Very pleased with cholesterol today

BobbleHat

BobbleHat

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When I was diagnosed with T2 in July, my cholesterol was also raised (total was 6.1%). As I am under 50 (just!) and my Qrisk was less than 10%, I wasn't offered statins. For the last 3 months, I've eaten for diabetes (Low Carb with full fat options for things like Greek Yoghurt), as I feel like that's my priority to manage but I'll admit to occasionally wondering what my cholesterol might be up to!

Its not official so won't be the number on my NHS record, but I signed up to be a participant in the 'Our Future Health' research and had my first appointment today for all my baseline measurements.

I had a finger prick test for my cholesterol: total cholesterol 4.24 :party::party::party:Pleased with that. I can't get into my NHS app to compare values right now but I know my HDL has gone up and my non-HDL has come down so my ratio should be better too. Feeling relieved and vindicated to keep with the low carb/full fat approach too! And a bit more confident for ALL my next NHS bloods in November.
 
Well done! Similarly I’ve eaten more cheese, butter, cream, eggs etc on my low carb/full fat approach than ever before and mine dropped from 4.2 to 3.6. I was on 10 mg Atorvastatin at the time but have stopped that now as I felt my cholesterol was getting too low. I’m due bloods at the end of this month so will be interested to see how they do.
We have to stick with what works for us and I wasted years of my life and my health following NHS advice to eat low fat, low calories and lots n lots of carbs!!
Best wishes.
 
My total cholesterol (TC) came down from 5.2 at diagnosis when I changed to low carb and higher fat to mid 4s and has remained pretty stable there for 5 years, despite all the cream and cheese and full fat yoghurt and fatty meat I eat and ratios are good, so I am refusing statins for now despite my QRisk being about 14%. That risk is largely because I am now 60 and female and have Type 1. I keep myself fit and as healthy as possible and my diabetes very well managed, so I don't personally feel that any of those risks or my TC take into consideration me as an individual or warrants statins although I appreciate they like us people with D below 4 TC.
 
PS. I hope your proper NHS cholesterol result backs up that My Future Health spot check. I have been considering signing up. Were the baseline checks done at your GP surgery or somewhere else nearby?
 
rebrascora said:
PS. I hope your proper NHS cholesterol result backs up that My Future Health spot check. I have been considering signing up. Were the baseline checks done at your GP surgery or somewhere else nearby?
Click to expand...
My checks were done in their trailer parked in our Morrisons car park.
 
Thanks @Martin.A And how did the cholesterol spot test compare to your usual NHS result? Just wondering how reliable the spot test is?
 
rebrascora said:
Thanks @Martin.A And how did the cholesterol spot test compare to your usual NHS result? Just wondering how reliable the spot test is?
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Can't really make a comparison as the tests were months apart. The Our Future Health spot test was back in November and my Diabetes Review was at the end of May. For what it's worth, 3.85 in November, 4.4 six months later.
 
rebrascora said:
PS. I hope your proper NHS cholesterol result backs up that My Future Health spot check. I have been considering signing up. Were the baseline checks done at your GP surgery or somewhere else nearby?
Click to expand...
I did wonder how the two will compare but, as I was fearful of it spiralling of into the 7 or 8s, I was pleased that the trend at least was downwards. I did think of you whilst the result was processing - the machine took a couple of minutes to give a result - as I knew you eat a similar style of diet to mine and that your cholesterol had lowered and stabilised.

Although it's validated by the NHS, it's not an NHS research project so can't be done in GPs. Like Martin, I went to a glamorous portacabin in a supermarket (Tesco for me!) carpark!
 
Glad you’ve had some reassurance that your cholesterol is heading downwards @BobbleHat

Hope this is confirmed when you next get your annual review checks (or an interim GP follow-up) done 🙂
 
Well done! Onwards and downwards :D
 
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