Blood test results - advise wanted please....

sandie2255 said:

Good morning all,
Latest results from my blood test last week.....

HBA1C - 5.0 !!! Down from 5.2 last time........

Trouble is not happy with other results and would like some advise on them please. Saw my Doctor this time not the Diabetic nurse and she was happy with them and said nothing to worry about but would like your thoughts please as I really dont understand them.

Serum lipids
Serum Chol 3.9 Range 3.4- 5.2
serum triglycerides 1.7 Range 0.6- 2.0
Serum HDL 1.0 Range 0.8 - 1.9
Calculated LDL chol 3.9 Range 1.4 - 5.0

Urea
Serum urea level 7.5 mmol

Is there something I should now be doing as well as lo-carbing? I eat a lot of cheese etc but perhaps should start cutting down on this for a while? I do take statins.....
By the way, My GP is very impressed with my weight loss - 4 stone - and is a great fan of lo-carbing. Didnt know this until I saw her yesterday, she is in her 60's and says I am now her star patient!

Have a great day,
Sandie

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Great Hba1c Sandie, well done.
Did you get a print out of your results ?
Different labs have different ranges for their results, going by my print out all of yours are well within the lab test ranges ( in red above)
The only one that would be out of my lab test ranges is your Serum urea which mine quotes a range of 3.4- 7.0 mmol/L.
You would need to discuss this one with your doctor to see if there is anything to do or if she is quite happy with it.

Those are some pretty sweet numbers you've go there - good work! The only numbers I can see that may be concerning the doctor are your HDL/LDL levels. (Although yours are both well within the established range).

You always want your HDL ("Good" Cholesterol) to be higher than your LDL ("Bad" Cholesterol).

Have you tried Coconut Oil? It's a great source of HDL.

Great stuff Sandie, you should be very proud of yourself!
You might well see continued improvements in the LDL/HDL/Trigs department as you maintain your new diet. Otherwise, monounsaturated fats seem to have the ability to both lower LDL and raise HDL levels, so you might try increasing your consumption of those. Monounsaturated is the principal fat in olive oil, but also in meats and in eggs.
I'd be asking serious questions about continuing with the statins though......

All the best,

fergus

Excellent numbers, I'm very envious :mrgreen:

There are some interesting replies to this post and I wondered if they could be discussed further.

I am in the Far East at the moment and took advantage of a complete health check in a private hospital for the price of a quarter what it would be in London.

My lipid profile was
Total Cholesterol 2.8
HDL 1.17
LDL 1.3
Chol/HDL ratio 2.4
Triglycerides 0.8
HbA1c 5.8

All other lab tests were in range except thyroid profile. TSH was 15.8 (ref 0.3-4.7) & free T4 13.0 (ref 12-22)

I was dx T2 3 months ago and since then have adopted a low carb diet with increased exercise. I check bg semi regularly at home and results are encouraging. My weight has dropped accordingly and my BMI is 24.7.
I have been taking a low dose aspirin, 20mg simvastatin and 5mg amlodipine for BP for about 2 years. BP varies of course but it has come down and my Dr was happy with it last time I saw her.

Although both are low my concern is that HDL is lower compared to LDL. Is that significant?
Should I be continuing with the statin or a lower dose perhaps? My concern is that my cholesterol may now be too low!
Does an under active thyroid come into the picture? (I read it can increase cholesterol)

I will discuss these results with my Dr before any course of action but if anyone has opinions I'll be very pleased to hear them.

(Patch - I'm in the right place to get some coconut oil. Maybe I could ship a few gallons over for everybody!!)

candyfloss.

All other lab tests were in range except thyroid profile. TSH was 15.8 (ref 0.3-4.7) & free T4 13.0 (ref 12-22)

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A high TSH can be down to many things. This result is very high and needs to be discussed with your GP.

Whether high or low, an abnormal TSH indicates an excess or deficiency in the amount of thyroid hormone available to the body, but it does not indicate the reason why. An abnormal TSH test result is usually followed by additional testing to investigate the cause of the increase or decrease.

Not wanting to derail the topic, but sandie's cholesterol numbers looked a bit odd to me. I always thought that LDL was calculated as total chol - HDL - (trigs / 2.2) - which would make sandie's calculated LDL 3.9 - 1.0 - (1.7 / 2.2) = 2.127

I must be mistaken, but I'm sure that's what I'd always heard before. Anyone have any more insight on how this is calculated?

Sorry for the slight tangent.

NickW said:

Not wanting to derail the topic, but sandie's cholesterol numbers looked a bit odd to me. I always thought that LDL was calculated as total chol - HDL - (trigs / 2.2) - which would make sandie's calculated LDL 3.9 - 1.0 - (1.7 / 2.2) = 2.127

I must be mistaken, but I'm sure that's what I'd always heard before. Anyone have any more insight on how this is calculated?

Sorry for the slight tangent.

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Nick.

You may be right with your calculations, however, my understanding is that it isn't as straight forward as that. Other factors are taken into account and given a score. Hence the number is different to your calculation.

The other risk factors include cigarette smoking, hypertension, low HDL (< 1 mmol/L), family history, age (male 55 or older; female 65 or older), being overweight, and failure to exercise regularly.

I used to have the actual numbers somewhere that are are used, but the filing system needs an update I think ?