Disastrous results

[Resurgam]

You have been losing weight so your cholesterol will have been busy transporting fat around the body - that is probably what has been picked up.
Cholesterol is not something which lolls around idly, it has work to do in the body, and it does it well.

 

[DanW13]

You have been losing weight so your cholesterol will have been busy transporting fat around the body - that is probably what has been picked up.
Cholesterol is not something which lolls around idly, it has work to do in the body, and it does it well.

Hi Resurgam,

I did lose a fair bit down from 12 stone 1lb to 10 stone 5lb currently, but it’s been stable now for about 10 weeks, how long would you expect it to be for the cholesterol to start settling down?

 

[DanW13]

Well that’s all quite a puzzle.

So if the tri’s are fine, you don’t have to worry about that? And if the insulin/gad is clear then you’re clear on late t1 and still in the managing t2 club?

Thyroid is a maybe given the weight loss, but it would be a coincidence if thyroid happened at the same time as your high BG and the weight loss that’s easily explained by a new diet.

I have no clue about cholesterol, I’ve just been hoping that it settles down in my case. Sounds like there are plenty of people who have been through it and understand it in this thread.

Relax mate, you’re not dying anytime soon. Plenty of time to get a handle on it. The wheels of medical diagnostics turn verrrry slowly.

Hi mate,

@HSSS provided a link to this site and the FAQ has a neat section explaining the theory- see attached. The question is am I a lean hyper responder? The results so far suggest possibly, I’m thin, very active/fit, on a LCHF diet, have high LDL score and high HDL score, the bit of the puzzle that’s missing is the trig score which should also be low. All I know on that is my trig score at end of Oct 20 was 1.6, which was okay and just below my HDL at 1.8, however total cholesterol was only 5.7 back then so the whole picture has changed, HDL & LDL have gone up about 25% each, just need to know what the Trigs have done. They should have dropped or not increased much from 1.6, we’ll see I guess!

https://cholesterolcode.com/faq/

 

[Resurgam]

Hi Resurgam,

I did lose a fair bit down from 12 stone 1lb to 10 stone 5lb currently, but it’s been stable now for about 10 weeks, how long would you expect it to be for the cholesterol to start settling down?

I'm afraid I am no expert on this - once I found that lowering my cholesterol could be lowering my life expectancy I sort of lost interest.....

 

[Countryside_Yoyo_]

Hi mate,

@HSSS provided a link to this site and the FAQ has a neat section explaining the theory- see attached. The question is am I a lean hyper responder? The results so far suggest possibly, I’m thin, very active/fit, on a LCHF diet, have high LDL score and high HDL score, the bit of the puzzle that’s missing is the trig score which should also be low. All I know on that is my trig score at end of Oct 20 was 1.6, which was okay and just below my HDL at 1.8, however total cholesterol was only 5.7 back then so the whole picture has changed, HDL & LDL have gone up about 25% each, just need to know what the Trigs have done. They should have dropped or not increased much from 1.6, we’ll see I guess!

https://cholesterolcode.com/faq/

It sounds like you may be a Lean Mass Hyper Responder. If you do Facebook, Dave Feldman has a LMHR group (that’s the name of the group) and you can join and ask all the questions you like. He is studying it in detail and some of his findings are very interesting .........his hunch, although as yet unproven, is that high cholesterol is protective and helps our immune system. If yours has only gone up with diet, it’s unlikely you have familial Hypercholesterolemia. Would be handy to have your up to date trigs figure at some point though.

 

[DanW13]

It sounds like you may be a Lean Mass Hyper Responder. If you do Facebook, Dave Feldman has a LMHR group (that’s the name of the group) and you can join and ask all the questions you like. He is studying it in detail and some of his findings are very interesting .........his hunch, although as yet unproven, is that high cholesterol is protective and helps our immune system. If yours has only gone up with diet, it’s unlikely you have familial Hypercholesterolemia. Would be handy to have your up to date trigs figure at some point though.

Thanks for this will look him up, I’m not on FB but am on Twitter and now follow him. Yes the Trig score was 1.6 end of October (after 4 weeks on LCHF) but I don’t have the figure before that point or in the latest test. The theory I guess is should now be lower than 1.6, possibly significantly, though my love of red wine may hold it back a bit! It’s so confusing though, so much mixed views & conflicting data on how serious high LDL is or isn’t, I’ve no idea what to do currently so I’m doing very little - had omelette this morning, did cut down on the cheese a fair bit!

One thing of interest, yesterday I had a smaller breakfast than usual, just a bowl of Greek yoghurt, a few berries & some pecan, walnuts & macadamia nuts. Would normally have had an omelette or something else in addition but didn’t yesterday. Did a 7k run two hours later & struggled, real lack of energy both during & after, felt like my blood sugar had gone really low by lunchtime (felt quite dizzy). After lunch felt okay. So clearly the reduced fuel yesterday AM caused me energy problems, which would make sense if I’m running on fats but didn’t take in enough prior to a long run?? Does that make sense?

 

[DanW13]

Had my GP appointment! Went okay, she wasn’t too concerned as said overall Q Risk score remains low, she didn’t mention statins at all and didn’t think given my historic cholesterol results I had the family hyper cholesterol thingy either. She agreed it was likely the diet change but accepted my points on weight loss & blood sugar impact, so suggested I reduce some of the more heavy saturated fats and replace with healthier fats like advocado (which I’d already decided to do).

They will retest in 6 months, this time with full lipid check (incl. trigs) & thyroid also. She didn’t seem concerned about LADA but said obviously that’s something they can discuss again in 6 months with me if Hba1c goes up further.

She also laughed & agreed I had a point when I mentioned the whole cholesterol thing being a minefield and that for every 6 experts who say cholesterol & LDL is bad, you’ll find another 6 who disagree! She agreed!

 

[Rocinante]

I won’t take statins, my cholesterol has always been around 5.0 so if it’s shot up now, the root cause is fairly obvious (change of diet possibly combined with weight loss), so for me the change to make prior to a retest in say 3 months is to cut back on the eggs & dairy fats, I’ve been having cheese omelettes 4-5 times a week so clearly that’s likely a big factor. I’ll cut those out and see if that makes a difference. My only worry is chances are the weight decline starts again and as I said I’m BMI 21 already with low body fat so can’t really afford to lose any.

Why won't you take statins?

Lots of rubbish spouted against them. I'm on a low dose with absolutely no side effects. Furthermore they reduce inflamation as well, which is medically quite beneficial.

 

[DanW13]

Why won't you take statins?

Lots of rubbish spouted against them. I'm on a low dose with absolutely no side effects. Furthermore they reduce inflamation as well, which is medically quite beneficial.

3 reasons:

1) Side effect risk - particularly if they push up my blood sugar, don’t think the scale of my problem is worth the risk.
2) My increase is directly the result of the new diet, it’s not a long standing or hereditary issue, for which I would see them as a more appropriate strategy.
3) Suspicious of medication - think it often ends up creating as many issues as it fixes (linked to 1 I guess).

 

[HSSS]

Why won't you take statins?

Lots of rubbish spouted against them. I'm on a low dose with absolutely no side effects. Furthermore they reduce inflamation as well, which is medically quite beneficial.

I’d add
4. There’s little to no evidence that it’ll add any years to my life or that having low ldl will protect me from cvd as i age.

 

[Goonergal]

however total cholesterol was only 5.7 back then so the whole picture has changed, HDL & LDL have gone up about 25% each, just need to know what the Trigs have done.

If you use this calculator, you only need the 3 readings you have - total cholesterol, ldl, HDL and the calculator will figure out trigs.

https://www.hughcalc.org/chol-si.php

 

[DanW13]

If you use this calculator, you only need the 3 readings you have - total cholesterol, ldl, HDL and the calculator will figure out trigs.

https://www.hughcalc.org/chol-si.php

I don’t know the LDL though only the total non HDL? I could try and guesstimate the LDL but from my Oct test I guess but it would be a guess!

 

[Goonergal]

I don’t know the LDL though only the total non HDL? I could try and guesstimate the LDL but from my Oct test I guess but it would be a guess!

Oh. It won’t work then. It sounded from your comments above that you had 3 of the 4 pieces of information.

 

[DanW13]

Oh. It won’t work then. It sounded from your comments above that you had 3 of the 4 pieces of information.

Sorry yes meant non HDL, my earlier post did give that impression I agree! Also my Hba1c at end of October was 37 not 36, not sure why I had 36 in my head ...getting old I guess!

 

[Mike d]

Why won't you take statins?

Lots of rubbish spouted against them. I'm on a low dose with absolutely no side effects. Furthermore they reduce inflamation as well, which is medically quite beneficial.

YOU might not have side effects. Many do.

 

[Daphne917]

Why won't you take statins?

Lots of rubbish spouted against them. I'm on a low dose with absolutely no side effects. Furthermore they reduce inflamation as well, which is medically quite beneficial.

I agree that for some people there are no side effects but I don’t take them for the following reasons:
1. Increase BS - my hba1c went from 48 at diagnosis and starting statins to 54 within 6 months and reduced to 43 within another 6 months prompting my GP to annotate my notes as ‘statin intolerant’ as we don’t want to risk it happening again;
2. Sleepless nights - not good when you get up at 05.30 and not get back until 17.30 - sometimes later;
3. Sudden dizzy spells
4. A cholesterol level that is too low is unhealthy particularly for women

In addition many people don’t need them and don’t know why they are taking them apart from the fact that they have been told to by their GP or DN because they are, for example, of a certain age or have diabetes.

I’m sure there will be other members such as @Resurgam and @bulkbiker who will come along with their own reasons for not taking them.

 

[bulkbiker]

I'm on a low dose with absolutely no side effects. Furthermore they reduce inflamation as well, which is medically quite beneficial.

No side effects that you have noticed?

Inflammation can be easily reduced by changing diet and brings far more benefits than medication.

 

[DanW13]

Latest test results today! Looks a lot better I think than 5 months ago, cholesterol back to historic levels. Only downside was loss of muscle mass, but I knew that already & already working on that now gyms are open again. So looks like the low carb diet has worked for me, guess just got to keep it going.

Very weird how cholesterol shot up & then back down again, does feel like my body has settled down over past 6 months - weight steady, far less hunger cravings, probably eating less also! I have eased off on some of the more very heavy saturated fats which I did indulge in heavily initially, so maybe that’s helped. Took a fasting blood test also this time, with just a glass of water in the hours before the test,

Hba1c = 38
Total cholesterol = 5.6
HDL = 1.9
Non HDL = 3.7
Non Ratio = 2.9
Triglycerides = 0.99
LDL = 3.25
Qrisk = 2.2%
BP = 122/69

Think overall the above is pretty good?

 

[bulkbiker]

Latest test results today! Looks a lot better I think than 5 months ago, cholesterol back to historic levels. Only downside was loss of muscle mass, but I knew that already & already working on that now gyms are open again. So looks like the low carb diet has worked for me, guess just got to keep it going.

Very weird how cholesterol shot up & then back down again, does feel like my body has settled down over past 6 months - weight steady, far less hunger cravings, probably eating less also! I have eased off on some of the more very heavy saturated fats which I did indulge in heavily initially, so maybe that’s helped. Took a fasting blood test also this time, with just a glass of water in the hours before the test,

Hba1c = 38
Total cholesterol = 5.6
HDL = 1.9
Non HDL = 3.7
Non Ratio = 2.9
Triglycerides = 0.99
LDL = 3.25
Qrisk = 2.2%
BP = 122/69

Think overall the above is pretty good?

Trig/HDL ratio is 0.52 anything under 0.87 is considered excellent. Well done.

 

[DanW13]

Trig/HDL ratio is 0.52 anything under 0.87 is considered excellent. Well done.

Thanks bulkbiker, yes pleased with the trig/HDL score in particular, going to treat myself to steak & bernaise sauce tonight to celebrate!

Thanks everyone for all the wise words back in March, telling me not to panic over one set of slightly iffy results, some learning for me there that the human body isn’t perfect & results don’t necessarily proceed in a smooth straight line.