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And my cholesterol is too high!

P

PerfectStorm

Well-Known Member
Messages
207
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi Everyone

My GP told me over the phone in early April that I was diabetic. I didn't have an appointment with the practice nurse until this last Tuesday. Was told to go away and eat better, blah blah blah. She took my cholesterol and said they would use it as a marker for in 3 months time.

Over the last 4 days I have been eating a low carb high fat diet (aiming for around 1200 calories per day as I want to lose 1.5 stone) and have already seen some good results in my blood sugars. My aim is to stick to low ish carb until I have lost the weight I need to and then see if my body will work a bit more efficiently and allow me to eat a few more starchy carbs or not.

I got the cholesterol results back this morning and have been told to make a routine appointment with the nurse because they are too high. They haven't altered a great deal since they were last taken in July 2014, in fact, the overall cholesterol (6.1) is the same but the HDL has gone up and the LDL has gone down. In July, I was told my cholesterol was perfectly fine but now I am diabetic, they are no longer fine because of the increased risk factor.

I have no doubt that if I go to see the nurse she will want to put me on statins. I'm trying to control the diabetes with diet so that I can avoid taking medication so I don't really want to start taking statins, a different medication!

I'm coping with the change in diet, low carb instead of my beloved pasta and risotto dishes, but now I need to ensure low saturated fat too - the greek yoghurt I had for breakfast is high in sat fat but if I eat the low fat one then the carbs go up, eggs which have minimal carbs have sat fat, bacon and chorizo which I've used for adding flavour to things are high saturated fat, cheese is high sat fat!

Although I have no doubt that the LCHF diet will help me to lose weight and it already seems it is helping to control my blood sugars, even in only 4 days, but it seems that it is going to make my cholesterol go up, unless I avoid saturated fats. Avoiding saturated fats as well as keeping low carbs just seems impossible and pretty miserable to boot.

My head is spinning and I just feel like I keep getting kicked.
 
Nothing wrong with eating saturated fats on LCHF.

As for cholesterol it's the HDL and triglycerides that matter not the total (see the numbers in my sig).
 
But I thought to lower cholesterol I should be severely limiting saturated fats?

My results are:

July 2014 April 2015
Total 6.1 6.1
HDL 1.3 1.5
LDL 3.6 3.3
Trig 2.7 2.9
Non HDL not given 4.6
 
PerfectStorm said:
Hi Everyone

My GP told me over the phone in early April that I was diabetic. I didn't have an appointment with the practice nurse until this last Tuesday. Was told to go away and eat better, blah blah blah. She took my cholesterol and said they would use it as a marker for in 3 months time.

Over the last 4 days I have been eating a low carb high fat diet (aiming for around 1200 calories per day as I want to lose 1.5 stone) and have already seen some good results in my blood sugars. My aim is to stick to low ish carb until I have lost the weight I need to and then see if my body will work a bit more efficiently and allow me to eat a few more starchy carbs or not.

I got the cholesterol results back this morning and have been told to make a routine appointment with the nurse because they are too high. They haven't altered a great deal since they were last taken in July 2014, in fact, the overall cholesterol (6.1) is the same but the HDL has gone up and the LDL has gone down. In July, I was told my cholesterol was perfectly fine but now I am diabetic, they are no longer fine because of the increased risk factor.

I have no doubt that if I go to see the nurse she will want to put me on statins. I'm trying to control the diabetes with diet so that I can avoid taking medication so I don't really want to start taking statins, a different medication!

I'm coping with the change in diet, low carb instead of my beloved pasta and risotto dishes, but now I need to ensure low saturated fat too - the greek yoghurt I had for breakfast is high in sat fat but if I eat the low fat one then the carbs go up, eggs which have minimal carbs have sat fat, bacon and chorizo which I've used for adding flavour to things are high saturated fat, cheese is high sat fat!

Although I have no doubt that the LCHF diet will help me to lose weight and it already seems it is helping to control my blood sugars, even in only 4 days, but it seems that it is going to make my cholesterol go up, unless I avoid saturated fats. Avoiding saturated fats as well as keeping low carbs just seems impossible and pretty miserable to boot.

My head is spinning and I just feel like I keep getting kicked.
Click to expand...
concentrate yourself on loosing fats which will probably reduce your cholesterol level or else avoid eating spicy food untill and unless your bp comes in normal as cholesterol increase bp.
 
PerfectStorm said:
But I thought to lower cholesterol I should be severely limiting saturated fats?

My results are:

July 2014 April 2015
Total 6.1 6.1
HDL 1.3 1.5
LDL 3.6 3.3
Trig 2.7 2.9
Non HDL not given 4.6
Click to expand...

Most cholesterol (about 80%) is produced in the liver, only 20% or less from food. Cholesterol is natural, most of the brain is made of it, it's an essential part of the body's self-help processes.

Your total/hdl is just on 4, and your trigs/hdl is just under 2. Ideally they should be below 4 and 1.3 respectively. Eating less carbs will reduce the trigs and eating more fat (such as butter) will raise the HDL.
 
sanguine said:
Most cholesterol (about 80%) is produced in the liver, only 20% or less from food. Cholesterol is natural, most of the brain is made of it, it's an essential part of the body's self-help processes.

Your total/hdl is just on 4, and your trigs/hdl is just under 2. Ideally they should be below 4 and 1.3 respectively. Eating less carbs will reduce the trigs and eating more fat (such as butter) will raise the HDL.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your replies Sanguine

So if 80% of cholesterol production is down to the liver, how can I make it produce less - will weight loss help?

I'm really confused by your last paragraph about the figures - I can't see what the relationship is between total and hdl to get the figure to 4 and similarly with regard to trig and hdl to get the figure to 2. Also, I don't understand what the 4 and 2 are actually demonstrating and what it means. Can you possibly point me towards any sites on the t'internet which will explain this - the only things I've found so far are telling me what each of the measurements (total, HDL, LDL and trig) should be and that I need to reduce saturated fat.
 
rahul991 said:
concentrate yourself on loosing fats which will probably reduce your cholesterol level or else avoid eating spicy food untill and unless your bp comes in normal as cholesterol increase bp.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rahul. I didn't have my bp taken on this last occasion but it has always been absolutely fine. Although, who knows whether fine then is still fine now that I have diabetes!

I'm sticking to around 1200 calories a day and have lost some weight already but still have 1.5 stone to go, so hopefully moving down the scales
 
The ACTUALLY measured figures are Total Chol, HDL & Trigs. The LDL is guestimated by a formula LDL= Tot Chol-(HDL + (Trigs/2.17)) :)
 
PerfectStorm said:
But I thought to lower cholesterol I should be severely limiting saturated fats?

My results are:

July 2014 April 2015
Total 6.1 6.1
HDL 1.3 1.5
LDL 3.6 3.3
Trig 2.7 2.9
Non HDL not given 4.6
Click to expand...

Wait to see what your more recent results are as you say in your opening post that your HDL has gone up and your LDL has gone down, the following is the target cholesterol results that they want people with diabetes to aim 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.
 
noblehead said:
Wait to see what your more recent results are as you say in your opening post that your HDL has gone up and your LDL has gone down, the following is the target cholesterol results that they want people with diabetes to aim 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.
Click to expand...

Hi Noblehead.

The second figures I posted were my most recent ones- they were only done this week.

Total 6.1
HDL 1.5
LDL 3.3
Trig 2.9
 
PerfectStorm said:
Hi Noblehead.

The second figures I posted were my most recent ones- they were only done this week.

Total 6.1
HDL 1.5
LDL 3.3
Trig 2.9
Click to expand...

Yes I see that, just seen the July 2014 and missed the April 2015:rolleyes:
 
Hello,

There is a lot of discussion on cholesterol levels; what is key is that lowering your blood glucose levels will make definite and quantifiable improvements to your health. If you do that be low-carbing, as you are, you will likely reduce weight as well further improving your health.

In my opinion one can pretty much ignore cholesterol levels as any risk marker (in and of themselves).

But what do I know? Only what has happened to me, but here is a study looking at over 50,000 people and guess what? For women the higher the cholesterol levels the lower the risk of all cause mortality and for CVD the risk increases at the extremes; i.e. it is just as risky having very low levels as it is having very high levels.

Have a look at this;

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2011.01767.x/pdf

The graphs showing what I've said above are on page 5 of the pdf (page 163 of the journal the pdf comes from).

So, what should you do?

Keep low-carbing and be aware that this fixation with cholesterol levels is not based on clear, coherent evidence and that there are many counter arguments against demonizing cholesterol.

I have a constant battle with my consultant who wants nothing more than for me to be on statins whilst admitting that my diabetic control is excellent.

Best

Dillinger
 
PerfectStorm said:
Thanks for your replies Sanguine
So if 80% of cholesterol production is down to the liver, how can I make it produce less - will weight loss help?
Click to expand...

You're very welcome. Why would you want to make your liver produce less though? It's a perfectly natural process.

I'm really confused by your last paragraph about the figures - I can't see what the relationship is between total and hdl to get the figure to 4 and similarly with regard to trig and hdl to get the figure to 2. Also, I don't understand what the 4 and 2 are actually demonstrating and what it means.
Click to expand...

With your recent figures, total 6.1 divided by HDL 1.5 equals 4.1; and trigs 2.9 divided by HDL 1.5 = 1.9. Sorry I was approximating to get 4 and 2.

The Total/HDL guideline of 4 or less appears on my blood test results sheets. I can't remember off the top of my head where the 1.3 for the second one comes from, I seem to remember that 1.8 or 2 is also used as a guide.

Either way, LCHF helps to boost HDL which is good, and reducing carbs helps to reduce trigs, and in my case the ratios quickly got into the right ranges.
 
Hi. In theory diabetics are at more risk of heart/circulatory disease but that is only if blood suagr is not well-controlled. As blood cholesteroal and eating sat fat are laregly unrelated in practice the risk is probably negligible. It's your choice whether to have statins or not and the evidence for them is based on weak science and big pharma interests. Yes the ratios are more important than the total but many in the NHS are not aware of that; so much for the experts....
 
Thank you Dillinger, Sainguine, Jack and Daibell. I'll have a read of the study and watch the video. I'll probably just ignore the request to make an appointment with the nurse and have my cholesterol tested when I go back in 3 months. That is what the practice nurse said when I saw her about the diabetes and she looked at my July 14 results then. She said we'd use the April 15 results as a marker so we can see what happens.

I think I was just panicking a bit when they said my results were high and to make an appointment, even though there is barely any change from July and the nurse on Tuesday didn't intervene.

So much to take in at the moment, it can all get a bit overwhelming and frightening at times.
 
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