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Cholesterol levels

nirishdaisy

Well-Known Member
Messages
87
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
I've just had my first diabetic clinic appointment in over 3 years (yes covid etc, now it's closed again for boosters). In that time my sugars are up and I need to deal with that. This post is about cholesterol. I'm in Northern Ireland and we don't even have the NHS - it's health and social care. I used to understand my cholesterol levels but in the 3 years since I was last tested they are different. Now says Serum HDL, Non HDL and LDL. (used to be just HDL and LDL). I know I've seen serum HDL mentioned on here before and I hadn't a clue what you were talking about. Can someone please in layman's terms explain Serum HDL, Non HDL and LDL. What of these do I need to know?

Thanks for reading.
 
As far as I know serum just means blood and so what it means that the result is from blood test.

Non HDL is just the difference between the total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol.
 
AshwinShah46 said:
As far as I know serum just means blood and so what it means that the result is from blood test.

Non HDL is just the difference between the total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this information. Much appreciated.
 
What do you mean we "don't have the NHS" in Northern Ireland?

Maybe you're making some kind of joke that I clearly haven't understood.
 
LonelyFatGuy said:
What do you mean we "don't have the NHS" in Northern Ireland?

Maybe you're making some kind of joke that I clearly haven't understood.
Click to expand...
No, not a joke. We have 5 Health and Social Care Trusts. I didn't realise this until a few years ago when it was reported in the guardian for a court case and it apparently said it doesn't work. If you look at the hospital websites, GP websites etc you will see Health and Social Care Trust. A GP told me a few years ago when I asked why we couldn't get blood test results on line that we are years behind the rest of the UK.
 
nirishdaisy said:
Can someone please in layman's terms explain Serum HDL, Non HDL and LDL. What of these do I need to know?
Click to expand...

A Simple Guide to Cholesterol on Low Carb – Part I

If you’re on a Low Carb High Fat diet (LCHF), there are a few things you should know about cholesterol and how it is related to this lifestyle. In this guide I plan to cover the topic in very…
cholesterolcode.com

This site is very helpful not just in understanding the various terminologies but also in general to understand the concept of cholesterol.

Hope this helps.
 
Thank you. Will have a better look later, but the first page helps.
 
Yes, that's how the health service in Northern Ireland is structured. In England there is a different structure and Scotland and Wales are different as well. Basically they have organisations doing roughly the same thing but often called by different names. It's a lot to do with the number of people served - 1.5m people in NI need have their health and social care services managed differently to 55m in England. So social care is included for NI (and iirc in Scotland as well) and they gave the service a different name.

Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Each of the countries in the UK (following devolution) has a lot of control over how they structure and fund the health services for that country. But it's all really "NHS" - free at the point of delivery etc.
 
Do you have other complaints aside from not being able to get blood test results online...?

I've been having my diabetic clinic appointments over the phone since the start of covid, I assume everyone else has too, don't know why you didn't get the same...?

Covid or not, that should have probably always been the way to do it. Why we physically had to attend the surgery to have a GP reel off a bunch of numbers and be out of there in a few minutes, I don't know. More efficient just to have them over the phone from now on.
 
I had nothing over covid. No blood tests, no blood pressure checks, etc. Our doctors were only concerned about "emergencies". I said to one of our GP's there are going to be a lot of diabetics with problems down the line and she just said "I know". Recently had eye checks, but I didn't mind as I was getting good checks with the optician.
 
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