Has anyone seen where diuretics can elevate cholesterol levels and by how much ? Currently taking 12.5 hydrochlorothiazide and latest test was up by quite a bit .
My cholesterol has been up ever since my doc put me on BP meds, and I have been on HCTZ twice in that time - it also makes me gain a lot of weight, never had a cholesterol problem before that
I haven't seen anything that links those meds to lipid elevation. Then again, that doesn't mean that that it doesn't exist. I haven't spent any time looking into that area.
There are too many other factors that could come into play and be attributed to the cause (diet, lifestyle...). Here is a great example, my lowest total cholesterol was 96 mg/dL, I was on: Tricor 54, Altace 10, Toprol 50, Ziac 5/6.25 (Ziac has the diuretic). My cholesterol was 143 mg/dL on Altace 5. My cholesterol was 153 mg/dL last month, without bp meds. Therefore, using my n=1 sample size, I have just correlated a decrease in bp meds with an increase in total cholesterol.
The real reasons for those values are tied to weight loss, diet change, and finally, increase of HDL from exercise--which is also the reason why the bp meds were removed, one by one, until there were none.
Prior to all of this, when I still took HCTZ, I didn't see any impact of dosage changes on my total cholesterol, nor upon removal of it was there a change that I could pick up.
I have taken Lipitor for a long time and have Cholesterol numbers that are VERY low. I take almost daily HCTZ, 50 mg., and it doesn't seem to affect my cholesterol at all. Like Cobalt it's a sampling of n=1 but it shows no connection.
It is a medical fact that diuretics (especially hctz) can cause glucose and cholesterol to rise. This is not my thinking but a medical fact. My cardio, endo, gp and my pharmacist all confirmed that diuretics causes glucose and cholesterol to rise in some ppl.
I personally experienced both glucose & cholesterol risings. I never had a cholesterol problem and my glucose readings were always normal. Then in 1999 i was given hctz to control bp, finally in 2003 , i discovered my glucose had risen to 10.9 and my cholesterol had jumped to 337. I was outraged bcuz i didn't know hctz caused these things to happen. When i inquired, my gp, cardio, and endo confirmed that it was true but insisted i "needed" the bp med.
I started splitting the 25mg pill in half and within three months my glucose dropped from 10.9 to 7.5 and cholesterol dropped from 337 to 243. I know for a fact diuretics can cause these things. I refused all statins.
WHY TAKE A PILL THAT CAN CAUSE OTHER DANGEROUS DISEASES! I won't take a full diuretic ever again, just so i can get a script for a statin.
