:dizzy:

Please sit down before you read these numbers.....

Ready...

HDL 45
LDL 291
TRI 128
CHOL/HDL RATIO 8.0


Am I at death's door as we speak?

That would make your total cholesterol about 360 and you have got some dangerous levels there. What is your age and do you know what your other risk factors are? Are you a smoker and do you have high blood pressure or diabetes? Is there a family history of heart disease?
I hope you are going to begin a regimen of diet, exercise and medication or I would be afraid you will soon be at deaths door. I'm not in the medical field so my opinion is just coming from what I've learned in the past almost 3 years of living with heart disease. You need very close monitoring by a very good physician. I would even want to suggest at least a stress test to my doctor whether you are symptom free or not.

:dizzy:

Please sit down before you read these numbers.....

Ready...

HDL 45
LDL 291
TRI 128
CHOL/HDL RATIO 8.0


Am I at death's door as we speak?

Not good. I'm sure the Dr has put you on a medication?

I don't have high blood pressure or diabetes and no family history of heart disease either. I've always had high cholesterol but until last year it wasn't nearly as bad.. last year it went up to 320 and I started on lipitor for about 3 months.. it went down to 209 and I stopped. And continued eating all the fatty red meats and ice creams and cakes.. booooom back up and even higher now. My doctor suggested I get a heart scan which I will be getting tomorrow to see if there is any plaque build up. I started exercising again and now really watching what I eat. I am 40 and I smoke about 4 cigs a day. I know it's bad.. but I cut down from a pack a day to this.

ZOEB,

Your numbers are nearly as bad as mine before I started Lipitor (and I already had a MAJOR undiagnosed coronary blockage at the time.)
Though my Totals were always in the 235-260 range, my HDL was 28 and gave me Ratio's that always averaged to 9:eek:

Why did you stop the Lipitor if it was giving you good results.

(A neighbor took Lipitor for a mointh and her numbers fell dramatically, so she's convinced she's CURED OF CHOLESTEROL, and has stopped taking the med. :confused: )

Zoe I'm a woman and was 41 years old when I got a stent and then had bypass 3 months later. I wasn't a smoker and my lipids weren't even close to being as bad as what yours are. I do have a family history of heart disease but do not have high blood pressure or diabetes. Sounds like your doctor is on top of things. It's real important that you start making some serious lifestyle changes. Good luck with your test.

Hi Zip.. I stopped taking Lipitor because I figured if I was carefull I could perhaps keep it under control. I HATE TAKING MEDICATION. I know it's stuipid but they all come with side effects. I have never needed medication before... and I blame this whole thing on my weight.. I am not really that overweight but for me it's too much.. I am 5ft 2 and now I weigh 130 lbs.. once I passed 40 boom the weight came on.. I have never been over 110 before. And I know weight also plays a big role on cholestrol. So now I am trying to get back down to 110.. and I would love to know if there was any other way of lowering cholesterol besides meds.. but I am sure if there was everybody in here would already be doing it and I guess the drug companies wouldn't be making as much money as they are now :rolleyes:

"I would love to know if there was any other way of lowering cholesterol besides meds"

From my experience the answer is a resounding YES.

My doctor wanted me to start taking liptor 3 1/2 years ago. I told him I would do some research and come back in four months. In four months I lowered my TC from 253 to 145, LDL from 100 to 85, TG from 618 to 127 and raised my HDL from 29 to 35.

I believe the answer for me was changing my diet from a high (normal) carb low fat diet to a low carb high fat diet combined with aerobic exercise and maintaining my ideal weight over the past three years. The only question is how much weight loss and exercise has affected my lipid levels. There is no way for me to determine that but my low carb diet has been the key for me in losing and maintaining my weight loss for the past three years.

I don't take any statins but I do take MaxEPA fish oil, alpha lipoic acid, biotin, folic acid and evening primrose oil supplements.

Three 1/2 years ago:
Normal (HIGH) carb low fat diet recommended by the American Heart Assoc., American Dietetic Assoc., etal: no eggs, no red meat, low-non fat everything:

TC: 253
HDL: 29
LDL: 100
TG: 618
HDL/C: % 11.4 - Above avg risk
C/HDL: 8.7 - Above avg risk
LDL/HDL: 3.4 - Avg risk


Today:
Low carb high fat diet: whole eggs, meat, chicken, fish, olive oil, green leafy/non starchy vegetables, nuts, berries, sunflower/pumpkin seeds. No sugar, flour, grains, trans-fats or pasta etc:

TC: 130
HDL: 50
LDL: 68
TG: 58
HDL/C %: 38.4 - Below avg risk
C/HDL: 2.6 - Below avg risk
LDL/HDL: 1.3 - Avg risk


If you do a search on Dr. Mercola's website for "How to Determine Your Cardiovascular Health" he has some very good info on lipid levels and associated risk factors.

your nubers are a lot better than mine were last year in april i dont know what my ldl or hdls were but in april of 2003 my cholesteral was 880 and my triglyceriders were 4000 yes yiou read that right now in jan my cholest were 300 and something and the triwere 900 and something i get my blood next month after being on the amega 3 1 gram caps 3 2x a day and tricor 20 mg 2 x a day since jan ancoius to see my numbers since i feel a lot better and have lost weight not only that the blood sugars are at 112 last last check earlier this month.

moved to own thread

try the omega3 fish oil its been very successful for me and thats what my dr put me on along with the tricor good luck to you .

Hi everybody,
I had the heart scan yesterday. It's this new thing, they take series of pictures of your heart starting from top and moving down.. when I got there, I had to fill out paperwork ofcourse.... and the cholesterol numbers had to also be revealed....as the girl was entering my info into her database the technician was standing behind her.. they looked at eachother and mumbled something.. than I went in to get my scan done. After it was over.. the tech told me they were amazed by my numbers.. she's never seen anything like that.. You don't know at a moment like that if you should laugh or cry.. I chose the first...
But on a good note.. there are NO blockedges in my arteries.. I scored a 0 which is the best score they give. So I guess I won't be having a heart attack within the next couple of weeks at least :dizzy:

I had the same test done about 2 or three yrs ago. As a matter of fact I had it that twice. It is a little scary when people are whispering about you. Glad to hear you scored ok. After I took that test, the next two weeks I was doing a stress test.

Hi JTU, thank you for your response.. can I ask you what the outcome of your scan was? Did they tell you what your score was?
Also I've had many EKG s done in the past and everytime they check my heart everything seems to be alright.

What specicfic type of heart scan did you have?

Hi Zippy, Intercardia is the name on the papers my dr gave me, I am not sure if it's the name of the company or the procedure.. I hope I didn't do anything wrong by giving that name.. but like I said I am not sure if it's the name of the co. or the procedure.. it's almost like mri machine but it's not closed. you lay down and they slide you through the machine (other side is open as well) you see the images looking down from top.. they take about 4 pictures moving downward, instead of taking the pictures from the front or the back. Than they put it all on a disk and you can view it on any computer. While scanning the heart it also takes pictures of the lungs and liver too.
Hope this was helpful

Thanks, It sounds like you had an EBT type calcium scan for calcified plaques. A score of zero is good! Unfortunately this type of scan will not detect soft plaques in the coronary arteries but the risk of undetected plaques is small.

Thanks Zippy... can I ask a stupid question...
Does this at least mean that I am not in IMMEDIATE danger of having a stroke or a heart attack.. or is it meaningless?

I have to wonder how meaningful LDL/HDL ratios really are in determining risk factors for CAD and why we're even concerned about those risk factors. My ratio when first assessed was 13+, and who knows how long that had been going on. However, an angiogram showed minimal (30% at most) blockage in my coronary arteries. So, what do these ratios really tell us?

I was told that once you went on the statins you would have to stay on them to keep your cholesteral down. Obviously this is true.

So does this mean, once you've gone on statins you can NEVER get off them???? That is very scary.

that is what I was told. Ask your Dr. to be sure. It would seem to me if you got it down to a respectable level and then were totally stringent a bout your diet and exercise that you could keep it there but that was not the impression I got because your system manufacturers cholesteral and some people just have that problem. One thing I did read was that chocolate was bad for it so no more cholesteral. Also, low thyroid so check with Dr.

I do have a dilemma...
Well remember I told you my chol. went down considerably in 2 months on lipitor? When I was taking lipitor I didn't make any dietary changes.. if anything I ate more freely.. thinking now it was the drug's duty to take care of my cholesterol, and it did :nono:
Well here is my dilemma.. I am going on vacation next week.. it's all inclusive.. meaning all meals and drinks included, the place has 8 restaurants. I know I am going to be eating all kinds of bad things and I KNOW I will be drinking. So... I am thinking of going off Lipitor while on vacation (7 days) because of the side effects combined with alcohol and you are not supposed to in the sun too much..
Will it be horrible.. ??????
Any advise .... PLEASE....

You need to call your doctor on that one. I would not advise going off of it. If I'm correct in my thinking it won't be out of your system that quickly anyway.

I just asked my doctor and he said it's okay to go off for a week and start again when I get back... :bouncing:

Here we go again.................. got back on Lipitor on monday and feeling like crap again..... THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY

Isn't there one of the others you can try. I know many people that have had to switch from one to the other because of side effects.

Not good. I'm sure the Dr has put you on a medication?

HELLO... it's me again.. got my latest results back
HDL 54
LDL 181
TRIG 118 CHOL/HDL RATIO 4.8
TOTAL CHOL 259

This is after being on 10mg Lipitor since Aug.

my dr has put me on tricor and it works havent yet had any side effects

Zoeb - Thanks for reporting back. Aare you eating a heart healthy diet now, or are you a bit careless since you are still relying upon the Lipitor to take care of the problem? Are you getting good cardiovascular exercise?

Hi Uff-Da,

I have to admit... I am eating like there is nothing wrong with me :nono: I know I know... and lately I haven't been excersizing either..

ZOEB,

Maybe 20 mg. Lipitor is right for you...
A total cholesterol in the one hundreds might be a better place for you.
MAYBE 20 mg. won't, at least, make you feel WORSE:D. than 10 mg.
If you cannot take Lipitor, then you cannot.

On the other hand, if statin drugs aren't controlling your blood lipids at all, then maybe only SUPER-dietary means are available to you. Do you want to go this route?