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High Cholesterol & new doctor

S

Stuarty

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8
I went for my 6 monthly check up this morning and as usual the doctor was very happy with my results (My overall reading has only been high ONCE in the 20 years I have had diabetes) - I hadn't seen this doctor before and when I was called in to the room his first words were, "I have came from Leeds and I am so happy to meet a patient with such perfect control of their diabetes, I have never seen this before". My reading was 39 (5.7) It is always around that. This was also the first time I had seen or heard of this new way of measuring it! I wondered what he was talking about when he said "39" lol.

But anyway, he continued to say that my Cholesterol was high and he recommends me starting some tablets called 'Statin', and basically said my Cholesterol won't come down unless I start these tablets. I have to say I am not happy about this. For a start, this was the first time this man had ever met me, so how can he try to prescribe me with a lifelong dose of new medication!? Secondly, this is the first time my Cholesterol has EVER been mentioned to me at my check ups in 20 years, surely it can't jump up that much in 6 months (last time I was there) Should they not be trying some other way of getting it down (diets, exercise etc.) before putting me on 'Statin' tablets for the rest of my life?

I am not a bit happy about this and will be contacting my Diabetic Specialist nurse to have a word and see what she thinks.

I'd like to hear some other peoples thoughts on it!

By the way I am 28, a smoker, a drinker and wouldn't do a great deal in the way of exercise but I'm not overweight.

Thanks,
Stuart
 
Stuart,
Firstly, congrats on the good HbA1c :thumbup:
Secondly he wants to put you on statins for High Cholesterol ( Other drugs are used for BP (I HOPE he knows that :crazy: ))
Which statin does he want you on? and As him what yoor cholestorol figures are( Broken down into HDL, LDL, Trigs) and what were your previously.
With these figures you can start to make informed decisions.
Has he exanined your diet and exercise regime as in my experience cholestorol and BP can be influenced by diet & exercise. 8)
 
FergusCrawford said:
Stuart,
Firstly, congrats on the good HbA1c :thumbup:
Secondly he wants to put you on statins for High Cholesterol ( Other drugs are used for BP (I HOPE he knows that :crazy: ))
Which statin does he want you on? and As him what yoor cholestorol figures are( Broken down into HDL, LDL, Trigs) and what were your previously.
With these figures you can start to make informed decisions.
Has he exanined your diet and exercise regime as in my experience cholestorol and BP can be influenced by diet & exercise. 8)
Click to expand...

Sorry Fergus, I typed 'blood pressur'e in my original post but meant cholesterol. I have amended the post now. My BP is fine!

He mentioned a low dosage statin (10mg maybe?) But he never offered to give or show me the cholesterol figures you speak of. Hmmmm...
 
I guess im in a similar situation. My hba1c isn't as low as yours (6.5%), but my LDL is too high. I got offered statins a few months ago, but tried to sort it out myself. I failed, summed up the evidence for and against and got put on statins today.

As a diabetic and a smoker you're in 2 high risk categories for cardiovascular disease. At the very least its worth looking in to.
 
Congratulations on your Hba1c Stuart :clap:

I'm very surprised that your cholesterol has never been discussed before at your annual review as they will always check your total cholesterol together with the other checks, to get a full picture of your cholesterol levels you need to have a fasting cholesterol check where your doctor can request a full lipid breakdown, the following article from The British Heart Foundation discusses cholesterol and the associated risks and what you can do to lower them:

http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/cond ... terol.aspx


If your cholesterol is indeed high then this new doctor who you haven't seen before deserves some praise in my honest opinion, I would be inclined to feel more anger towards your previous doctor if he's been ignoring your cholesterol levels and not discussing this with you, there are ways to reduce your cholesterol as the article above explains, stopping smoking is a first and exercising will help together with a few dietary changes, if you choose ask your gp if you can try these first before considering statins.

Good luck!
 
Stuarty may I ask what your cholesterol level was? Mine recently was 4.5 but doing my research maybe that is a tad high. I am very active and eat healthily and my bg was 6.4 recently so just wondering if I should be trying to change something to get my cholesterol down?
 
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