• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Cholesterol

T

tom1179

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
I had blood checked it came back HBAc1 at 48 doctor said I had to be 51 to start on medication. I need to get another blood check in 3 months time have changed my diet meter readings are coming down from the 9s to the 7s. My cholesterol was 4.3 he wants me on medication I don't want to be on that, will that come down as I have changed my diet has anyone been in same situation where cholesterol was high and got it down to safe level? Thanks
 
While no expert, just a quick Google presents this

"mmol/L.

As a general guide, total cholesterol levels should be:

5mmol/L or less for healthy adults
4mmol/L or less for those at high risk '


And while I can imagine, simply being diagnosed as T2D, makes us 'high risk' I think we owe it to ourselves to delve a little deeper.

I would have strong reservations beginning any medications at such a level, but we each choose our own path .

And you may have other issues that do require a more rigid level.


You would have to search on here @bulkbiker posts re cholesterol.

He's posted extremely useful information regarding this .

Two points I think I've learned from reading his & others posts

Is that cholesterol level itself is more of a guess (but do check for yourself )

And even the number is misleading as it is the RATIO to other lipids that contribute to the dangers .

I'm sure there's a calculator (Hugh's calculator on the site somewhere, if not then online)
That allows anyone to input their lipid scores (triglycerides, HDL, LDL ) to establish ratios & risks .

Cholesterol HDL/LDL/Triglycerides Ratios Calculator

www.hughcalc.org

All of this just after DX is a deep dive, (well it was for me) into facets of my body I had no clue about.

But to my mind was well worth the effort .

Good luck seeking better knowledge.
 
Cholesterol of 4.3 is a perfect result and absolutely normal.
Cholesterol is essential for life without it you would be dead. It's so important that your body can't afford to leave it to chance and hope you get some in your diet, so our bodies make it. If you have lots in your diet your body makes less, if you don't have enough it will make more
Why would you want to take drugs to prevent your body doing it job when your levels are fine?
 
I too had cholesterol medications suggested for me when I had HbA1c above the normal range with a cholesterol reading similar to yours. When I queried why they were being suggested the reason given was that as a diabetic I had a higher cardiovascular risk and so the cholesterol should ideally be less than 4.0. I did my own reading on it and concluded (for the reasons other posters have mentioned above) that I would not go on cholesterol lowering medication. With diet changes my HbA1c came down to the normal range and then it was never suggested to me again.

I was starting from a much higher HbA1c than yours. I would think with diet changes you may well see your HbA1c come down too.
 
tom1179 said:
I had blood checked it came back HBAc1 at 48 doctor said I had to be 51 to start on medication. I need to get another blood check in 3 months time have changed my diet meter readings are coming down from the 9s to the 7s. My cholesterol was 4.3 he wants me on medication I don't want to be on that, will that come down as I have changed my diet has anyone been in same situation where cholesterol was high and got it down to safe level? Thanks
Click to expand...
My total cholesterol has fallen after adopting a very low-carb way of life, although there was an initial small rise. It's now in the sixes which is as low as it's ever been. Our bodies make around 80% of their cholesterol and I assume they take a little time to adjust.

I don't and won't take a statin, and I don't think cholesterol is the problem it's usually made out to be.
 
@tom1179 you might find this thread on cholesterol interesting...


Cholesterol and Statins

There are always a lot of threads about Statins and Cholesterol and we all post our various favourite bits of current presentations about them but I thought it might be handy to have them all in one thread. I meant to put this together soon after the get together in Birmingham (sorry @Debandez)...
www.diabetes.co.uk www.diabetes.co.uk
 
Thanks, have many people on here been reversed there type 2 to normal on diet alone and have been that way for years
 
tom1179 said:
Thanks, have many people on here been reversed there type 2 to normal on diet alone and have been that way for years
Click to expand...
7 years in so far.. HbA1c better than most "normal" people no meds apart from 3 weeks of metformin hell at the start.
 
tom1179 said:
Thanks, have many people on here been reversed there type 2 to normal on diet alone and have been that way for years
Click to expand...
Almost 6 years in so far. Managed by low carb diet to reduce from , hba1c of 97 to the 30s. Would recommend you read around on this forum including the thread success stories of which there are many.
Another good place to get a broad idea of low carb is the diet doctor website their visual guides to food are a great way to get started I'll post link to the veggies visual guide but if you scroll down at bottom of that charts page is a link to other visual guides to different foods.
www.dietdoctor.com

Low-Carb Vegetables – Visual Guide to the Best and Worst — Diet Doctor

What are the best and the worst low-carb vegetables? There is a simple rule, vegetables growing above ground are low carb and can be eaten freely.
www.dietdoctor.com www.dietdoctor.com
 
Back
Top