cholesterol over 1500 - High Cholesterol Message Board

Sherryla · 10-15-2003, 10:37 PM

I don't know very much about cholesterol numbers, but I am taking chemothereapy for breast cancer, have diabetes (diagnosed at the same time as the cancer) and was told by my oncologist that my cholesterol was over 1500. Has anyone else heard of anything like this? My doc says I should see an endocrinologist, but as I live 3 hours away from a large city I'm having trouble finding one. This sounds very serious to me. Should I drive in to the big city and demand to be seen today, or wait the couple of weeks it will take to get an appt?

zip2play · 10-16-2003, 07:14 AM

Sherry,

It sounds very dangerous to me as well. Call your oncologist and ask if he thought it was an emergency and also if it was expected with whatever chemotherapeutic agents he's using. Do/did you have any cancer involvement that was apt to cause problems with insulin production (like pancreatic) or anything that could involve bile/cholesterol like liver or gall bladder?

My feeling is that your oncologist should take responsibility (at least for the time being) since it seems either cancer or cancer treatment related. Throwing it into an endocrinologist's lap at this stage seems a bit irresponsible. Plus it will be too much back-and-forthing of information....and you!

Did you have any cholesterol workups previous to the cancer? What kind of results did you get then? Same for the blood glucose levels.

As an aside,
a friend of mine had surgery for a neck lymphoma and the chemo caused his pancreas to shut down. He also went highly glycemic and was put on insulin for a couple months til the pancreas recovered somewhat.

[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 10-16-2003).]

Sherryla · 10-16-2003, 10:05 AM

Thanks for replying! I will talk to my doctor. I had breast cancer, but maybe the chemo is causing my pancreas to shut down, it does not seem to be expected by him, but he has postponed further chem until my white cell count has improved (that's what he says)I had a fairly normal cholesterol level a year ago (but the dr can't find the lab slip)and it was 204 3 years ago.

Sherryla · 10-16-2003, 10:08 AM

I forgot to say, but my glucose levels are high also, over 300 most days, they weren't great before the chemo, but they would be around 150- 250's now they are almost never below 200.