies is better. I have seem some significant improvements last month in my BP just changing my eating habits. Total cals not changed but the WHAT appears to have a huge effect (at least for me!). I went from 140's over 80s sometimes 90s to my more normal under 120 and under 80.

    Thanks @SummerSkier - Yeah... my doc put me on a statin..... which I don't want... but I will take for a while. I have included oatmeal for breakfast ~ and increasing my veggie intake. Thanks... and best of luck to you as well.
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 4,747 Member
    @RandJ6280 I was only able to do about 50 days of oatmeal before my blood work but it DOES show improvement. Went from Total 218 to 204 and other numbers seem to be moving in the right direction. Hopefully you will be able to come off the statin after a bit.
    this is Oct 2019 to last week...
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