cholesterol.

Mrs T 123

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1,800
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I too look forward to seeing your results with your experiment
 

Ryhia

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,124
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only

Ryhia

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,124
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Well I had my cholesterol test at the hospital yesterday morning. This was not just a cholesterol test but my lipoprotein (a) and Apolipoprotein B100 will be tested as well. The blood nurse said it will take a little while for my results to come back so I wait in anticipation to see what they are. I already have a good idea of what my cholesterol levels are though as I did my own cholesterol test that morning which showed a total cholesterol level of 6.24 with LDL being 4.27, HDL: 1.50 and Trigs 1.04. I was very stressed and panicky at the hospital though which I understand can affect levels. If my tester is accurate, I know they are certainly not going to be happy with those numbers and I am pretty sure they will be pressing me to start Atorvastatin. If my ApoB results come back bad then I really do have to consider my options.. I understand ApoB is a much better indicator of cardiac risk than LDL cholesterol.

Those reading are probably aware that since July I have been trying to reduce my cholesterol by modifying my diet. And I have seen some reduction in my LDL levels which is encouraging. However this last month, I have found that my HDL and Trig markers seem to be generally going in the wrong direction. My HDL in July was 1.9, compared to the 1.5 of yesterday. Trigs have only slightly modified going from 0.9 to 1.04. The fact that I have been eating lots of fibre and have been trying to uplift my walking should have had a positive impact on HDL. When I spoke to the lipidologist I did say I would try to lose some weight as I am at the upper end of what I should be for my height and I just wonder if this is what could be impacting my HDL and Trigs as I am probably inadvertently reducing the number of calories I am eating and perhaps the amount of fat. One of the experiments I have tried with my tester is to eat a very low calorie/low carb diet for 3 days. What I found surprised me as my cholesterol went up and my trigs and HDL also went the wrong way. This is so frustrating as my bloods loved the lower calories. Its such a strange beast cholesterol and very dynamic, yet well nigh impossible to figure out. Even lipidologists don't have the full picture so what hope do I have. All I can do is keep tweaking my diet and testing until I find something that works. I still find it unacceptable to take medication for something I have caused in the first place unless it comes about there is a real reason to do so. In an ideal world it would be lovely to lower my cholesterol yet still keep my bloods low as well. Not easy to do I suspect but given the choice it has to be bloods all the way.
 
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DJC3

Master
Messages
10,347
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Keeping fingers crossed for you @Ryhia I agree with your last paragraph it’s preferable to try and sort it oneself rather than instantly resorting to meds. Also the issues with keeping BG and cholesterol both in the right zone is a constant juggling act
 

Ryhia

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,124
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I hesitated about posting the figures hereunder but a couple of people expressed an interest in what tests I had been trying so here goes.

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I got the idea of trying different things from the Feldman protocol but my tests are in the opposite order to his. Initially I just wanted to check to see if eating high calories would reduce my LDL levels as his protocol does not work for some people.

The 5/11 entry is the first try out of my cholesterol tester. Although it doesn't form any part of anything I've still included it as its interesting just to see the fluctuation in cholesterol from one test to another when I am not doing anything out of the ordinary. When I looked at the results of the test on the 15th November, my baseline test, I admit I was puzzled as my HDL had gone down pretty low. I was trying to lose weight at the time so I wonder if this might be a reflection of the lower food consumption and the probable lowering of fat intake; the results seem to be similar to the results obtained from eating low calories between the 19th and 22nd November, so maybe I wasn't eating as normal as I thought.

So back to what I was trying to determine, the theory is if you eat lots of calories your cholesterol will go down and your other markers improve as well. For 2 days I ate lots and lots of calories (horrible experience) and tested again on the 17th November. Interesting results as all my markers can be seen to have improved. I followed this through with what should have been the first part of the protocol to eat very low carbs and low cals for 3 days. I wasn't actually sure what to expect but I should have realised, everything would go in the opposite direction, which meant I had probably shot myself in the foot for my hospital cholesterol test so of course had to revert back to eating calories to try to get back to the status quo. My bloods loved the low calorie option though, with pre-prandial bloods showing in the low 4s. I very rarely have bloods consistently that low. With the upped calories option my bloods lifted up too high.

I'm not sure what I have shown here except how dynamic cholesterol is, which I wasn’t aware of. The Feldman protocol seems to work but on a very temporary basis so nothing I can use to bring my levels down and keep them there. In the future I think it may be interesting to explore the idea of a low calorie diet some more. It’s really beneficial for my bloods but rubbish for my cholesterol so I would love to know why and would be interested to see what happens over a longer period of time. Will cholesterol steady out or will it rise the longer I eat low cal. I obviously cannot try this out in the very near future whilst still under the hospital but may be later. (Might warn my doc first though). I would also like to look at the effect of eating different foods. In theory foods should not make a difference but as all I have done is eat more fish and fibre, add olive oil and ditch dairy as best I can so see my cholesterol is slowly reducing, I do wonder if because of this polygenic issue foods do have an impact on me. If it the case then its probably impossible to determine which foods they are but I may give it a try. Regardless of whether I try other tests or not, at least I now have the tool to keep a check on my cholesterol - that saying the strips are quite expensive so everything in moderation I think.
 
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