[Daytona]

I just had my lipids tested for the first time in 6 years and got my A1c done. The A1c was great, 5.3 yay! No complaints there.

But the lipids were horrible. Total 280, HDL 26, Triglycerides 130. I was really hoping that after months of losing weight, bringing my BG in line and fixing the liver issues that they would look much better.

It's not that I buy into the lipid hypothesis, I'm mostly grumpy about the low HDL and having my triglycerides over 100. It's a pretty crummy ratio...

So I'm running through my head what the issues could be:
1. Maybe they have gotten better and I don't even know it. One data point doesn't tell me if they are going up or down. This should be more comforting than it is.
2. Many respected doctors advice against doing a lipid panel during weight loss. I can't find any concrete studies saying this however, so maybe they are just speaking from clinical experience. Plus I haven't lost any weight in 4 months so ... I don't think I can use this excuse.
3. There could be real underlying problem (like hypothyroidism or the stupid diabetes again).

I wish I had never done the silly test. It's causing me a bunch of anxiety and I don't plan on changing anything based on the results. I would NEVER go on a cholesterol medication. And the lifestyle changes I have made already (low-carb paleo, exercise, fish oil, grass-fed meats, etc) is the only way I know how to raise HDL and lower triglycerides... UGH! It's really getting me down and I'm dreading the follow-up with the doc. He's pretty cool but I have no idea how he'll react to this.

I don't deal well with uncertainty and stress...

 

[Patdart]

I don't know if this will help, but I've had mine checked every year for about 10 years and it wasn't awful, but my cardiologist told me to check it after 2 months of eating low carb/high fat and I would be amazed at the drop, so I'll bet you would be surprised at your change, however, have faith, this does work!

Stay steady in the wind,

 

[moon]

Yeah - we don't buy in to it, but want to be on the right side of it anyway - sorta like an atheist praying just in case. The trig number range used to be 50-175 and in 2002 they changed it to 50-150, so although I think you know more about this stuff than I do, it doesn't seem at all dreadful to me.

The HDL is low, true. And you've got plenty of fat in your diet in addition to the fish oil (right?) so there's no place to go there.

I get wishing you hadn't had the test, but if you're inclined later at least you can track any changes. What was your LDL? Then you can have a VAP to make yourself really crazy I was considering it, but then thought - what if I don't like the result, then what? Would I change anything? No... Exactly the position you're in. We know we're doing the right thing, so we keep on keepin' on ...

Congrats on your A1C! Since that's the truer indicator of heart issues, you're in pretty darn good shape.

 

[Shanny]

Great A1c . . . not so great lipids, but not disastrous either. Getting the HDL up is the hard part - I think the triglycerides will drop more as you continue LC/HF. Would be nice to know where you started from, eh? This mess might look stunning compared to your unknown "before" numbers.

Yep - you know you're on the right track & wouldn't change anything, but it's still a slap & it gripes a little. :hug:

 

[Daytona]

Thanks for the encouragement. I need to look at this as my "before" picture and look forward to redoing it after I've lost more weight and stuck with the diet longer. I've been doing low-carb since March but only recently switched to paleo (avoiding PUFAs, trying pastured meats/eggs/milk, taking fish oil, etc).

I didn't know that they lowered the triglyceride #'s but I guess you gotta sell more drugs somehow.

 

[laney1566]

I have the same number. I was told to take Fish Oil. I take a daily 1000mg Fish Oil Capsule. Brought me up to borderline low anyway and the omega 3 is good for ya.

 

[muck]

Great A1C results as for your cholesterol numbers at least you have a starting point to go from, be proud of what you have accomplished to date, wish I could offer you some helpful advise but afraid I'm as dumb as dirt re cholesterol... Lol
Hang in there & keep doing what you know works

Sent from my iPhone using Diabetes

 

[Daytona]

I finally saw the doctor after getting these tests done. I was so worried that he'd be like "Get on a statin NOW!" but I was worried for nothing. This guy is great. His reaction was "I was hoping your HDL would be higher and your LDL lower. Let's give the new diet more time and recheck in 3 months." That was it, no drama. PHEW!

 

[jennibee]

That's great he was so awesome about it. My doctor is like that too. He keeps telling me my HDL needs to be higher, also. But I tell him he's the one who put me on Crestor in February to get my cholesterol down. My total and LDL keep going down and so does my HDL, even taking Fish oil. Then he wanted to put me on Triliplex(sp?) for my triglycerides. I took it for 3 days and thought I was going to die. I'll keep it short and just say I passed out on the toilet, 'nuff said.
BUT getting diagnosed with diabetes and eliminating almost all carbs from my diet lowered them from 366 to 122 in 3 months.... so there's the silver lining!!

Cholesterol is really hard to control with diet; if you've got 2 bad cholesterol genes like me, forget about it! I've decided it can just be another thing I don't worry about.

 

[Shanny]

Cholesterol is really hard to control with diet; if you've got 2 bad cholesterol genes like me, forget about it! I've decided it can just be another thing I don't worry about.

If you were able to convert your way-of-eating to a more low-carb/high-fat system, you could see your cholesterol smoothing out like it's supposed to - HDL rising, LDL dropping, and triglycerides falling clear off the chart. Many of us are living proof of this phenomenon - most recently naynay who was skepticism personified, and got the surprise of her life when her lab tests came back this week.

 

[naynay]

If you were able to convert your way-of-eating to a more low-carb/high-fat system, you could see your cholesterol smoothing out like it's supposed to - HDL rising, LDL dropping, and triglycerides falling clear off the chart. Many of us are living proof of this phenomenon - most recently naynay who was skepticism personified, and got the surprise of her life when her lab tests came back this week.

True 'dat Shanny, True 'dat! Daytona, your trigs are really not that bad...you are within range of good trigs. Your total cholesterol is high, but I've heard so many say recently that cholesterol really has no bearing on anything, so don't sweat it. Just make sure you are getting your fair share of good fats in the diet as well as low carb. I was skeptical at first because I thought eating skin on chicken or turkey, pork fat, saturated fat etc was not going to prove to be good for me, but I saw my trigs drop from almost 500 to 169 in three months time. My cholesterol went down from 174 to 155, but I also take a statin drug because I've always had difficulty getting cholesterol in check. Last year my cholesterol went as high as 1,000 so I don't mess around with it. If I continue on this path of dropping the numbers I may ask to be taken off the statin next year, but not until I see a much bigger drop. I'm pleased where my lipids are, but I'd kill for your HbA1C! Wanna share numbers? Also, make sure that the EPA and DHA combination in your fish oil supplement is as close to 1000 mg as possible. Most supplements that say they have 1000 mg really only contain 300 mg total of EPA and DHA. The higher the EPA and DHA percentage, the better the supplement. I was given a paper, actually a research paper or article, showing how important this was. I can tell you my numbers certainly improved once I began taking the correct combination of the EPA and DHA. Also Krill Oil is very good as well.
Good Luck. Don't freak out. You are doing wonderful. Congrats on the wonderful A1C!

 

[Daytona]

Naynay, great job on your lipids and A1c! I hope to get as good numbers as you did for lipids when I get them retested in 3 months.

I think I have good fish oil, but I'm not sure now. It's Salmon Oil and it has 640mg EPA and 450mg DHA from wild fish. One serving is 3 pills a day, so maybe they are just making their #'s look better by making the dose high? If you know of a brand with better ratios, please let me know.

 

[moon]

I've seen this one highly recommended Very Finest Fish Oil Lemon Flavor at Carlson Labs - and the taste of the lemon is not fishy at all. You can read some reviews on Amazon which is where I got mine.

 

[Daytona]

I've seen this one highly recommended Very Finest Fish Oil Lemon Flavor at Carlson Labs - and the taste of the lemon is not fishy at all. You can read some reviews on Amazon which is where I got mine.

Wow that is some powerful fish oil! 800/500 in just 1 tsp. I think I will try this when my current bottle runs out. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Wow that is some powerful fish oil! 800/500 in just 1 tsp. I think I will try this when my current bottle runs out. Thanks!

I've been taking the Carlson fish oil for a couple of weeks (from a recommendation here) and it has almost no fishy taste at all. Although I can't imagine using it as a salad dressing...

 

[HardBackStrider]

HbA1c 6.6 can't remember first one but I think it was in the 7's. Now I just need to work on lowering this one without compromising my weight. I have to get back in practice of Eating more often as I have slipped back into the practice of 3 meals a day vs 5 or 6

 

[jennibee]

If you were able to convert your way-of-eating to a more low-carb/high-fat system, you could see your cholesterol smoothing out like it's supposed to - HDL rising, LDL dropping, and triglycerides falling clear off the chart. Many of us are living proof of this phenomenon - most recently naynay who was skepticism personified, and got the surprise of her life when her lab tests came back this week.

I am working on that, and I love eating eggs again! For years I limited all those high cholesterol foods because "they" said they were so bad for you. After I had my son I stopped eating a lot of carbs and fat. I lost the weight quickly, but also a lot of my hair, so I was afraid of going on such a restricted diet again. But now I've just cut out the carbs and kept the fat. I've lost 35lbs since August and my hair is still hanging in there, lol! I had been taking fish oil supplements over the summer but didn't see it making that big of a difference. After reading here I realize I may not have been taking enough or the right kind. It is lovely to have so many people's advice who have been managing diabetes. Thank you!!

 

[Daytona]

I just had my lipids rechecked.

Total: 280 --> 170
LDL: 220 --> 110
Triglycerides: 130 --> 68
HDL: 24 --> 46

After seeing these and understanding what's been going on in my life lately I think I know why they were so bad before (even on a low-carb paleo diet). I had a chronic infection (long story but my camelbak bottle had black mold growing in it, dishwasher didn't kill it and I didn't realize so every day I was reinfecting myself). I threw the bottle away a month ago.

I'm very please that all my hard work is finally showing on the labs. At the time this shows how STUPID testing your cholesterol is. It naturally raises and falls by a large degree hourly and can change depending on how much your body needs cholesterol. So if you are sick .... it's going to be high. If you are preggers, it will be higher than normal. It's a volatile number, doesn't cause heart disease and is just a high level barometer for what's going on health wise.

I'm never getting the stupid thing tested again. So 2 doctors down (cardiologist and now this one). I'm on a roll. Feeling so encouraged maybe I'll tackle my endo next. Who knows maybe I'll be footloose and doctor free by summer time!

 

[Patdart]

Can you explain more of this? I'm totally confused by it...

" I had a chronic infection (long story but my camelbak bottle had black mold growing in it, dishwasher didn't kill it and I didn't realize so every day I was reinfecting myself). I threw the bottle away a month ago."

What was wrong, what was it and how did you learn it was infecting you? Maybe I need to long story?

 

[Daytona]

Can you explain more of this? I'm totally confused by it...

" I had a chronic infection (long story but my camelbak bottle had black mold growing in it, dishwasher didn't kill it and I didn't realize so every day I was reinfecting myself). I threw the bottle away a month ago."

What was wrong, what was it and how did you learn it was infecting you? Maybe I need to long story?

I had 3 camelbak water bottles, they have a bite valve and straw so that the cats can't tip them over for fun. Think sippy cups for adults. I was washing it in the dishwasher for the past year and it looked clean.

I had been feeling terribly ill over the past few months and in January was dead on my feet. My nasal passages were swollen shut but there wasn't any ... snot. Debilitating headaches, trouble breathing, couldn't sleep.

Sometime in January when I was cleaning my bottle, I looked in the hole in the lid where the bite valve connects and to my utter horror there was black mold growing in the crevaces. It survived the dishwasher just fine and everytime I drank from the bottle (which was a couple times an hour all day and night) I was getting a good dose of the crud. Each bottle had a slightly different gunk growing in the lid... So I think I had more than one germ beating me up.

I chucked the bottles and am recovering. I didn't hit up the doctor because I don't take antibiotics (I love my gut bacteria too much to do that to them) and what else would they do other than make me feel like even more of a moron?

Pro Tip: Clean your water bottles with bleach. Or in my case I've switched to recyclable cups at work and keep my glass at home where the cats can't reach.