I followed the Atkins diet in 2004 and lost 30 lbs, but being pregnant with twins gained the weight back and with a hectic life slipped back into eating more pasta. Finally this spring I decided to go back to Atkins to lose weight after my cholesterol readings were high and my Dr wanted me to start a statin. My HDL has always been great (around 90) my triglyerides low (around 55) but my LDL has been over 200 for years and keeps increasing with time. I wanted to try diet and exercise first; so far I have lost 25lbs and I am now at the upper end of a normal weight range for my height. (my goal is to loose another 10-15lbs.) However my last Total Cholesterol reading was 350 with the LDL of 242. (HDL and Trig were essentially unchanged) This is the highest that it has ever been!

He said that I had signs of cholesterol deposits around one of my corneas, and thought my high cholesterol might be genetic (LDL receptor???) and that I need to start aggressive statin or statin+niacin therapy soon if I wanted to avoid a heart attack. For what it's worth, I am female, never smoked, and 48yro.

I did have a NMR -- total particles are 2016, but the size distribution is indicative of "Pattern A" which is benign. I can post the breakdown tomorrow if needed. Even though it was pattern A, he thought the total number of particles was too high!

So -- should I start statins or what are alternatives that will help? I really do not want to take a drug that can have serious side effects for the rest of my life. SHould I have genetic testing? (this is more out of curiosity as to why it is so high, although it may have little bearing on outcome)

I am an academic statistician so I am pretty skeptical of drug trials and what is needed to get drugs approved. after my GP could not answer my questions, she sent me to an endocronologist.

cheers,
m

Don't do it. It doesn't do anything for women, other than give you possibly very bad side-effects.

You don't need an alternative, your cholesterol is fine. Especially with such a fine HDL.

Here are the NMR profile results:
July April
LDL-C 252 (calculated) 240
HDL-C 90 mg/dL 85
TRI 46 mg/dL 37
Tot-C 351 mg/dL 332

LDL-P 2016 nmol/L 575
HDL-P 38.2 micro-mol/L 34.3
Large HDL-P micro 17.0 nmol/L 17.7
Large VLDL-P < .7 nmol/L same
small LDL-P 200 nmol/L 148
LDL size 21.5 nm 21.4

My LP-IR score was 4 (out of 0-100) putting me as very insulin sensitive.

I would like to get the particle numbers down just so that I do not have to argue/discuss this of at least find literature that suggests that for my profile that statins are not beneficial.
HDL size > 10.0 nm

All kinds of stuff has been posted here. Links to studies and articles. Take a few minutes to look. In particular there's a lot in the two posts stickied to the top.

Your issue might be due to a problem with RT3. I have some info to send to you but your PM's aren't working yet, I think you need 25 posts. Anyway, if you're interested PM me with an email address and I can email you. Or work hard on getting those 25 posts in.

Hi Nancy,

I am not sure I can send PM until I have posted 25 messages -- will try to find more questions :-)

My profile allows emails, so go ahead an email me, if that is possible.

From my limited googling of RT3, looks like it has to do with thyroid ??? I had my thyroid checked before the NMR, but they only measured Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, which was normal (1.33 uIU/mL).

cheers,
m

more old tests,

I found another test (they have moved to posting all reports through a secure portal, so easy to find my old records) where the TSH was normal (1.47) and they also measured Thyroxine (free) which was 0.73 ng/dL and within the reference range. that was from a year ago.

really old reports! I went back through medical records and found my earliest total cholesterol in 1998 was 256 with an HDL of 96 pre-low carb, but I was in pretty good shape.

Nancy,

Do you know of any results about prolactin levels and cholesterol? I just weaned my twins (to start a different blood pressure med) so I am expecting prolactin levels to drop over the next month to sixth month.

cheers,
m

There's no function for me to email you. Sorry.

You know, you can get a truer LDL count if you look at the particle count and drop the last digit. So it's really 201, not 252.

LDL-P 2016 nmol/L 575

The Friedewald calculation breaks when triglycerides are very low, which yours are.


Nope, I know nothing about it at all.

With thyroid, if your RT3 is too high it can be a sort of thyroid condition that isn't detected by TSH or other thyroid tests.

Thanks Nancy! I'll ask about thyroid function. my endo only looked at TSH, which looks like may miss hypothyroidism in women (particularly peri-menopausal to menopausal). The older test results where they measure free thyroxine (the FT4) was on the low side -- below .7 can lead to hypothyroidism with normal TSH - and mine was 0.73, so I'll see if they can recheck it and measure the other component T3 to se if the ratios are out of whack.

From your earlier replys to another post, I did go back and calculate my LDL using the alternative formula and that is very close to the NMR numbers. Unfortunately, my endo thinks that 200 is too high despite my high HDL (he discounts anything over 60) and low triglycerides or ratios of total/HDL, etc.
I would like to know why it is high and non-drug related ways to treat it. He is supportive of Atkins/low carb, but really thinks I need to start meds to avoid a heart attack before 50.

best,
m

You might want to read these before you take those statins.

Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?

Understanding Cholesterol

Sailormom, if you PM me I can get you in touch with my husband, Capmikee on this forum (but he's not posting much). He is very similar profile to you - cholesterol wise and weight wise. He might have some insight since he's done alot of thinking.

Aunts died with very high cholesterol, 300 and 400 - one in so so health, and the other good until just before she died. Both about 95.

Almost no evidence statins help women, nor men after age 65.

Here's a new article for you: Statins: A conspiracy of false hope
SNippet: