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

Lipid Profile results - advice please?

WuTwo

WuTwo

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,867
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
People whose attitude says "Me, my opinion, my desire is greater and more important than anyone else"

And to whom the principle of ahimsa is a closed book that they refuse to open because it would make life more difficult for them.
Mods, if this is in the wrong place I apologise, and perhaps one of you could move it for me?

Looking for some advice please?

I became a pancreatogenic diabetic five years ago following a pancreatectomy for tumours in the pancreas. I don't take statins because of an adverse reaction. Ezetimibe wasn't that great either and I stopped it quickly. I do take Fibrazate and haven't yet noticed it doing anything it shouldn't. I had a fasting lipid profile in December and the results were:

Total: 8.1
HDL : 4.01
LDL: 3.77
Trigs 0.54

with an HbA1C of 36 (which is normal for me).

My consultant said my HDL is higher than most because of drugs I take for my long-standing epilepsy. I exercise but am currently overweight following an injury related exercise lay-off when I stupidly ate the same amount of food as when I exercise. I am now eating around 90g of carb a day and hope to lose the excess. I have been a fairly liberal low carber since diagnosis. I eat healthy fats for energy and reasonable quantities of protein. I supplement with fish oil capsules (I hate actually eating oily fish), vitamin D (the epilepsy drugs can cause depletion) and I also take red rice yeast capsules but am unsure as to how much good they actually do. I also take lisinopril for high blood pressure.

The consultant said my risk of a cardiovascular event is reduced because I am not a true type 1 or 2 and have always been very well controlled, and that in my case she would lean more to the idea that my risk levels could in large part discount my diabetes (although the longer I am diabetic, the more that risk increases, I'd have thought).

Ideally I'd like to reduce the total cholesterol but don't know whether doing so would reduce the HDL and not the LDL. How do I reduce LDL but maintain the HDL and trigs at their current levels? Any ideas please?
 
hi I'm far from an expert on the whole cholesterol thing, it is a mystery to me and coupled with your other issues i hesitate to even reply here, so this is my meagre offering, things like avocado, oily fish and olive oil are apparently good at raising your HDL which is a good thing and lowering your LDL which is bad. your trigs are great which is apparently the most important thing of all, I'm sorry if this is useless but it'll bump the post up a bit so someone who unlike me has a clue may be able to help, good luck
 
I love avocado! I guess I'm going to be making guacamole :). Thanks for answering!
 
Taking into account what your consultant has said about your risks factors it's difficult to comment on, your Trigs and HDL are really good only let down by your LDL, I would just follow the advice of your HCP's given your past and present medical history.

Exercise is said to help lower LDL levels but appreciate this is out of the question with your injury problem.
 
I guess I could always swim - that's a form of exercise that I could get away with. Thanks :)
 
There are other test for cholesterol. I have heard a high LDL reading can be caused by the LDL particles being larger than normal, and thus not so evil as a lower reading but where the LDL particles are very small. One test is called apolipoprotein-something, I think.

Statins are the very last resort.

Are you on carbamazepine? This can also cause low thyroid hormones, and a common problem with this is, of course, high LDL.
 
Yes - a high dosage of carbemazepine but all liver function and other tests (including thyroid) came out fine so I'm sticking with it as it gives me excellent control. It gives the high HDL, I know, but didn't know it also caused high LDL. I won't go on statins - if the high LDL is the only result I need to be concerned about then I'll use a lot more olive oil and avocado etc., and increase my exercise. I am just about recovered from my injury and feel sure that if I don't go too mad to start with I'll be able to build up endurance again (I love my rowing machine!).

I managed to get a fasting lipid test thanks to my consultant but there is no way my GP surgery would go along with anything else. They were not that pleased at the barrage of tests the consultant ordered!


Hey Andy - it'd be the sea round here, and that's pretty cold too!! - definitely not my preference, and the pools are expensive.
 
Back
Top