Cholesterol Levels

[jilly60]

My doctor took me off statins at my request 6 months ago as I had a reading of 4.1. Since then I have lost 2 stone following a low carb diet and my blood sugars are now 6.5. The bad news is that my cholesterol reading is now 6.1. I'm very surprised at this and I expect my doctor will put me back on statins. Any body else had this problem? I thought losing the weight and improving my blood sugars would keep the reading down.


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[Yorksman]

It depends on what was in your diet. Some people prefer the very low carb but high fat diets which work on the basis that the consumed fat is burned as there are few carbs consumed. However, if you haven't burned it all off by the time of the test, it will show up. It's not that long in the blood. Exercise immediately after eating, say a bacon and egg fry up, can reduce the lips by a third within an hour or so. Michael Moseley demonstrated this in his Horizon programme. You really need a history of tests to see what is going on because a single test may be influenced by these short term factors.

Some people, myself included, go in for a diet where carbs and fats are restricted to a degree and the types of carbs tend to be unrefined and the types of fats monounsaturates. I have lost weight, and my hba1c has come down significantly, my total cholesterol has come down a reasonable amount, my triglycerides have come down by more than half, my HDL has gone up a little but ironically, so has my LDL. Basically, everything is in the right direction except my LDL. It's probably just a question the types of fat I eat - my guess is still too much butter, but it does go to show that some results are strange when seen on their own and one really needs a series of results to be able to see anything in context.

 

[jilly60]

Thank you for replying Yorksman. Maybe I've just panicked and as you say need to have more test done. I don't go overboard on the fats but will have to look a little more carefully at what I eat. It's such a pleasure to eat butter after years of Flora type spreads isn't it? I'm so pleased the low carb diet is working however. I'm also going to exercise more!


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[SchmIlls]

I've been told my blood cholesterol is too low :0( no idea what I'm supposed to do about that but they are very concerned about it all the same grr


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[BobCornelius]

Cholesterol is one of those things you need, in moderation! It has 3 main functions, it helps make the outer coating of cells, it makes up the bile acids that digest food in the intestine, and it allows the body to make Vitamin D and hormones like oestrogen in women, and testosterone in men!

Too much, and it becomes a problem for your arteries, not enough and it restricts the function of the body! I won't go into the mechanics, but it's basically a fat, or lipid, transported in the bloodstream!

So not enough cholesterol is as big an issue as too much, although too much will damage your body faster!



Bob

 

[viviennem]

Our brains contain cholesterol, too, so it's pretty important!

Jilly60, ask your doctor for a copy of your full lipid profile and discuss it with him. It's not unusual for cholesterol to increase in the early stages of a low-carb diet, but it should have settled after 6 months. How many carbs are you eating daily? If you could give us an idea of your daily diet we might be able to help a bit more.

The following figures are the ones "they" are recommending for diabetics at the moment:

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.

Your Total/HDL ratio should be below 5:1 and preferably around 3.5:1.

The LDLs and triglycerides are the baddies.

My GP doesn't worry about my total cholesterol unless I'm around 6, which I never have been - currently 4.9. He is much more concerned about my Total:HDL ratio, which was 3.1 last time. I personally would not like my Total to be below 4, but what do I know?

Talk things through with your GP. If you didn't have problems with statins previously, a low dose would probably help. If he offers you 40mg, ask if you can go lower!

Let us know how you get on.

Viv 8)

 

[ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE]

Can any male around late 50's who has pretty well controlled Diabetes via insulin Slow release and quick acting injections who has had experience of Low Testosterone Treatment therapy inform me of any positive or negative effects of the Testosterone treatment. I have very , very low energy levels and chronic arthritis . I used to have much greater levels of energy and a very positive attitude to life. Now I cannot take the more powerful drugs for arthritis as they make me very unwell. I thought Testosterone may be my last hope of getting some relief. I have read a great many Clinical and peer review's plus trial papers that give a very positive review in an unbiased way. After so many different treatments I am pretty desperate now and more than a little frustrated. The Methotrexate for arthritis and other type drugs worked but I just could not tolerate them, they made me feel so unwell. If I had any appreciable hair I'd pull it out!!!

Anyway, if anyone reading these forums and the many kind messages of help and support has had positive results especially big increases in energy levels and feelings of well being by taking Testosterone treatments then please could they post some contact information for me or send me a private email on [email protected] ? It would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards to all who support each other and who give advice care and understanding to those unfortunate enough to have this awful disease.

Peter

 

[viviennem]

Hi Peter

This isn't really a good thread for this topic - people probably won't see it. Have you followed the advice given you on the Low Testosterone Levels thread and contacted Birmingham? or discussed it fully with your own GP or diabetic specialist?

Be careful where you post your private email address - forums are watched by others than their members! If you post a few more times, peopole who can help will be able to send you a Private Message (PM).

Viv 8)

 

[EllisB]

Back to the original subject, the biggest impact you can make on Cholesterol is to cut the Sat. Fats and keep them well below the GDA.

Obviously, we need some fats. Polyunsaturates, like sunflower oil, reduce both HDL and LDL in approximately equal amounts - not good for your total/HDL ratio. Monounsaturates, particularly omega 3 fats, reduce just the LDL. So get down the fish monger and eat those oily fish! And if you want to use oil, Olive and Rapeseed are both high in monounsaturates.

 

[daintytweety]

Hello jilly60
You say , since they took you off statin you lost weight? Does statin affect the weight loss? As I take statin, and can't loose weight.
Thank you

 

[viviennem]

Hello jilly60
You say , since they took you off statin you lost weight? Does statin affect the weight loss? As I take statin, and can't loose weight.
Thank you

Not as far as I know, but Google it and see what you find.

A low-carb diet does result in weight loss, which is probably why jilly60 has lost her stones :clap: :thumbup:

Viv 8)

 

[candiloo]

I take statins as prescribed even though I eat little fat and that keeps it down. If I don't take them, the level goes straight up but I was told that diabetes makes the blood 'sticky' which was why the statins were prescribed. My level pre statins was 3.7 and last time they did the check it was much higher - so I make sure I take them.

 

[carty]

Candi do you mean your cholesterol levels were 3.7 or your BGs
CAROL

 

[MartinAU]

I don't accept statins that easily. I started taking a statin to reduce my cholesterol on a Friday. By Sunday evening, I could hardly walk with the pain in my legs. Unbeleivable! My advice... if you can.. definitely start a dramatic change in your life with food and exercise or a low cholesterol diet... It might be tough but know that it's for your own good!!!

 

[viviennem]

Just for info - as far as I know, dietary fat only accounts for about 20% of our blood cholesterol levels. The rest is made by the liver.

Statins interfere with liver function, and also decrease the level of Co-enzyme Q10, which is essential to the proper working of all our muscles.

The heart is a muscle. And my liver has enough to cope with, without me interfering with its function. :wink:

I'm no expert, and if anyone knows I'm wrong, please say so.

I eat a mixture of "good" (ie, non-processed) saturated fat, together with olive oil and lots of oily fish. My last 3 total cholesterol levels have varied between 4.6 and 5.3; on each of those lipid profiles my Total:HDL ratio has been around 3.5:1. The target level is 5:1 or below.

About 75% of my calorie intake comes from fat; less than 8% from carbs. And I lose weight - pretty slowly now, but that's only to be expected after 3 years.

Viv 8)

PS except when I'm having a bad phase, eating too much carb (for me, over about 70grams daily), and putting on weight :shock:

 

[stuffedolive]

I'm just awaiting my latest results. However, I came off statins 4 yrs ago due to negative effects - muscle aches and a severe drop off in athletic (aerobic ie heart related) performance. This affected my ability to control my diabetes by diet and exercise alone, so I refuse to go back on them.
My results 3 months ago were total/HDL 4.2, HDL 1.6, Triglycerides 1.1 - so not great but within range but my GP balked at the total chol figure of 6.7.
Since then I have been low-carbing and eating 1-2 cloves of garlic per day, drinking low-sugar Benecol and using cinnamon to try to reduce the cholesterol caused by the increased fats in my diet, which does include a lot of oily fish and oliveoil.
I should bet my results back in a few days and I'll post them here.

 

[stuffedolive]

I'm just awaiting my latest results. However, I came off statins 4 yrs ago due to negative effects - muscle aches and a severe drop off in athletic (aerobic ie heart related) performance. This affected my ability to control my diabetes by diet and exercise alone, so I refuse to go back on them.
My results 3 months ago were total/HDL 4.2, HDL 1.6, Triglycerides 1.1 - so not great but within range but my GP balked at the total chol figure of 6.7.
Since then I have been low-carbing and eating 1-2 cloves of garlic per day, drinking low-sugar Benecol and using cinnamon to try to reduce the cholesterol caused by the increased fats in my diet, which does include a lot of oily fish and oliveoil.
I should bet my results back in a few days and I'll post them here.

I just got my figures back.

Total Chol down from 6.7% to 4.9%
Ratio down fom 4.2to 3.1
HDL stayed the same at 1.6 - so my LDL must have come down significantly
Triglycerides down from 1.1 to 0.7
Blood pressure down from 120/80 to 104/70

make of that what you will...

 

[viviennem]

That's excellent, stuffedolive - well done! :thumbup: :clap:

Viv 8)

 

[fit2drop]

I have just got mine down to 5.1 from 6.4 but the hdl is 2.57 with a ratio of 2:1 The over all is not the thing to look at, even the ldl breaks down into further subsections which some parts are not as bad as others, so it not a clean cut and dry case although some GPS will try and tell you otherwise. Fish is the best way and oils for cooking is another, coconut, olive and vegetable ghee. Olive oil has the lowest smoke/burn point which is not good so be careful. There is a difference between vegetable omegas 3 & 6 and fish or animal omegas. Animal fats are of a long chain type & vegetable are medium or short, might be worth a Google.