Latest test results

[mach8]

Hi everyone, Haven't posted for awhile , Been battling this cholesterol thing. Just got my latest results - TC 251. LDL 131 ,HDL 41,Trigs 188. It has been ranging from TC 259, to 257 in the past year. I'm still determined to keep changing my diet ,Doc wants me on lipitor but i don't want to take it. Maybe i'm not doing the right thing. I dunno. I've added fish and chicken to my diet lots of leafy greens ,cut down on simple sugars. but i do eat to much bread and potatoes. hardly any fruits . i eat oatmeal in the morning . just don't know where to go from here . So any help would be appreciated , Thanks Bob.

[Lenin]

Mach 8,

That battle isn't going in your favor. Your Ratio of TC/HDL of 6.1 is quite bad.

If you want to avoid the prescriptions drugs, I think your only alternative is a non-prescription drug, niacin. It will boost your HDL a good deal and lower your LDL somewhat if you can manage and bear with about 2 grams a day. It can be tough sledding!
A very low saturated fat diet will help. Perhaps squeezing the sugars a little harder will lower the triglycerides somewhat.
I think if you can't do the niacin, you might be facing the choice of continued rotten blood lipids or statins. You wouldn't be the first person who was forced into that corner.

[gardeninggal]

Mach8, I think it is wise to try all the natural things first, partly because its more fun to eat your way to health then to worry about the side effects medicine brings. Be more aware of what you eat and eat less sat. fat and eat more vegies. One person said eat food that you recognize, like it came from the garden, not dried up in some package with artificial seasonings. Eat lots of things that have fiber, oatmeal, ground flax seed, etc. Do not use or eat anything that is a trans fat (watch the margarines because some still have it in them) and don't bake with Crisco, the worst. Read some of the old posts because there are so many good ones that will clue you in on what works. Take fish oil, cinnamon, turmeric, and good vitamins, there is "One a Day" that has Policosinol in it. Also you can take Niacin like Lenin said, I take the Flush-Free Niacin put out by the "Now" brand. I am working my way up to 1500mg which will be 3 caps. I also drink Minute Maid orange juice labeled Heart Wise so I can get the cholesterol lowering Sterol's yum yum. Did I read that you like potatoes, I would go easy on them as they raise you blood sugar more then white sugar does. But Here is the best advice, give it all time to work and get your cholesterol down as best you can then if all other fails then go on a statin but maybe by then you won't have to take so strong a dose which is good.

[Uff-Da!]

mach8 - When I couldn't get my cholesterol down enough with diet alone, I finally decided to add Enduracin (a sustained-release OTC niacin), but I wanted to take only the very minimum amount necessary. My thinking was that the lower the dose, the smaller the risk of dangerous side effects. So for the first three months I only took 250 mg. (plus some other supplements I'll discuss later.) That took my TC from 247 to around 220. My doctor wanted it lower, so I increased the niacin to 500 mg, which brought my TC to 202. My doc still wasn't happy, so I increased it to 750 mg, which brought it to 190. I just wanted to point out that for some people, a cholesterol level like yours can be brought under control with considerably less niacin than 2 grams a day.

Along with the TC level changes, my original LDL of 158 went down to 101 on the 750 mg dose, my HDL increased from 62 to 72, my TC/HDL ratio decreased from 4.0 to 2.6, and my triglycerides decreased from 133 to 87.

What else did I do to achieve these results in addition to taking niacin? I made dietary changes, reducing my potatoes, pasta, white rice, white bread consumption to near zero. I substituted legumes (most frequently a bean salad or bean, pea or lentil soup) and homemade oat bran biscuits and muffins for my starchy foods. I decreased my meat consumption, and substituted tuna, shrimp, or salmon at least a couple of days a week. I hadn't been eating much beef previously, so this is not a change, but I was eating very little beef, mostly chicken or turkey for my meats. I reduced my consumption of fatty cheeses to near zero. (That was really a tough one for this cheese-lover!) At this time, I was eating close to ZERO egg yolks, though I did eat a fair number of egg whites.

Now for the supplements I took. I have no idea how much these contributed to my changed lipid profile, but these are things which potentially could have contributed and therefore reduced the amount of niacin required to do the job. I took three one-gram fish oil capsules daily (as recommended by my doctor), I took two 300 mg EP Pantethine tablets daily, and I took a 400 mg EP Phytosterols tablet before each meal in which I had shrimp, cheese, or a fair amount of other dietary cholesterol. Again, my thinking was that, though these supplements might cost more than just increasing the dose of niacin, the risk of dangerous side effects was lower, and they might, in fact, help to lower cholesterol.

Maybe you can find some ideas in what I did to help you.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by mach8

Hi everyone, Haven't posted for awhile , Been battling this cholesterol thing. Just got my latest results - TC 251. LDL 131 ,HDL 41,Trigs 188. It has been ranging from TC 259, to 257 in the past year. I'm still determined to keep changing my diet ,Doc wants me on lipitor but i don't want to take it. Maybe i'm not doing the right thing. I dunno. I've added fish and chicken to my diet lots of leafy greens ,cut down on simple sugars. but i do eat to much bread and potatoes. hardly any fruits . i eat oatmeal in the morning . just don't know where to go from here . So any help would be appreciated , Thanks Bob.

Don't know how long it has been since U made some diet changes, but for some it takes a lil longer. U got some good advice about some foods to avoid and also supplememts, now cut WAY back on those starchy things and maybe the next test will be better. Like alot of folks here, I have been trying like crazy to battle the numbers game with diet and exercise, but it is coming along slowly, but I'm still trying. Last test was better then before, so maybe the next one in Aug. will be even better, as I won't go on statins. Done that routine, and got way too many side effects.

I just added green tea to my change also, not bad. I bought the Bigelow with lemon, make a container full each morning and then let it cool, stick it in the fridge and I have iced tea. Also added about a 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon to my oatmeal each morning. Hopefully U get some exercise, as that will reduce the Trigs and bring up the HDL. I tried the Niacin, no flush, but it gave me the itchys, but I am SUPER sensative to things, so it just might do U good, give it a go. I'm a big cheese lover, so had to cut way back on that, but did add tuna to my diet, which is all I can handle, as I am not a fish lover. Also buy a bag or can of mixed nuts and eat a few of those, good fats in them. Definitely get those fruits and veggies into yourself, this is a good time for them, as there are plenty around, and the prices are a lil better. I'm sure U will get plenty of ideas from other's also, as most of us are in the same boat.

Best wishes, and just keep trying.....