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Results... always something to spoil the party... maybe

C

Cowboyjim

Well-Known Member
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Got the blood test results... just a few days after the nursey blood leting last Friday so I am amazed.

Doubly amazed that I got them as a pdf file via email.... the NHS is in the modern world. Good for them!

All well and good even though the Hba1c was up a bit. It is now 5.8% compared to the 5.4% I got last time. So maybe some room for improvement there.

But today I got a letter - yes back to the stone age - telling me to see my GP about my cholesterol. This is 5.4. According to a web search this is OK for blokes but I suppose us T2s are expected to go one better.

Suppose DM Nursey cannot advise on cholesterol...

BTW I do not yet take statins and I was no told the LDL/HDL nor trigs.

Any advice/comments please?

Cheers 8)
 
As you so rightly said us T2 are expected to go one better. Because of added risks to our hearts etc my doctor says that our reccomended cholesterol levels are lower than those for non- diabetics. boo hoo

My levels were condidered fine until I was diagnosed and it immediatley became too high..
 
Any idea of "good" numbers? Under 5 I suppose... don't want to take statins but...
Nursey sez porrij is good... hah hah. Good for cholesterol but maybe not DM... that old cleft stick again. 8)
 
Don't forget to check your HDL/LDL ratio. If they're around the same number, you've nothing to worry about. (HDL effectively "cancels out" LDL. Sort of...)

If your LDL is significantly higher than your HDL, then it may be time to take some action. That doesn't necessarily mean taking statins, though. There are loads of dietary changes you can make to address low HDL.
 
The figures I work to are some I picked up in 2004 when I first started the Atkins diet. I think they may have been the NICE guidelines at the time, though I'm not sure about that.

Preferred targets:
Total: below 5.18. 5.18 to 6.20 is medium
HDL: target - above 1.04, and the higher the better
Triglycerides (the real baddies) target - below 1.70; the lower the better. Above 5.65 is Very High.

LDL (also bad, but more complicated) is calculated from the other figures; mine is 3.60, which is on the higher side of okay.

My total cholesterol:HDL ratio is 4.1, which again is on the higher side of okay. My LDL:HDL is 2.77 - ditto.

If you Google 'total cholesterol HDL ratio' you'll get some good sites. All the info is out there.

Ask your doctor to give you a print-out of your full lipid profile (which is the breakdown as above) so you can study it. Don't let your surgery try to charge you - these are your medical records and you have a right to see them.

All the laboratories in this country differ a little, but they often give you their own 'acceptable' ranges on the print-outs.

Ask what all the figures mean. Don't let them fob you off with statins without explaining what they are and why they want you to take them. Find out which version of statin they are giving you. Take them away, if it keeps the peace, but research them thoroughly before you take them.

Statins work extremely well for some people; others can have problems. I was on SImvastatin for 3 years and ended up barely able to walk because of muscle weakness. Check on 'statin side-effects'. Read all the pro-statin sites, but also have a look at some of the anti. 'spacedoc.net' is interesting; so is a lady called 'stephanie seneff'. Googling 'seneff' should find her; she's at MIT.

'They' will probably tell you that diabetics are more prone to cardio-vascular disease and strokes. 'They' may well be right, but they are working from statistics gathered over the past few decades, when diabetes was much less well-controlled. I have a theory that a well-controlled diabetic need be at no higher risk of CVD etc than anyone else in the population. If you're an obese couch potato who drinks, smokes and eats a bad diet, you're at high risk of all sorts of things, diabetic or not! (At least I don't smoke - the diet's not bad either :lol: :lol: )

If I'm wrong about that, you have my permission to say so on my tombstone 8)

There is a strong (official) rumour that statins can occasionally cause impotence :twisted:

See what your figures are, listen to what 'they' say, do your own research and make up your own mind.

Viv :)
 
Thanks to all. Useful and interesting. More to worry about but keep things in perspective as usual.

They had me on statins over a year ago but once I read more about them - here and elsewhere - I stopped. Prefer to tackle the problem with food and exercise.

The dilemma as I see it is that as a DM my dietary options are limited. And some foods for instance ordinary yoghurts have more fat... etc etc. Not obvious what to do nor do I take everything the NHS tells me as OK. I am in a triangle due to the hypertension, DM and cholesterol... no fun!

As I said I am not given the other data - gawd knows why - so I will have to ask in the surgery as and when.

One last point that I suppose gets asked over and over... sorry.... are these cholesterol kits worth the cash? Doubt they give you the full lipids story either.

Cheers
8)
 
taken from this site -

How much LDL cholesterol should I aim for?

Healthcare professionals in the UK recommend that people with diabetes keep levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol under 3 millimoles per litre (mmol/L.)

Furthermore, total recommended cholesterol levels should be under 5 mmol/L for people with type 2 diabetes.

Some research indicates that taking a statin if you have diabetes lowers the chance of heart or circulation problems whether you have high LDL cholesterol or heart problems. However, many people with diabetes disagree with statin use – a whole topic in its own right.
Click to expand...

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/features/diab ... terol.html
 
Hi, I got my results this week and my total cholesterol was 5.2, was told that would be ok if I wasnt diabetic and that following nice guidlines he wants it to be 4 or lower, so was put on simvastatin :( , he also said that in the guidelines anyone who is diabetic and over 40 should go on it anyway.

So far, so good and no side effects, but I have only taken them for 3 nights, fingers crossed. My HBA1c went from 6.6 % to 6.4% so its slowly going down.

Take care all :)

Julie x
 
Hi Julie... like me, mixed news... what some would find encouraging we have to go one or two better. 8) Congrats on the downward trend... mine was up .4% for Hba1c... so what some might say that's half a percent isn't it...? Meaningless in general life situations but for DM is a parsec or two.

So I have to work hard on my cholesterol then... har har. I told a mate my number and he got the same last time... but he is not DM.

Maybe my dietary preference for non-carbs has pushed the cholesterol up? Cannot win.

Suspect it is the statins for me then though I am reluctant. I have some in the cupboard so maybe time to start over and keep a watch on the muscle pains etc. I know others who have been on them for years with no apparent side effects. As I recall it was insidious last time.. did wonder if I was losing my mental acuity let alone real or imagined muscle spasms. Oh well.
 
The best lipid profile I have ever had was after I'd been on Atkin's Induction phase for 15 months; a high-carb diet can increase your cholesterol, particularly the triglycerides, but a low-carb diet should not increase your levels.

Dietary fat apparently accounts for about 20% of your cholesterol; your liver makes the rest.

Cholesterol helps the body produce Vitamin D, and is also essential for brain function (Google 'Stenneff' for that one. I think her first name is 'Stephanie' and she's a Professor at Massachusets Institute of Technology). My GP assures me that blood cholesterol has no effect on brain cholesterol.

I wish the 'experts' would make up their minds and give us clear, unanimous instructions! :?

Viv 8)
 
Thanks Viv.... it seems me to a-wonderin if metformin affects the liver's cholesterol production considering that is how it is supposed to work via the liver.
The proverbial cleft stick of the food that might better suit a DM T2 might compromise his/her cholesterol... 8)
I now have an appt with the quack... a different one... and look forward to the discussion though what you can cover in ten minutes is a puzzle. I dread the usual "time to resume the statins".
If so bang goes the daily grapefruit grr!
 
Frankly, as a Type 2 diabetic I'd rather not take too many things that interfere with my liver all at once - that's how statins affect your cholesterol, they reduce the amount the liver makes. They also reduce its production of Co-enzyme Q10, apparently, which is what powers all your muscles. The heart is a muscle!

There is no doubt that taking statins seems really beneficial for some people. However, 3 years on a very low dose of Simvastatin - 10mg, or whatever they measure it in - left me barely able to walk through muscles weakness. I thought I was coming on okay (it's 12 months since I stopped them) but I've just been all round my nearest Tesco and barely managed to get back to the car!

Mind you, I ache all over, can't breathe properly and I'm sneezing - I'm either allergic to an early pollen or coming down with something else!

Those b++++++s at the supermarket have put the red wine in the farthest aisle, as well :evil: .

Maybe I ought to go there every day and do the whole circuit - must be a mile . . . :lol:

I digress . . . I thought metformin worked on the cells, but it seems it does help with cholesterol. I'd better look it up again!

I hope your doctor will listen to you properly and have a reasoned discussion. I know at least 3 HCPs who wouldn't touch statins - any statins - with a bargepole - unfortunately they're not in my practice!

What diet do you eat, by the way? I know some people can't eat too much fat, but I don't avoid it on my low-carb diet. I eat butter, cream, mayonnaise, eggs, cheese, olive oil, and I leave the fat on meat. As long as it's 'natural' fat - not processed - I find it's okay. My cholesterol would be considered 'high' by some at 5.5, but all the constituent parts are okay and my total:HDL ratio is on the higher side of the okay range, and my GP is fine with it.

Ask your doctor to explain your lipid profile to you, about HDL (good) and LDL (bad but complicated) and triglycerides (the real baddies!).

Good luck!

Viv 8)
 
Thanks Viv... my commisserations on your plight but this is exactly my fear. My Indian doc cut the statin dose in half but I am still reluctant. Not because of the side effects per se but the worry that these are irreversible. This is quite a different matter and makes me think it is all very well for them to preach the benefits but what can they offer me to repair or reverse damage? They have no answer to that. 8)
 
"Frankly, as a Type 2 diabetic I'd rather not take too many things that interfere with my liver all at once - that's how statins affect your cholesterol, they reduce the amount the liver makes. They also reduce its production of Co-enzyme Q10, apparently, which is what powers all your muscles. The heart is a muscle!"

I distinctly recall my first GP warning me about the muscular pitfalls and that I MUST report back should I feel any unusual muscular pains such as in my legs etc, then she said "and of course your heart is muscle"... go on lady give it to me straight... as if I did not have enough to contend with what with my hypertension diagnosis not a month previous... and this was prior to my DM diagnosis!

My suspicions about the liver are therefore not with foundation. It is distinctly worrying. Maybe better to attack the cholesterol problem by another route. Diet and exercise for a while longer methinks. Tho I am stringent enough with both of those already. Always room for improvement. 8)
 
"Those b++++++s at the supermarket have put the red wine in the farthest aisle, as well :evil: .

Maybe I ought to go there every day and do the whole circuit - must be a mile . . . :lol: "

Applied psychology... get the rich winos in the supermarket with booze offers and maybe they will impulse buy along the way! Excessive cruelty for the likes of thee and me tho!

I intensely dislike visiting supermarkets these days. Stokes my paranoia as if I needed it.
Lucky I have those who are less reluctant to do the shopping.

BTW we have a red wine box to hand at all times and it is one of my few indulgences but only in the evening.

Get some rollerskates maybe? 8)
 
I do one big supermarket shop every four weeks, when I get my pension. It's a 32-mile round trip, but if I time it right I can fill the car up there as well - 129p a litre yesterday! Otherwise I shop locally.

I find my favourite wine tastes much nicer from the bottle than from the box. No idea why it should! Anyway, I do try to limit myself to 1 bottle per week - it stops my weight loss. All part of my 'take better care of my liver' campaign :D . It's still functioning normally - god knows why!

As for the pneumonia study - by the sound of it, it was a desk-based study not a clinical trial, and I don't trust those. There could be all sorts of variables, including how early the pneumonia was diagnosed. Plus the 'unknown factors' they mention themselves. And nothing about age of patient!

I'd rather see the research paper than a press release. I only allowed them to put me on statins because of a press release that said they protected from Alzheimer's, and that proved to be a) untrue and b) possibly the opposite - though there's not enough published research on that side of things yet.

Keep us up to date with your doctor's opinions.

Viv 8)
 
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