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Cholesterol

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andrew_333

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I'm looking for people's opinions and advice.

I was diagnosed Type 2 a couple of years ago, and for the last 18 months I've followed a low carb high fat diet which in particular includes lots of butter and cheese. This has helped to keep my blood glucose pretty much within normal levels, but my cholesterol has gone up. I had my latest blood tests last week and received a letter from my surgery asking me to see my GP as my cholesterol is 7.1. I don't know what my HDL, LDL etc ratios are - no doubt the GP will explain. What seems certain, though, is that he will want to put me on statins.

I know there is a lot of controversy over statins and I know that a lot of people on this forum refuse to take them. The evidence for and against is very confusing. If you have an opinion in favour of taking them or against you can find any number of eminent experts to back you up.

What I'm interested in is how high people would allow their cholesterol to go before accepting that some change is necessary. Would you ditch the high fat, take statins, take supplements such as plant sterols or just accept cholesterol levels which are perceived as dangerous?

Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.
 
some on the forum eat 20g of carb a day, because they don't want to take metformin
high fat doesn't give you high chol
the statins dropped mine a bit too low because I also did a major diet change with LCHF, so I'm just on 5mg
I'm of the opinion to take the drugs to get your bloods right and then adjust the drugs to suit
 
this is a hard one, i stopped taking them at xmas, not because of side effects but because my chol went down to 2.8 on lchf, would i take them again if it went to 7.1? yes i probly would tbh but out of fear not based on anything scientific as you are right, its very hard to know whats best, sorry this isnt helpful


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My chol. has gone up and l expected it to as all l have read it takes several months to stabilise. l may then stay "high" or drop dont know.

For me the nhs are a bunch of liars so l have to much distrust in them and our local lot well l trust a rabid cobra more...which l guess comes across in my dealings with them.

l refused statins as l dont trust them so much conflicting info on them even some drs are changing their tune.

And most nhs mouthpieces l have heard about seem happy to lie about side effects or dont mention them.
Lets face it they get money for everone they put on statins who cares if they are good or bad for you.

You have to get your levels from your dr first...and by law they have to give you your results...there lots of info out there. l did searches for the following:
Cholesterol and low carb high fat
Scientific papers cholesterol and low carb high fat
 
You might choose to have a low dose of stains to move you below 7.1 but forget the silly NHS guidelines for diabetics of 4 as it's pure guesswork and the body needs cholesterol. As my GP said if they keep setting the levels lower and lower soon we won't have any fat left in our bodies. My view is that cholesterol levels are related to genetics in a complex way and taking statins to reduce them is a shot in the dark with little scientific basis and they do have side effects
 
Just wait until you've discuss your results with your gp and then decide if you want to take statin.

These are the target cholesterol levels that they want people with diabetes to be aiming for:

  • Your total cholesterol level should be below 4.0mmol/l.
  • LDL levels should be less than 2.0mmol/l.
  • HDL levels should be 1.0mmol/l or above in men and 1.2mmol/l or above in women.
  • Triglyceride levels should be 1.7mmol/l or less.
 
My total cholesterol is higher than that, yet my trigs, hdl and ratios are all excellent since switching to LCHF - and no, there's nothing they can say that will convince me to go on statins, especially not at my age and being a woman - the studies seem to indicate that a higher cholesterol is actually protective for older women.

I'm also way more worried by cancer than I am by heart disease - and low cholesterol is associated with an increase in cancers.
 
andrew_333 said:
I'm looking for people's opinions and advice.

I was diagnosed Type 2 a couple of years ago, and for the last 18 months I've followed a low carb high fat diet which in particular includes lots of butter and cheese. This has helped to keep my blood glucose pretty much within normal levels, but my cholesterol has gone up. I had my latest blood tests last week and received a letter from my surgery asking me to see my GP as my cholesterol is 7.1. I don't know what my HDL, LDL etc ratios are - no doubt the GP will explain. What seems certain, though, is that he will want to put me on statins.

I know there is a lot of controversy over statins and I know that a lot of people on this forum refuse to take them. The evidence for and against is very confusing. If you have an opinion in favour of taking them or against you can find any number of eminent experts to back you up.

What I'm interested in is how high people would allow their cholesterol to go before accepting that some change is necessary. Would you ditch the high fat, take statins, take supplements such as plant sterols or just accept cholesterol levels which are perceived as dangerous?

Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I think your post is very interesting.
How do you decide is the million dollar question.
Experts cannot agree so what hope is there for lay people?
I took statins for a level of 7.5 but the effect was crippling and I could not endure the side effects. Without the side effects I would probably have continued with them.
I tried the sterols and my cholesterol reduced by about 10% and I eat cholesterol lowering foods, oats, beans, oily fish, nuts, olive oil, green vegetables and temperate fruits. I eat a moderate amount of fats but do not eat a high fat diet.
My cholesterol now stays at about 5.00'ish and I am happy with that.
We are all biased as to which way we regard cholesterol and statins as are the medical profession so really, unless people can sway you to their way of thinking, then you have to take a leap of faith and decide for yourself.
Once you get a print out of HDL, LDL and Triglycerides it should become clearer and then discuss these levels with your G.P. He may surprise you and have insight into why you should or should not take statins.

Edited to add, Factors that can affect your cholesterol test.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/tests-treatment/cholesterol-tests7.htm
 
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