HBA1C Good Cholesterol Bad

[Wookie1974]

Hi, it's been a while since I last posted on here. Just had my blood test and screening last week, got results and Hba1c 37. Downside is the nurse said my cholesterol is way too high at 8.2. Only gave me the combined result and told me that I could collect a print out of the results. Went to collect from the surgery and was told I couldn't have them until I'd seen my doctor. Not sure if they can do this as it's my personal information. Has anyone had this problem with their GP?

 

[bulkbiker]

Many of us have registered for online test results to avoid just this situation.

If you are in England this should be available to you too. See if your surgery do this?

As for cholesterol results the total number is fairly useless so without the breakdown I'd hold back from any medication for the time being.

Great result on the HbA1c which is what you should be celebrating... well done !

 

[NicoleC1971]

Hi, it's been a while since I last posted on here. Just had my blood test and screening last week, got results and Hba1c 37. Downside is the nurse said my cholesterol is way too high at 8.2. Only gave me the combined result and told me that I could collect a print out of the results. Went to collect from the surgery and was told I couldn't have them until I'd seen my doctor. Not sure if they can do this as it's my personal information. Has anyone had this problem with their GP?

I am sorry to hear you couldn't get the full print out of your results which after all, are your results paid for by tax payers!
I suppose it is tricky to get the results in person at present. The way I view my test results is via Patient Access app. The surgery should be able to give you a login to whatever app they use.
It would be very useful to know if your excellent hba1c is combined with low triglycerides and higher HDL. If so then I would be less inclined to worry about any higher LDL since it is likely that this just reflects dietary change to get the blood sugar and insulin levels lower if you're doing low carb? Large fluffy LDL particles are not dammaging but the small dense ones associated with high triglycerides and low hdl are a risk factor but should ideally be addressed with diet.

 

[Wookie1974]

Thanks for the messages. Like you say if I knew what the breakdown is of my cholesterol then I can plan how to move forward. Been lchf since August last year, before that I did the 800 calorie diet after being diagnosed. Talking to the nurse yesterday you'd think I was 6 not 46! Very frustrated with the attitude of the surgery as they've had little involvement in getting my hba1c down apart from trying to get me to take more metformin. Looking forward to being patronised by the doctor again when I talk to him on Thursday and he pushes statins without giving me all the information.

 

[Wookie1974]

Also I don't know if it affects the result, but I had my blood taken late afternoon and wasn't told to fast for any length of time. Can this affect a cholesterol result?

 

[zand]

Also I don't know if it affects the result, but I had my blood taken late afternoon and wasn't told to fast for any length of time. Can this affect a cholesterol result?

Yes it can. It's meaningless if it isn't a fasting test. They don't 'do' fasting tests often nowadays, but I always make sure I fast before any cholesterol tests.

 

[bulkbiker]

Also I don't know if it affects the result, but I had my blood taken late afternoon and wasn't told to fast for any length of time. Can this affect a cholesterol result?

Yes absolutely useless..
Tell your doc you want another fasted test then fast for 12-14 hours before the blood is taken water only.
And if you want to be snarky (I would) ask why they bothered with a non fasted cholesterol test.

 

[Wookie1974]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the reasoning behind having the cholesterol test after fasting?

 

[bulkbiker]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the reasoning behind having the cholesterol test after fasting?

Consistency of the figures.
If you have eaten anything fatty in the hours before the bloods are taken it can have a serious impact on triglyceride levels and as the main indicator of problems is trig/HDL ratio then you want the trig figure to be as "clean" as possible.
Also for some people coffee can have a significant impact too.

 

[jjraak]

Congrats on the result..NICE

I'd bow to bulk biker here in anything cholesterol related.

So for me it's just the "want" to have the same circumstances EACH time i took a test like that.

SO much information about your health contained in the results page.

i'd struggle making it the same amount of -food - coffee etc EACH + every time i took a test just so they all matched up.
i can barely match up what i ate last Monday week, let along 6 months or a year down the line.

Easiest way i see to do that IS to fast.
not perfect, stress, the day etc, but as perfect as i can get it.

Don't fast before, just a waste of a good test.

Oh and IF you can, next time fast AND get them to add the B12 test.

Not all do, and if your T2D and using Metformin at any point, it can get depleted.
very sortable if caught early, Big-ish problem if it goes unchecked.
( the B movie under my signature, explain better then i could some issues)

good luck getting the results.

 

[Mbaker]

Hi, it's been a while since I last posted on here. Just had my blood test and screening last week, got results and Hba1c 37. Downside is the nurse said my cholesterol is way too high at 8.2. Only gave me the combined result and told me that I could collect a print out of the results. Went to collect from the surgery and was told I couldn't have them until I'd seen my doctor. Not sure if they can do this as it's my personal information. Has anyone had this problem with their GP?

Not the exact same situation for me, but just to highlight what else can go one. Recently I checked my online records to see that my QRISK had gone from 2.x to 5.x, as you can imagine quite a shock, when I have just progressively better and better (except an uptick in LDL as I am on a highly carnivorous dietary pattern, which still calculated as a 2.x risk in any event). I went onto an online QRISK calculator to find that in the box where you can put diabetes status my surgery had selected "Type 2", whereas previously they had stated "None". I pointed out courteously that my remission status (which they rubber stamped officially years before) is the same, and that it is unfair for my records to be inaccurate - how can 2 different formulas be used on my records (when the Government had not changed the metrics) and if I am in remission with good, liver, static kidney, low inflammation etc how comes my risk is higher now then when I was first diagnosed with a HbA1c on 134 and was like death warmed up.

After much communication they removed my 2.x result (from a couple of years back) and newer 5.x result. They also said I am likely to return to diabetic!?, and that I should not be wasting their time when they are dealing with Covid....and if I should consider another practice (paraphrasing accurately) - I am about to respond to say I have not accepted this and will respond in a few weeks; I literally feel my records have been altered illegally.

Your medical records are yours no one has the right to withhold this, you are in a democracy not a dictatorship.

 

[jjraak]

What a nasty response you got @Mbaker .

Sure people are busy,

But here you are trying to lighten the load by taking responsibility AND removing any excess need to monitor/treat a threatened issue, that all parties seemed to agree was unlikely

That both you and your doctor's description had resolved it IS at a much lower level of risk then the one now awarded, willy nilly
.highly infuriating

So better they waste time looking over you unnecessarily, issuing meds you may not need

Can't see how that helps anyone

 

[Wookie1974]

This is the problem, my nurse basically brushed over the fact that I'd got my hba1c down to 37 despite their insistence on taking more medication and practically told me off for the higher cholesterol level. Nice of yours to tell you you're likely to be diabetic again! Talk about inspiring and motivating your patients. It feels like they're ****** off that we don't just take the medication, shut up and get progressively worse!

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Wookie1974 My HbA1c is 37 the same as yours and my total Cholesterol is also high at 7.7 (so not quite as high as you). But the levels and ratios which matter most are all great: My HDL is high and my Triglycerides are low, so my risk is low even if my LDL is more than twice as high as it used to be.
Fortunately once my GP realised I had been doing some study on it, he stopped tying to push Statins on me.

 

[Wookie1974]

Got my results from the doctor today - trigs 2.26, hdl 1.8, ldl 6.1, hdl ratio 4.9, total 8.9mmol/L. Having a fasting cholesterol test in a week, so will be interesting to compare the results. Have told doc that I will make decision on statins once I have results of fasting test. He seemed quite happy with this although recommended starting statins immediately.

 

[Mbaker]

What a nasty response you got @Mbaker .

Sure people are busy,

But here you are trying to lighten the load by taking responsibility AND removing any excess need to monitor/treat a threatened issue, that all parties seemed to agree was unlikely

That both you and your doctor's description had resolved it IS at a much lower level of risk then the one now awarded, willy nilly
.highly infuriating

So better they waste time looking over you unnecessarily, issuing meds you may not need

Can't see how that helps anyone

Thanks. They couldn't understand why this was a thing for me. I will post in a separate thread redacted in time.

 

[bulkbiker]

Got my results from the doctor today - trigs 2.26, hdl 1.8, ldl 6.1, hdl ratio 4.9, total 8.9mmol/L. Having a fasting cholesterol test in a week, so will be interesting to compare the results. Have told doc that I will make decision on statins once I have results of fasting test. He seemed quite happy with this although recommended starting statins immediately.

Bit pointless having another test if you have already started taking meds to influence the test results..

Be very interested to see those results... I still wouldn't take statins whatever the results were though.

 

[Wookie1974]

When I've checked the results against my last lot in September last year, the trigs have jumped significantly compared to everything else. Will be interesting to see what difference there is when the fasting test is done. Doc reckoned it wouldn't make much difference. At least he was very positive about the hba1c unlike the nurse.

 

[WAGR57]

Thanks for the messages. Like you say if I knew what the breakdown is of my cholesterol then I can plan how to move forward. Been lchf since August last year, before that I did the 800 calorie diet after being diagnosed. Talking to the nurse yesterday you'd think I was 6 not 46! Very frustrated with the attitude of the surgery as they've had little involvement in getting my hba1c down apart from trying to get me to take more metformin. Looking forward to being patronised by the doctor again when I talk to him on Thursday and he pushes statins without giving me all the information.

13 years ago and a bit my family Dr. wanted to put me on statins when I was diagnosed with T2/IR. His reasoning was, if I wasn't diabetic my cholesterol would be okay and the statin would help, ( now know how much **** that was). I decided not to take the statin. After a year and a half LCHF my cholesterol is the best it's been in years. My new Dr. said I did the right thing not to take the statin and supports my LCHF diet.

 

[Wookie1974]

Hi, had fasting cholesterol test today. Results total 8.7mmol/L, trigs 1.58, HDL 1.6, LDL 6.4, HDL ratio 5.4. Would appreciate comments on this compared to earlier results in this thread. Doc is still recommending statins.