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  #1   ^
Old Tue, Oct-28-03, 10:22
bowtiej bowtiej is offline
New Member
Posts: 4
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 200/169/170 Male 69 inches
BF:
Progress: 103%
Location: Newcastle, ON
Angry blood work

Just had blood work done and the doc wants me on 20mg Lipitor : (
Canadian metric readings were as follows:
Total chol = 7.58
Trig = 1.8
LDL = 5.75
HDL = 1.0
I've been on lowcarb for 6 months and have lost about 28 lbs. Now 172 and stand 5' 9". How do these #s jive with Atkins and what am I doing wrong?
Thanks all for any help with this. Bow
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  #2   ^
Old Tue, Oct-28-03, 11:50
Atkins4myW Atkins4myW is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 470
 
Plan: Atkins cheat free
Stats: 313/167/164 Female 69 inches
BF:who knows
Progress: 98%
Location: Tennessee
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You may not be doing anything wrong with your Atkins. have you read the section on cholesterol in the new edition of DR ATKINS' NEW DIET REVOLUTION?
If not read it and see if it applies to you. There are several things you can do to lower your LDL and raise your HDL listed in the book.

If you are doing all that and still getting high LDL and total cholesterol then you may be one of those with bad genes. Some of us are genetically predisposed to create high cholesterol as our bodies are prolific at making cholesterol. If you are one of us then you can lower the LDL without the meds if you'd like by lowering the amount of saturated fats you eat in your Atkins WOE and substitute the healthy mono and poly saturated fats and foods DR Atkins lists in DANDR. Check what you are eating and see if this will apply to you.

I persuaded my doc to hold off on the meds in Dec 2002 and give me 3 months to try lowering the LDL with diet staying on Atkins all the time. In March 2003 my total was under 200 and my LDL was down 93 points doing the lower sat fats but staying Atkins. This past Sept it was even better despite my HDLs being up to 76 (those are the good ones). Sorry I don't know the Canadian equivalent for that. My ratio TC/HDL was 2.53 and we were both very happy. I hold my saturated fats as close to under 20 mg a day as I can. Some days I'm a little over. I had to cut back on cheese, dairy and processed meats but I can still have a lean cut of beef when I want it.
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  #3   ^
Old Fri, Oct-31-03, 22:44
Kathy54's Avatar
Kathy54 Kathy54 is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,858
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 180/135/140 Female 5.3
BF:
Progress: 113%
Location: Vancouver Island, B.C.
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Hi just a warning about Lipitor, be aware of how you are feeling, my hubby had to quit it and go on Niacin, cause he felt like he had the flu everyday for months, the first day he stopped taking it, he felt better! And his chol. is much better with taking the niacin, which our Dr. recommended.
Cheers Kathy
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  #4   ^
Old Sat, Nov-01-03, 18:57
onderwoman's Avatar
onderwoman onderwoman is offline
New Member
Posts: 3
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 214/204/155 Female 67 inches
BF:Too much
Progress: 17%
Location: Bomanville, Ontario
Lightbulb Bloodwork

Hi there in Newcastle, I'm in Bowmanville. I'd be interested to hear the response to this one. I just had bloodwork done this morning. I'm just starting Atkins and haven't lost anything yet. I keep screwing up on the weekends. Should get my results next week. We have a family history and my mom's on Lipitor. I'm hoping to avoid it.
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  #5   ^
Old Wed, Nov-05-03, 18:43
doreen T's Avatar
doreen T doreen T is offline
Forum Founder
Posts: 37,199
 
Plan: LC paleo/ancestral
Stats: 241/188/140 Female 165 cm
BF:
Progress: 52%
Location: Eastern ON, Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bowtiej
Just had blood work done and the doc wants me on 20mg Lipitor : (
Canadian metric readings were as follows:
Total chol = 7.58
Trig = 1.8
LDL = 5.75
HDL = 1.0
I've been on lowcarb for 6 months and have lost about 28 lbs. Now 172 and stand 5' 9". How do these #s jive with Atkins and what am I doing wrong?
Thanks all for any help with this. Bow

hi there Bow,

First ... the mmol SI values (Système Internationale) are used by every country in the Western World, except the USA which still clings to the old system.

OK ...

Yes, total chol over 6.2 is high, desirable to be below 5.2
LDL over 4.1 is high, desirable below 3.0
HDL below 1 is too low, over 1.6 is desirable
trigs of 1.7 - 2.3 are "borderline", desirable to be below 1.7


Some people experience a transient "worsening" of their LDL and triglycerides in the early months of lowcarbing .. due to mobilizing stored fat, especially abdominal fat. It does come down as long as you stick with the diet. Here's what the Drs. Eades of Protein Power have to say:
Quote:
I’ve been on the plan for awhile and feel better than I ever have. I’ve lost weight, my blood pressure is down and my sugar levels are now normal. My most recent lab tests show that my cholesterol and LDL went up. What am I doing wrong?


First of all, be aware that you are not doing anything wrong. The most consistent finding after people go on our program is that triglycerides drop and HDL, the "good" cholesterol increases. This indicates that your insulin levels have dropped and you have stopped converting excess amounts of sugar into fats as trigylcerides. Cholesterol is a number that is composed of both good and bad fractions, therefore we don’t tend to track it nearly as close as more specific levels of HDL, triglycerides and LDL. LDL cholesterol is made up of different particles that vary from person to person. Depending on the type of particles that predominate, one is said to have either pattern A or pattern B. With pattern A, the LDL is light, fluffy, and relatively large. This pattern is actually thought to be beneficial. With pattern B, the molecule is heavy, dense, and relatively small. This pattern is thought to be detrimental. Pattern B is a partial consequence of excessively elevated triglycerides. When triglycerides go down after the Protein Power Plan has been adopted, a phenomenon called the "beta shift" occurs where LDL is transformed into pattern A. So, paradoxically, even though the level of LDL appears to increase, the type of LDL that is being formed is usually much healthier. The difficult part is that the lab testing to determine your levels of LDL "A" and LDL "B" can only be done in a research laboratory with electrophoresis methods. While we cannot be 100% certain that this is what happened in your case, the research strongly supports this view.

The most important thing is to look at the overall picture. With the Protein Power approach we look at the triglyceride/HDL ratio as one of the best measurements of risk for heart disease. An upper limit of 5 is considered desirable, with anything over that indicating an increased risk. Some measures to help bring down your cholesterol and LDL levels are: stay on the plan (some people panic and feel that the plan is causing the opposite effect), take a "no-flush" niacin 500 mg 2-3 capsules per day, increase your fiber intake with perhaps psyllium seed powder-1-2 TBS mixed in water per day, and avoid excessive saturated fats and trans fats (fried foods and margarine.)

LDL is no longer considered to be a reliable indicator of heart disease risk. Triglycerides are more predictive .. yours are borderline, so would be good to focus on lowering that. Your HDL could be improved .. over 1.6 is protective against heart disease even in the presence of an elevated LDL.

What were your numbers like before you started LC'ing?? Are these worse, better, no change? If you didn't have them checked before you started, then you have no way to know that they may actually be an improvement from before.

As suggested above, you should re-read the chapters on cholesterol and supplements in the Atkins book. Use more monounsaturate fat such as unprocessed olive and flax oil. Consume fatty fish such as tuna, salmon, mackerel and sardines at least 3 times a week, or take fish oil supplements. If you smoke, quit .. and start exercising if you don't already. Especially aerobic type ... brisk walking is excellent.


Doreen
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  #6   ^
Old Thu, Nov-06-03, 15:11
indigogirl indigogirl is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 114
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 225/194/130 Female 64
BF:
Progress: 33%
Location: Richmond, BC
Default

Just to add to the discussion of genetic probs with cholesterol.

My father had a major heart attack at age 64 and just happened to get an angiogram (where they put dye in to visualize where the problem is) at a lab where there was a doctor doing genetic research. This was in 1988 here in Vancouver. They discovered that he had a genetic problem with his HDL which was very low - it is called hypolipoproteinemia. We assume that his family also had the problem because his father died in his 50's of heart disease and his older brother had also died in his 40's of a heart attack.

Once they discovered the genetic problem they tested me and my siblings to see if we had the same problem (it is a dominant gene so we each had a 50% chance of having the problem). Luckily none of us had inherited the gene. Even though I was quite young (late 20's) and slim and very fit the doctor told me that if I had it I would likely have to go on cholesterol lowering drugs.

My father died before we found all this out and I feel sad that his last days were spent feeling that he had done a poor job of eating nutritiously. In fact, later on the doctors told us that he had done a good job and probably lived 15 more years than he should have.

His legacy to us and to other family members is the knowledge that we don't have the problem - and we would not have known that unless he had the heart attack and happened to run into the doctor that was doing that specific research.

So - it could be that you are doing everything right and that you are genetically predisposed to have low HDL. The HDL is the stuff that is good and helps to lower the LDL. Talk to your doctor about the medication and reread all the information in atkins that was suggested to you in the last couple of posts. You need to make the decision about the medication that is best for you.

Take care,

Sally
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