The day I had my heart attack was the first time I’d had my cholesterol checked in, oh, at least a decade. It is an understatement to say that it was high.
Of course, the events of July 11, 2006 shocked me and scared me, and I immediately changed my diet. I haven’t yet really buckled down with the exercise part (although, I did bike over to Safeway this morning for a few things, which is the farthest I’ve biked to date). Still, the diet part, which turns out to be relatively easy (except for those moments when I really want a double cheeseburger and fries), may have had a much more significant effect than I’d expected.
I’m on Lovastatin to lower my cholesterol, but I have a hard time believing that the drug alone is responsible for these amazing results from a blood test yesterday:
6/11/2006 9/12/2006 Cholesterol (should be <200) 251 139 Triglycerides (should be <150) 262 162 HDL (should be >45) 32 30 LDL (should be <80) 167 77
Trigyclerides are still a bit high, and my HDL is too low; but the incredible drop in cholesterol is very heartening — if you’ll pardon the pun.
Next test is at the beginning of November…
Good for you! Keep it up! Or, down, I should say. (Eep, I haven’t had my cholesterol checked since I was a sophomore in college and donated blood a couple of times; ah yes, back when I could respond truthfully to the Red Cross’ stupid question on gay sex. Ahem.)
I suspect it is the drug working on your cholesterol. The diet is part of it but I doubt as big as what I see here. In such a short span of time.
15 years ago my cholesterol was 203 and at that time I made a lifestyle change and went vegetarian for two years in addition I went , no fat, no sugar, no dairy. I did this for two years while doing 50 (yes fifty) miles a day on my bike and aerobics 3 times a week. My weight fell from 230 to 185-190 and my cholesterol plummeted to……198 (with the same ratio of HDL and LDL)
While I looked better and had better tone, the basic facts showed I wasn’t ‘healthier’ and remember I’m married to an RN so that’s not just my opinion but based on medical tests.
I gave it up and went back to my evil ways, high protein, high fat, tons of cheese, gained the weight back (plus some) and over the last 13 years my cholesterol has slowly crept up to 288, where it is currently at.
The sad part is my husband (still the vegetarian) has worse numbers across the board. Cholesterol, liver function, kidney function as well as glucose levels. Who knows why he’s struggling?
My father has had a cholesterol number over 400 for over 20 years and is 92 and still lives alone and takes care of himself. (drinks heavily AND smokes). Again who knows why he’s ok?
These things affect different people in different ways, Dr’s have a hard time saying its not ok for you to have a cholesterol level over 200 but it is OK for patient B to be at 250. They want everyone to be the same but we’re not.
Clearly it IS an issue for you and you will have to watch it from now on. And by the way congratulations on the GREAT numbers! It looks like you have turned it around. Keep up the great work, I’d like to see you stick around a while.
Wow that’s pretty amazing! Good for you. My HDL is–according to my doctor–‘off the scale.’ It’s like over 100.
I have little faith in drugs, but if that Lovastatin is responsible for this, it’s a miracle cure.
Still, while the numbers are good, I’ll have to wait another week for the medical interpretation as the guy who ordered the test is on vacation. The one drawback of Kaiser’s automatic online lab tests is that you sometimes know what happened before your doctor does.
You don’t need to have “faith” in drugs… you need to look at the results. There’s only so much cholesterol reduction you can get from exercise and dietary changes… a lot of it comes down to genetics, and drugs provide additional ammo against those uncontrollable factors.
FWIW, those look alot like my cholesterol numbers from just a few weeks ago. My doc moved me to Zocor from Lipitor last year because Lipitor was keeping my HDL way too low, as it’s known to do. Had the added benefit of being a lower copay on my insurance too.
Changing to Zocor has helped increase my HDL a dozen points, but the triglycerides remain a concern. So my doc wants me to try Vytorin, a combination of Zocor and something else, Zetia, which apparently deals much better with HDL and the Triglycerides.
My cardio put me on niacin to help with the triglycerides a few years ago, but it gave me a kind of hot flashes (“flushing”) that wasn’t particularly pleasant.
I’ll let you know how the Vytorin works.