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Cholesterol Results

mazza 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
248
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I've just had my annual review and been told that my cholesterol is to high!! The doctor will phone me next week to discuss statins. I'm not happy about taking statins but not sure if I should take the advice of a professional doctor!! I've been on a low carb high fat diet for 4 years now and at last have got my A1c to 45 which I'm pleased about but obviously still need to work on and hopefully get into non-diabetic levels. My cholesterol was good last year so I was wondering if anyone had some advice to help me bring it down. My levels are as follows:
Serum Cholesterol total - 5.25 (high)
HDL - 1.68
LDL - 3.18 (high)
Total cholesterol HDL ratio - 3.13 (high)
Trigs - 0.85
Non high density lipoprotein cholesterol level - 3.6
Thanks in advance
 
Try plugging your numbers into these tools to asses cholesterol numbers

https://cholesterolcode.com/new-report-tool-launched/
https://www.hughcalc.org/chol-si.php

I just ran them through with rough details and the only number than comes out less than perfect is the total and that’s only borderline. Everything else is low risk, lowest third risk, normal, near ideal, ideal and optimal. There’s nothing I can think of that would convince me to take statins with those numbers. And that’s before we consider if lower numbers are even desirable which is medically contested with more up to date data studies.

edit for typos
 
Your trigs are below 1 and that's the most important thing.

Your total cholesterol isn't high, but they do like to push statins into diabetics.

Once upon a time your readings would have been marked as good. Since then though they have changed the goalposts.

My advice would be not to worry about pushing your TC figures down. If your body is making it, then it's because you need it.

Once upon a time I felt doctors were there to heal us. Now I realise they are there simply to tick boxes.
 
I would be delighted if my lipid panel was this good! Call me an old cynic but the fact that GPs are paid an incentive to put people on statins may be having an influence.
 
Sorry but I can't recall the details right now, but I read that the lead researcher on the study that first said statins were good for preventing CVD said that the starting level for prescribing statins should be at around an LDL or 7.0 that's not Total cholesterol - just the LDL!
Since then the threshold for prescription has come down and down, yet there have been studies which show that people with lower LDL don't have fewer Heart Attacks , that people with high(er) LDL actually live longer than those whose LDL is low enough for them not to be advised to take statins, and that statins are associated with Heart Failure.
 
Thanks for the link and your thoughts. I ran my results through the tools and they look quite good to me. I won't be taking statins, it's just I find it hard to converse with medical people because they always think they know best. I'll carry on with my low carb diet as it's working well for me and I don't want to mess it up. Thanks
 
I agree with Zand - plus as well as raising BG and causing the muscle problems, they can cause high BP and weight gain in many people.And the desired criteria for cholesterol that the medics demand goes ever lower. The current practice of taking an average overall reading is rather a blunt instrument, IMO.

As others have said in other threads: it your choice what you put in your body. All the best with whatever you decide.
 
Yes, I remember when TC should be under 6, now it's 5 and for diabetics 4. Don't think I can get them that low, I never have. On diagnosis my trigs were over 6 but since getting my blood sugar levels down my trigs are good and I don't want to do anything that will make them go high again. Thanks
 
No, I'm not going to take them, I'm ok with those figures it's just finding the right words to explain why I don't want to take them without them thinking that I think I know better than they do (if you get what I mean) Thanks for your help.
 
mazza 2 said:
No, I'm not going to take them, I'm ok with those figures it's just finding the right words to explain why I don't want to take them without them thinking that I think I know better than they do (if you get what I mean) Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
How about “no thanks”. If you feel the need for more words perhaps explain you’ve done some reading and research and are happy with your trig, ratios and hdl and I can find nothing that says a statin will prolong your life or even lower the risk of heart issues to any significant degree whilst there is always the risk of side effects and bgl rises and ask if they have any evidence you can read that says otherwise that isn’t a sweeping guideline.
 
Recommend this dr if you’d like a scientific rebuff re link re heart disease and ldl and explanation
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/
Lots of great podcasts from him too to search on podcast app of your choice such as Spotify or you tube. As someone with a total current cholesterol score of 8.2 but with HDL of 2.9 and trigs of 0.7 I always have the statins talk. I’ve never in my life had cholesterol below 6 and neither has my 91 year old mum. The time I gave in to statins a few years back I had unbearable muscle pains. I’m sure that this is only a percentage of people who take them who get such severe side effects but as one of them I stopped them and went back to my normal current good health. The heart risk talks are scary though and I’ve recently participated in a heart health study to find out what my risks really are as a diabetic type 2 in remission and at low bmi. I’d advise you to listen to guys like Dr Kendrick and the Fat Emperor and start to look at the science and the lack of evidence linking high cholesterol automatically to heart disease. At the end of the day best advice is look at the evidence out there and then make a decision about your own risk.
 
Thanks HSSS for that. I'm going to save your message and say that to the doctor. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help
 
Thank you for your reply. I'll have a look at the link and read up on it. What do they do on the heart heath study? When do you find out your results? Hope it goes well. Thanks
 
mazza 2 said:
Thank you for your reply. I'll have a look at the link and read up on it. What do they do on the heart heath study? When do you find out your results? Hope it goes well. Thanks
Click to expand...
I often listen to Dr Kendrick as he’s very down to earth and in my opinion speaks a lot of sense. Lots of his talks on you tube about statins and heart disease.
Re heart health study - as a volunteer in a clinical study, I had 6 hours of tests including MRI and CAC score with CT scan initial verbal feedback on the day was good but full results will be a while yet.
 
Sounds fascinating and a great way to get a good mot that would be unlikely any other way. Is the trial still open?
 
Ask your doctor if you my try fenofibrate they do the work of stations without the pains in the legs staying creats
 
On my notes it says allergic.

I had the muscle pains oh boy did I but I also thought I was heading for dementia till I read on here of the horrid side affects. Came off them and told the doc this to be scolded like a child so I sited peer reports on statins and what they do well really what they don’t do.

My go to these days is I do not consent and follow with your comment as I don’t need them thank you.

I’ve had to use the I do not consent in hospital a fair few times as the blood letters don't **** well listen that they are actually hurting me. The minute I say those words they back right off.

plus my total cholesterol is 6.1 trigs 1 also on a low carb diet
 
My notes say mild adverse reaction. Every time I see the endocrinologist one of his first five sentences is 'I'd like to prescribe a statin', to which my response is 'No'. One word, said slightly louder than conversation, no further comment. Sometimes they accept it and move on, sometimes they ask for an explanation.

One of the doctors who actually listened to my reasoning suggested I try ezetimibe instead, it is supposed to lower cholesterol, but uses a different method. So far I have no side effects, but no lowering of cholesterol either.

PS latest results were cholesterol 4.4, hdl 0.9, trig 0.9 and they still want me on a statin!
 
 
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