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Feeling Down!

P

Philill

Member
Messages
7
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Just has my quarterly appointment with the diabetic nurse, HBaC1 up from 64 to 79, Cholesterol up from 4.1 to 8.9, triglycerides up from 4.1 to 12.8, all pretty depressing as I was trying to cut down on bread and make up for it with healthy fats, does not look too healthy! Nurse has stopped my Victoza prescription because of the triglycerides. Not sure where to turn to now as insulin appears to be the only option and the last time I took it it for three weeks I put on 18 pounds, Any advice welcome.
 
Are you sure about your cholesterol numbers..? Can trigs be higher than the total? I thought they were a constituent part of the total. Can you have a check and see?
Maybe cutting out bread entirely rather than cutting down would help?
 
Triglycerides are a different fat to Cholesterol, the readings were correct but pretty bad.

Edit, just seen your stats in your footer, that has cheered me up no end!!! Well done to you.
 
bulkbiker said:
Are you sure about your cholesterol numbers..? Can trigs be higher than the total? I thought they were a constituent part of the total. Can you have a check and see?
Maybe cutting out bread entirely rather than cutting down would help?
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Hi @bulkbiker, hi @Philill,

If I understand it correctly, total cholesterol equals LDL plus HDL plus 1/5 of triglycerides. If this is correct, then theoretically it should be possible for trigs to exceed total cholesterol.
 
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Hi Phil, well done on trying to cut down on your bread intake, however maybe you need to look at what other carbs you are eating, they are hiding in lots of foods (and drink). Can you give us a typical day’s menu and we can help you tweak things? It would be helpful to know what meds you take and if you check your blood sugars at home?
I don’t know if you’ve seen @daisy1 ’s info post, I’ve tagged her anyway as it’s always worth a refresher.
 
bulkbiker said:
Do you have the full set of numbers? if you'd care to share it might be helpful.
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Those were the numbers I took down, to be honest I was not expecting them so did not really care what the hdl ldl breakdown was. It is the movement in such a short time that took me by surprise.
 
Philill said:
Those were the numbers I took down, to be honest I was not expecting them so did not really care what the hdl ldl breakdown was. It is the movement in such a short time that took me by surprise.
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Had you eaten before the test or fasted?
 
It was a non fasting test, maybe the first thing I should do is book a retest and have it fasting and see if the results are the same or if this one was just a rogue test (not sure how I would get a rogue blood test but hey ho)
 
Philill said:
It was a non fasting test, maybe the first thing I should do is book a retest and have it fasting and see if the results are the same or if this one was just a rogue test (not sure how I would get a rogue blood test but hey ho)
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If you had eaten before the blood draw then your elevated triglycerides could well be the results of the fats in what you had eaten being in transport around the body (thats what trigs function is). This then makes the whole test meaningless. You should fast for 12-14 hours before a lipid panel. Are you in the UK because they usually ask before the blood draw and only do the full panel if you are fasted for this very reason.
 
Yes I am in the UK, That may well be the reason, I was so disappointed in the results I did not think of that, I can have non fasting HBAC1 test but not of course a non fasting lipid test, cheers for that, I will book a retest and make sure it is done on a fasting stomach, thanks very much for your help, it sometimes takes someone far removed to help with the obvious, thanks again.
 
Philill said:
Yes I am in the UK, That may well be the reason, I was so disappointed in the results I did not think of that, I can have non fasting HBAC1 test but not of course a non fasting lipid test, cheers for that, I will book a retest and make sure it is done on a fasting stomach, thanks very much for your help, it sometimes takes someone far removed to help with the obvious, thanks again.
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Pleasure... glad to have been of assistance sir.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Only 46% of the trigs are included in the total cholesterol level.
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@bluetit -- Yes, you might be right about this. I just remember that according to the Friedewald equation used to calculate LDL, it is total cholesterol minus HDL minus 20% of trigs. This doesn't necessarily mean though that only 20% of trigs go into the calculation of the total. My bad!
 
bulkbiker said:
Is that diff in the states? I read 20% somewhere else.. dratted cholesterol...
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It is when the trigs and everything else are measured in mmol/l. I know the US uses different units. It is definitely 46% in the UK. You can test this out on your own figures. It works on mine.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
It is when the trigs and everything else are measured in mmol/l. I know the US uses different units. It is definitely 46% in the UK. You can test this out on your own figures. It works on mine.
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Thank for that.. I get easily confused.... as I know you are aware..
 
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