My family is convinced I am going to have a heart attack! page

[Infraredhead]

I am so sorry to be another person posting their numbers again, but I have a big giant headache from trying to figure out my lab results. My family is freaking out right now and they are convinced I am on death's door due to my primal eating choices and they are truly driving me crazy. My doctor is insisting I go on statins if my numbers do not improve in four months .I have read and re-read then read some more on the cholesterol stickies to see if my numbers are in the right range on a primal diet but unfortunately numbers and calculations are not my friends. I would appreciate any input that tells me I am on the right/wrong track with my primal diet. I have been primal for approximately six months.

I am a 47 year old female that is hypothyroid (on Synthroid) and always told I have fantastic blood pressure. I exercise and take fish oil supplements. Wish I had a "before" test with numbers but I do not.
I should mention that I do eat the occasional piece of fruit and dabble with dairy but I am willing to throw those out to get my numbers right.

Cholesterol total = 251
HDL cholesterol = 83
Triglycerides = 44
LDL Cholesterol = 159
Chol/HDLC Ratio = 3.0
Non-HDL Cholesterol = 168

[jammies]

New Study: Women With Higher Cholesterol Live Longer | AnthonyColpo

Ask your doctor to show you the data that proves that statins provide protection for women that have had not already had a heart attack. It doesn't exist.

I would not even consider changing a thing about my diet with your numbers.

[jimhensen]

I should mention that I do eat the occasional piece of fruit and dabble with dairy but I am willing to throw those out to get my numbers right.

lol, what?? Fruit and dairy are good for you as long as your diet doesn't consist of huge amounts of them.

[gibson girl]

Infraredhead, my last blood test was virtually the same as yours--a jump in total cholesterol of @ 50. Your HDL is actually better than mine. He didn't turn a hair, just told me that the LDL was a calculated figure ( as in: ignore it). When I asked if there was anything I should do he suggested maybe some oat bran on my fruit or yogurt.

This is the guy who tried for three years to give me a statin just because I'm diabetic. I just said no thanks. He let it go.

I wouldn't panic.

[peril]

Those are fantastic numbers. You don't need to change a thing

[Dr. Bork Bork]

Sometimes you're just stuck with crappy genetics (like me). My last cholesterol results were very similar to yours, and my doctor is panicking that I'm going to die of heart disease because of all the meat I eat. I eat 4-6 oz of meat per day. That's what the government recommends, right?
Another thing you might want to look at is thyroid, cuz that can affect your cholesterol too. If your thyroid is out of whack, everything is out of whack.

[cori93437]

First, "My family is convinced I am going to have a heart attack!"...
Why?
Did you post your results and a write up of the rash your Doc gave you on a family billboard for everyone to read and assess and tell you how they felt about it?
Stop doing that. Family discussions about these things are rarely rational.

Second.
When your doctor is being pushy, and you are not SURE how you feel about the numbers yourself yet... Look him/her straight in the eye and say firmly "I'll get back to you on that."
Then when you get back to him/her you simply tell them "No, I do not wish to take a statin", if they push you tell them calmly that it is NOT their decision to make weather or not you take a prophylactic medication that can have serious side effects.

That's it.
Sometimes you have to be firm with the docs.

[Omni]

I'll second the thyroid point, MIL had hers burnt out (RAI) 30 years ago and has always had a higher cholesterol level and now doctor has put her on Statins, we are trying to get her to adjust diet, she is very healthy, eats lots of fruit and veg, so we are just trying to get her to drop out some of the processed carbs & vegetable oils.
I don't have any links, but I did read somewhere a while back about a connection between Hypo & high Cholesterol, this was in the research period for my partner who was Hyperthyroid.
Recently looking at the overall cholesterol thing also read that higher cholesterol for women is not a good indicator of heart disease risk and it is the type of LDL particle that is more crucial than the actual level.
LDL-C is the standard measure, LDL-P measures the actual number of particles and this gives the particle size, the highest risk is actually those with a low overall LDL-C, but a high LDL-P indicating very small LDL particles.
Can't give you any more than that as I am still in the process of investigating appropriate testing etc.

[magicmerl]

Your cholesterol levels look fantastic. All three of your cholesterol ratios are in the 'safe' zone (post 2 of the cholesterol primer).

There's actually an inverse relationship between heart attacks and cholesterol for women (i.e. the lower TC is, the higher the risk of heart attack).

[Infraredhead]

Thank you everyone. I always ask for a hard copy of all of my lab results so I can scan and keep on my computer. Well my big mouth older sister saw my lab results on my bar and of course told the whole family that my total cholesterol was way too high and so was my LDL. Maybe this will teach me to quit piling up papers where everyone can see

I really appreciate you taking a look at my numbers. I was getting a giant headache trying to figure out if they were ok. I had Graves Disease for many years and had to have my thyroid removed because it was getting to the point where I couldn't even wear my work lanyard around my neck because my gland had become so enlarged. So out it went two years ago and I just about have my thyroid numbers in the normal range. Then my doc runs a cholesterol check and all hell broke loose again! OK, I will ignore his statin threat and keep on truckin. I seriously feel a thousand times better though after starting paleo.