It might be the type of D they use in the capsules versus the dry ones. I'm not sure exactly. Dr. Davis never mentioned why, that I saw, just that the dry stuff never seems to work.

Why continue with the tablets if they're not working?

I don't know that my Ca/Mg/Zn tablets aren't working. (I don't have a measured deficiency, so it can be hard to tell with things like this.) I'm just thinking that it wouldn't hurt to switch to gelcaps.

Oh! Sorry, I thought you meant the D3 tablets and gel caps.

I know!! Thanks!! It was a very pleasant surprise

Here are my CardioChek measurements for March 23, 2008, after 12 weeks:

Total Cholesterol 199
HDL (good cholesterol) 33
Triglycerides 198
Calculated LDL (bad cholesterol) 126
Total Chol to HDL Ratio 6.0
LDL to HDL Ratio 3.8
Triglycerides to HDL Ratio 6.0

Weight 183.8 lbs
Waist 35.6 in
Blood pressure 110/71

My HDL is slowly going up. I'm hopeful that it will be much better after another 3 months.

My triglycerides have taken a big jump this week for no obvious dietary reason. They had been around 120 for much of the last month. I'm hoping that this means that my body has just released some body fat (which is stored as triglycerides) and I'll soon be losing some weight. I seem to lose weight in spurts, followed by several weeks of plateau, and my weight has been flat for a month now. The last time that my triglycerides took a big unexpected jump (from 121 to 207 in one week), I lost 4 pounds the following week and then my triglycerides went back down (to 134).

I have had Bell's Palsey which makes it hard for me to swallow pills. So instead of trying to swallow a 400mg Mg pill, I chew it with a chewable vitamin C tablet and wash them down with water - helps me get my water in also.

I thought you might like to look at my lipids graph. I need to update it!

Thanks for the info on pills and for sharing your lipids graph, Larry. You've made some great improvements in HDL since starting PPLP.

Here are my CardioChek measurements for April 6, 2008, after 14 weeks:

Total Cholesterol 187
HDL (good cholesterol) 33
Triglycerides 115
Calculated LDL (bad cholesterol) 131
Total Chol to HDL Ratio 5.7
LDL to HDL Ratio 4.0
Triglycerides to HDL Ratio 3.5

Weight 183.6 lbs
Waist 35.5 in
Blood pressure 110/69
***************************

That's a big change from January 1. But, HDL is so slow to move up and mine has a long way to go! I've recently begun to take one 500-mg tablet of niacin a day. I'm not experiencing any side effects (none of the common face flushing, although I do drink a large glass of water with the tablet, which is said to limit flushing). I'm going to move to 2 tablets a day.

You're getting there! And if I remember correctly, the niacin may help in multiple ways, with the trigs, too?

Thanks, Daryl! Yes, I've read that niacin lowers trigs and VLDL, while raising HDL. But, it also raises blood sugar. So, as a type 2 diabetic, I have to monitor niacin's effects on my blood sugar closely. As of yet, I see no evidence that it has impacted my blood sugar.

Wow Carolyn! You have made a HUGE improvement in your total cholesterol and trigs numbers - I am so impressed. All I can say is - Way To Go!!!

Thanks for your support, Rose1942.

Here are my CardioChek measurements for May 25, 2008, after 21 weeks:

Total Cholesterol 223
HDL (good cholesterol) 37
Triglycerides 132
Calculated LDL (bad cholesterol) 160
Total Chol to HDL Ratio 6.0
LDL to HDL Ratio 4.3
Triglycerides to HDL Ratio 3.6

Weight 180.2 lbs
Waist 35.1 in
Blood pressure 104/68
***************************

I'm still plugging away at raising my HDL. It's slow going. My total cholesterol has been moving around in the 210 +/- 20 range for the past few months, which is probably about the precision range of my CardioChek meter. My LDL jumps around even more, but that makes sense because it's a value calculated from the three other measurements and therefore any errors in those measurements are propogated.

I ran out of krill oil softgels about 2 weeks ago, right before I left on vacation. The new softgels that I ordered didn't arrive before I left, so I've been without krill oil for 2 weeks. My joints are starting to feel it. I also don't have any flaxseeds with me on vacation.

I've been taking 2 450-mg softgels of pantethine (a vitamin B5 derivative and the precursor to coenzyme A) per day for about 4 years (1 with breakfast and 1 with lunch). Some studies suggest that it raises HDL, while lowering LDL and triglycerides, especially in diabetics. See:

http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetC...&chunkiid=21832

About 5 weeks ago, I decided to stop the pantethine, since my HDL was so low that I wasn't sure it was helping. My HDL reading the day before I stopped taking panthethine was 34. Six days after I stopped, the reading was 31 and then another week later my HDL was down to 30. So, I began taking pantethine again and my HDL has been slowing climbing back up every since. Interestingly, I didn't see any drop in HDL after my temporary stoppage of the krill oil.

I love that you monitor yourself with the CardiCheck device. Did you get the consumer version or the physician version of the device? I'm thinking I need to do this.

I've been on a wild ride from really high numbers to really low numbers in seven weeks. (You can see my situation here: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=375998).

Similar to your discovery of the effects of pantethine on your results, I'd like to figure out which combinations of my approach affected the numbers and in what proportion to one another.

I'd like to have more control over my situation and throttle back in the right amount whatever seems to have worked for me in my protocol.

I have the consumer (home) version. I got it at my local CVS pharmacy, on sale for $89. I believe that the main difference between the two meters is that the physician version will monitor more things (e.g., it will measure LDL directly, while I use a calculated number from the home version) and the physician version costs a lot more.

Wow! That is a big swing. I can understand your concern about low cholesterol. I know it can result in low serotonin levels, although yours might not be low enough for that. Have you noticed any marked mood swings or depression?

One thing I have discovered is that total cholesterol, LDL, and to a lesser extent triglycerides can vary greatly from week to week. (It takes HDL much longer to change.) Sometimes I have trouble believing that a measurement could have changed so much in one week and I will repeat it an hour or so later. I've always found the repeat measurement to be within 10% of the original measurement.

For example, here are my total cholesterol measurements each week since January 1, 2008:

339 (1/1/08)
297
241
243
220
216 (2/4/08)
195
295
193
227 (3/2/08)
262
276
199
205
187 (4/6/08)
238
192
213
239 (5/4/08)
202
230
223
257 (6/1/08)
232
287 (I repeated this one because I had trouble believing it. The second measurement, taken an hour later, was 295, which is well within expected precision.)

These numbers make me think that tests taken ever year or so at the doctor's office are something of a crap shoot. If, for example, your cholesterol has dropped or raised 30 points from one year to the next, it could just mean that's the luck of the draw based on the day that the test was run.