Bad Labs on annual physical
RandJ6280
Posts: 1,161 Member
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?
How fast can I bring down my cholesterol?
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Replies
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Depends on how bad it is. That's pretty much what got me going almost 9 years ago. My cholesterol initially was unreadable because my triglycerides were so high. I wasn't put on any medication initially as I told my Dr. I wanted to go the diet, exercise, and weight loss route. I had checkups every 3 months and each one showed considerable improvement, but it took me about 9 months to a year to get it into the optimal range.
Despite being active, exercising regularly, and eating a pretty nutritious diet, I'm still on blood pressure meds. For me, diet and exercise definitely helps there, but not enough without the meds. Mine hypertension is largely hereditary.9 -
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.
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What wrong exactly with your cholesterol? did he explain anything. Hopefully he just didn't say hey your cholesterol is high, take this.2
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Following, as this is concerning to me, too. Keep on fighting......Like @neanderthin said, hopefully you got an explanation, and a reasonable prescription.1
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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!2 -
Depends, like others said - genetics being a big factor. Also, the total cholesterol number isn't necessarily the whole story.
At 6 months intervals while losing weight, mine went from 230 (not its highest ever**) to 192 to 176.
However, my HDL (the "good" cholesterol, simplistically) was going up while LDL ("bad") was going down, and both are part of total. Ratio went from 5.1 (high risk) to 4.9 (borderline high) to 2.7 (low risk) in those 3 tests.
For me, those tests correlated with BMI 29.3 (176 lbs at 5'5"), BMI 27.5 (165 pounds), BMI 21.6 (129.6lb).
** Highest ever was 265. I got a little improvement from changing what I ate, but no meaningful drop until I lost weight.
Since weight loss, 5+ years, it's been fine. Now, I'm around BMI 21, weight 125.
Last test was total 175, HDL 66, LDL 89.6, ratio 2.65 (low risk).
Over the same time span, blood pressure went from high to solidly normal (often low normal), too. Ditto for trigylcerides.
One possible factor that may differ for me vs. you, I don't know: My exercise activity was pretty high, even while I was fat. I understand some people who aren't active can see improvements in blood pressure, if not lipid profile, by commencing exercise.5 -
Depends, like others said - genetics being a big factor. Also, the total cholesterol number isn't necessarily the whole story.
At 6 months intervals while losing weight, mine went from 230 (not its highest ever**) to 192 to 176.
However, my HDL (the "good" cholesterol, simplistically) was going up while LDL ("bad") was going down, and both are part of total. Ratio went from 5.1 (high risk) to 4.9 (borderline high) to 2.7 (low risk) in those 3 tests.
For me, those tests correlated with BMI 29.3 (176 lbs at 5'5"), BMI 27.5 (165 pounds), BMI 21.6 (129.6lb).
** Highest ever was 265. I got a little improvement from changing what I ate, but no meaningful drop until I lost weight.
Since weight loss, 5+ years, it's been fine. Now, I'm around BMI 21, weight 125.
Last test was total 175, HDL 66, LDL 89.6, ratio 2.65 (low risk).
Over the same time span, blood pressure went from high to solidly normal (often low normal), too. Ditto for trigylcerides.
One possible factor that may differ for me vs. you, I don't know: My exercise activity was pretty high, even while I was fat. I understand some people who aren't active can see improvements in blood pressure, if not lipid profile, by commencing exercise.
My normal weight husband had high blood pressure. He was sedentary and began walking 30 to 90 minutes a day. Eight months later, his blood pressure was normal and his cholesterol was lower.8 -
I went from total cholesterol of 246 to 160 in 4 months. I made huge changes in diet - from pretty crummy with a lot of comfort food to vegan, low-fat, no refined sugar or flour, very healthy. I started running or HIIT 4 days per week. I lost 30 lbs (from mildly overweight to the middle of normal weight).
If you are serious about making changes in your diet, I would recommed talking to your doctor about staying off of the liptor for 3 - 4 months so that you can see if diet changes are making a difference. I worked with a naturapath who was very helpful in that way.5 -
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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 80.3
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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.1 -
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.
But but but black beans are full of nasty carbohydrates . . . /s6 -
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.1 -
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.pdf4 -
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.0 -
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.1 -
cmriverside 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.1 -
SummerSkier wrote: »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.
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@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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