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Bad lipids?

Spiker said:
Thanks I will check that out.

I have been through the process of losing physical cravings many times. My compliance problems are more psychological. Stress response habits, emotional eating. So probably LDN and pramlintide would not help me anyway.

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Me too. Now I walk when I feel stressed or listen to music to de-stress, Oh and I stay out of the kitchen until the stress has gone. If my family have to get their own evening meal when they get home from work, so be it! Of course, this is all newish to me, so quite fun at the moment. It's harder when you have been fighting these things for years. (I have been suffering for years, but not fighting it, that's why my weight is over 17 stones)
 
I used to eat load of carbs before I was diagnosed and also suffered some depression since retiring for my job 2 year ago. I missed my colleagues a lot, I love being around people and having a banter, I used to have such fun and loved my job, so found myself comfort eating as well. However, since diagnosis I have followed the LCHF diet and found that I do not crave carbs at all. I have lost weight and got my bg under control and feel much better than I have for ages. The link that Jack posted above is very helpful so have a read.

Marilyn
 
I have been reading bits about triglycerides and the ratio between those and HDL as being more predictive of heart problems that the HDL/LDL ratio.
A ratio of trigs/HDL of less than 2 is considered ideal. 4 is high and 6 is much too high. Yours seem to be OK.
 
My TC was 6.9 and my triglycerides were higher than yours when diagnosed last month. I'm refusing the statins and working on exercise and LCHF to control my weight and blood glucose, and hopefully the lipids will sort themselves out in the process. Up to you of course, and you will get differing opinions, but I would try the diet route again and accept whatever help there is (here and elsewhere) for keeping the discipline up. See if they would accept that as a programme.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
I have been reading bits about triglycerides and the ratio between those and HDL as being more predictive of heart problems that the HDL/LDL ratio.
A ratio of trigs/HDL of less than 2 is considered ideal. 4 is high and 6 is much too high. Yours seem to be OK.
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Thanks Bluetit. That is encouraging. Do you have any links please?

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jack412 said:
get on the happy pills [antidepressants]
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Alas been there done that. I am off them now and basically fine. They did what they were supposed to do, but never had much impact on eating behaviours. Actually I did notice they (SSRIs) reduced the opiate-like effect of carbs, like pramlintide and LDN are supposed to do. That did help somewhat. But it did not stop the stress response and emotional eating behaviour. I would ideally like some kind of CBT like you get in the Lighter Life weight loss programme.

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I can't help with the UK health system, here it's a Dr referral. you could hook yourself up to a car coil and hit the switch every time you think of a fruit bun
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jack412 said:
I can't help with the UK health system, here it's a Dr referral. you could hook yourself up to a car coil and hit the switch every time you think of a fruit bun
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Yeah that would work perfectly! :-)
 
Spiker said:
Alas been there done that. I am off them now and basically fine. They did what they were supposed to do, but never had much impact on eating behaviours. Actually I did notice they (SSRIs) reduced the opiate-like effect of carbs, like pramlintide and LDN are supposed to do. That did help somewhat. But it did not stop the stress response and emotional eating behaviour. I would ideally like some kind of CBT like you get in the Lighter Life weight loss programme.

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Spiker, do you know what has caused this stress response and emotional eating behaviour? I am asking for a Yes or No answer here, not details. I didn't know what had caused mine until approximately 13 years ago. It has taken me this long to sort through the trash and get on with my life.
 
zand said:
Spiker, do you know what has caused this stress response and emotional eating behaviour? I am asking for a Yes or No answer here, not details. I didn't know what had caused mine until approximately 13 years ago. It has taken me this long to sort through the trash and get on with my life.
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That's an excellent question zand. I can see how it would be very useful to know. I still don't know for sure, but I think I am "getting warmer". Like you I have a lot of trash to sort through.

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Well keep sorting, it's worth it in the end, honestly. It's just not always easy to see when you are wading through it, and finding out things you maybe wish you hadn't found out. I'm not sure if I am totally through whatever it is I have to go through, but I am getting there at last. It is nice to be able to say 'oh, that's why I do that!' Once you know the reason it's much easier to change habits.
 
Spiker said:
Cholesterol 7.6 (target <5, <4 diabetics)
HDL 1.57 (target >1)
LDL 4.99 (target <3, <2 diabetics)
Triglycerides 2.31 (target <1.7)
TC/HDL ratio 4.84 (target <4)

The hospital want me to go on statins and get my LDL under 2. I guess they have a point - these lipid scores are *****. :-(

What do people think? Would you go on statins with these scores?
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The target numbers, especially total cholesterol, may well be total nonsense anyway. With the actual "healthy range" being rather higher. But 7.6 does look to be too high, especially for a man.

What's probably actually the most important is the high triglycerides which would imply a high level of hepatic lipogenesis. Which would imply high a level of dietary sugars (possibly too low a level of dietary fats). The two reasons the liver typically produces fats are blood sugar regulation and because the fats the body needs arn't being supplied from food.

Looking at the cholesterol numbers there appears to be 1.04 mmol/l unaccounted for. If this is in VLDL then this could be a side effect of a high level of lipogenesis. In which case the last thing you want to do is interfere with your liver's ability to produce cholesterol. Since the most likely effect of doing so would be to shift your LDL towards pattern B. (Possibly also increase your risk of NAFLD...)
 
Spiker said:
Hi Omar

My Hba1c has been deteriorating over the years and is now in the high 9% range, not good. My diet is honestly a poor effort at low carb with many lapses.
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More insulin might help with your Hba1c. Most likely with an increase in triglyceride readings. (Probably also an increase in the cholesterol numbers too, Especially if your dietary sugars are mostly glucose.)

It you can fix the diet then the lipid numbers will most likely come down as a consequence.
 
jack412 said:
your tri and HDL are good enough. It depends what type of LDL it is, the big fluffy ones or the small dense ones that do the damage. if you are really hesitant about the statins, you could ask for the LDL type test./QUOTE]

One thing to remember is that pattern A, "big fluffy", LDL contains more cholesterol than pattern B, "small dense", LDL. It appears to be the ratio of fats (triglycerides) to cholesterol in an LDL particle which dictate its size.

Restricting the availability of cholesterol to the liver can change pattern A to pattern B. Something you don't want to happen.
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