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Gutted! UPDATE

i think your HDL could be higher to be better IIRC. Obviously the nurse is just looking at the total cholesterol and not the break down.

There's a thread on Statins in here.Have a browse through it.
 
Sorry to be thick. What does IIRC stand for, please?
Nurse said that was the breakdown. Cholesterol 5.5. HDL 1.91 and cholesterol/HDL ratio 2.88.

hanadr. I didn't know there was an English version of Bernstein's book. Oh b*m! Wish I'd known before I bought. That is the only drawback with the book...all references to levels seem to be in the American form. I shall have to look into converting the figures. :roll:

Just looked in Bernstein's book and he reckons lipids should be tested with a fasting test. I was tested mid-morning after breakfast and nurse knew that. My tests have never been fasting tests.You can see why I get confused!
 
chocoholic said:
Sorry to be thick. What does IIRC stand for, please?
Nurse said that was the breakdown. Cholesterol 5.5. HDL 1.91 and cholesterol/HDL ratio 2.88.

hanadr. I didn't know there was an English version of Bernstein's book. Oh b*m! Wish I'd known before I bought. That is the only drawback with the book...all references to levels seem to be in the American form. I shall have to look into converting the figures. :roll:

Just looked in Bernstein's book and he reckons lipids should be tested with a fasting test. I was tested mid-morning after breakfast and nurse knew that. My tests have never been fasting tests.You can see why I get confused!
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You seem to have two HDL's there.Do you know which one is HDL and which one is LDL?
 
According to my lab test sheet :
HDL should be greater than 1.4mmol for a woman before the menopause, above 1.15 for a woman after the menopause and men.
Total cholesterol desirable less than 5.0 mmol
normal range for my lab (remember they can differ between 4.00 and 6.0mmol)

cholesterol total/HDL, Lab says should be less than 4.5 for a woman and less than 5.0 for a man: Diabetologist wants it much lower (below 3)

If you have your LDL figure it should be below 2.59 ( again my diabetologist wants people with diabetes to be lower, below about 2mmol).

If you don't have LDL figure but do have your triglycerides it is possible to calculate LDL. (look up Friedewalds Formula, I'm sure there will be a calculator somewher on the net)

to convert cholesterol mg/dl to mmol you divide by 38.67 (or find a calculator :wink: )
 
Just to add the calcualtion is for cholesterol.
For blood sugar to change mg/dl to mmol you need to divide by 18.(after a time you become bilingual)
 
Lipids should be a fasting test. My last one invoved waiting at the hospital for 2 hours, because thesatellite Phlebotomy department was close and there was a queue of about 100 patients. I had already been to my aqua execise class and was famished. just to make things"better" :evil: . i'm one of those whose veins don't go where phlebotomists expect them and after 3 tries of each arm, she decided on the back of my hand, which HURT and the hand swelled to double its usual size and went purple over the next couple of days.
i was once refused a test, because i admitted to havong had a cup of sugarless black tea. (no milk, so no lipids.)
 
I just spoke to my D.N. on the phone and asked her which bit of the printout refers to my LDL and she said none....they don't check my LDL at the surgery unless requested to ( I presume she means by a specialist)that's assuming you can get to see a bloomin' specialist. Aren't the LDL levels the "bad" cholesterol and therefore important to know?
 
Choco,
Absolutely right. Otherwise its like taking your car to a garage and asking them to tell you which bits are working correctly!
 
I decided to chase my referral to a diabetologist today, as I'd heard nothing. When I phoned through,I was initially told that a letter of referral had not been done as my notes were flagged "may" be referred. I could not believe my ears and I made it clear that with suspected neuropathy, I felt it important I see a specialist. I think the receptionist sussed I was about to blow my top when she told me to wait a minute. She came back and said "oh, a letter has been drafted." I asked for my password for the new "choose and book" system we have in this area and was told she could not give it to me.(A lie, as they have instant access to that info at the surgery).After much deliberation, I got a call back from the surgery and amazingly...... :roll: ....she booked me in for 3rd September. (There were no appointments in my home town available at all...why does that not surprise me?)

My husband went to a meeting today to do with his work but noticed on the agenda was a discussion about diabetes care in our home area. He asked to stay for that and found that the speaker has been drafted in to sort out the dreadful diabetes care given locally because the PCT had complained about it. I am at least heartened by this, as long-term, perhaps care will improve locally but till now,my experience has made me feel like a second-class citizen.
 
chocoholic said:
I decided to chase my referral to a diabetologist today, as I'd heard nothing. When I phoned through,I was initially told that a letter of referral had not been done as my notes were flagged "may" be referred. I could not believe my ears and I made it clear that with suspected neuropathy, I felt it important I see a specialist. I think the receptionist sussed I was about to blow my top when she told me to wait a minute. She came back and said "oh, a letter has been drafted." I asked for my password for the new "choose and book" system we have in this area and was told she could not give it to me.(A lie, as they have instant access to that info at the surgery).


Sounds to me that you may have unknowingly moved to Croydon as this is so similar to my experience in trying to get referred, but like you I persevered and by I think being a pain in the a**e to them I got referred and to be fair to the specialists at the hospital they have restored some of my lost faith in the NHS.

Regards
Pete
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