Help with cholesterol please!

[Katieb]

Hi all. I have just received my latest test results - HbA1c 6.1: but cholesterol 5.7 (HDL 3.8, LDL 1.26). I have to go in to see dr re results ? Poss statins which I’d like to avoid. Any advice gratefully received! Thank you. Katie🙂

 

[mikeyB]

Aye, don’t bother with statins, whatever the doc says. Your HDL to total cholesterol ratio is fine. That’s the only figure that’s of any importance or relevance to heart disease.

 

[Katieb]

Thanks Mike, but isn’t 5.7 too high?

 

[trophywench]

It's unclear whether it's actually high or not because it also depends on the third component of total chol - ie your triglycerides - they have to measure trigs in order to calculate your LDL (except in very rare circumstances it's always calculated using the HDL and Trigs results - Google the Friedwald calculation if you want to be completely confused, LOL) and then the ratios between the various components.

Somebody (or bodies) decided on a magic fictitious number that it's dangerous to exceed and that was that really, because the stating manufacturers told them it was so.

Chol increases naturally with age and so does the incidence of heart trouble and strokes - therefore high chol causes heart trouble and strokes ....... bollards it does!

I know someone who has a birth heart defect, whose chol is in the teens as she has this familial high chol thingy. She had to have valve replacement the other year (and she's T2) and the surgeon told her there wasn't any sign of scale on any of her arteries. I'm not saying that also applies to everyone - but just demonstrates that high chol does not automatically mean anyone is gonna get CVD.

 

[Mark Parrott]

You don't say what your trigs are, but your HDL/LDL ratio is perfect. The whole number is meaningless. You do not need statins. There has been lots of research in the U.S. recently that shows no correlation between cholesterol levels & heart attacks/strokes. Sadly, the pharmaceutical companies will make sure this is kept quiet as they make a fortune on statins.

 

[Katieb]

Thanks Mark. I am back at the drs next week so will ask about the trigs. What should they be?

 

[Mark Parrott]

Thanks Mark. I am back at the drs next week so will ask about the trigs. What should they be?

Ideally, they should be 1 or under. I've managed to get mine down to 0.5. My LDL is quite high but the trigs cancel this out apparently, and that's what my DSN told me.