Advanced Cholesterol Testing


(John Drewett) #1

Is this the correct place for this post ?

Where could I have Advanced Cholesterol Testing done near the Philippines , I’m guessing Thailand or Singapore , does anyone have experience with this , I can’t find a thing in Manila , I’m in Cebu City


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

You might want to change the topic to:

Health > Cholesterol

Tag @Siobhan and @DaveKeto as they love nothing more than commenting on the subject of lipids.

The category discusses all things Cholesterol. You might even find something useful already there.


#4

I came up with nothing googling your city, best bet is to call some labs in your area and tell them you want cholesterol testing with breakdown and particle size, it may be called something different there. May be trickier to find if you have gov’t run healthcare and need excuses to do stuff like that just because you want to. May have to get your doctor on board if that’s the case.


(Bob M) #5

Can you get a coronary arterial calcification scan done? That will tell you more than an advanced cholesterol test.

For instance, say you get “high” LDL-p or “high” Lp(a). What do you do with that information? There’s not much to do, unless you take drugs, and they don’t tell you actual risk.

A CAC scan is a better (though not perfect – nothing is) indicator of risk.


(John Drewett) #6

thanks Bob , i’m not sure what good it would be knowing , i got a 0 or something on a Calcium Scan ten years back and got a 12 on one last week however. I have never had a good feeling for Statins and always said no thank you but i’m beginning to think i’ve been wrong and maybe what i was looking for was a doctor who I could go provide some insights in to where i stand . I have a 120/80 Blood pressure reading and have dropped the AC1 or A1C from 5.9 to 4.9 , what else i finally got a feeling for how to take off fat , the Dexa puts me at 34.9 % after losing 30lbs and i figure i excercise more than anyone i know simply because it makes me feel so good . I kind of want to give my blood kindred a heads up on whether they have this gentic component , my father had his 3rd heart attack at 47 and well I now understand there is one medicine PCSK9 ( that is not correct but i bet you recognize it ) that cost an arm and a leg . My younger brothers Calcium Score was through the roof that 10 years back and he could afford the PCSK9 , isn’t that a good one for LPa his cholesterol has always been way on up there, I understand that there is good evidence that Statins reduce events and i kind of want to know how much EPA or DHA I should take and if i should take it . There is suppose to be some super sized long study completed looking at Statins with EPA and without and mortality or so i gather . I got kind of pumped up when i read a book by Steve Masely The 30 day Heart Tune up . He had people come in and measure the plaque in their neck artery ( caratoid , right ? ) and would put them on a low fat diet and come back in a year and see how much they had been able to reverse the plaque , that has always been my reservation with the meat / vegan thing is the guys who seem to reverse heart disease go that route . Anyway I guess im trying to get a feeling for where i stand , my LDL was 177 and my HDL was 39 before i began this way of eating ( and fasting ) and i just dig them both , i have deeper sleep and I do not cough from whatever food allergy problems i was having before not to mention the fat is leaving my body and it is fun , i think i want to try the statins or understand if i have a cholesterol clearing problem or if i make to much , the little i do know i get from the following guys but i’m just now beginning to deal with the cholesterol thing https://peterattiamd.com/?s=cholesterol+


(John Drewett) #7

I actually did create it under Health :> Cholesterol and upon requesting to delete the other i think the new one got deleted , in any case , i’ll let it rest now Michael and thanks for the heads up


(Siobhan) #8

Thanks for the tag - unfortunately though I’m only familiar with testing in the US, and Sweden, based on my own experience. If there’s no hits here you could also ask in the Cholesterol Code facebook group as there may be people in the same general area who could answer.


(John Drewett) #9

thanks , the doctor here i inquired with is not familiar with any of these things but it is just a question of knocking on doors . I’ll be able to get to Singapore or Bangkok and get this done and i’m tickeled to have an excuse to go or they may be able to send the blood off in the mail . I’m really trying to get educated on Statins and on if i should use them , I also want to know the genetic component as they get better and better at this stuff, i’m gonna find a place , I want to get it done because i got a brother who can afford the PCSK9 medicine if that is something that works , What i’ve leaned is there is a Cholesterol Code facebook group and well i’ve never heard of the Cholesterol Code other than i think it is a book


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

I should have posted these links for you:



(Bob M) #11

I don’t believe LDL is causal of heart disease. I’m also not a fan of Peter Attia. Sorry.

For me, my money is on Dr. Kendrick’s theory of heart disease, which is whatever protects the endothelium/glycocalyx is protective of heart disease, and whatever damages the endothelium/glycocalyx causes heart disease. Of course, this isn’t simple to explain, since many things damage the endothelium, including stress and its hormones, pollution, etc.

I recommend reading his 50+ posts on what causes heart disease.

Also, the PCSK9 inhibitors don’t have a great track record of success, as they don’t improve overall mortality. (And they are insanely expensive.)

Finally, my Lp(a) is ridiculously high, in the top 2% of people, but I got a zero score in CAC scan.

Your 12 is not a bad score.

I would say that if you want to see if that will not progress or potentially even go down, concentrate on vitamin K2, magnesium, low carb, fasting if you can, vitamin D (from the sun if you can get it - I never can). Those are probably the biggest bang for your buck.


(Bob M) #12

Cross fit to the rescue!

(By the big guns: Uffe Ravnskov, David Diamond, Malcolm Kendrick, and Aseem Malhotra; all my faves.)


(Bob M) #13

Hmm…Not sure why it copied that portion of the table. I just pasted in the link.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #14

Worked for me.

Here’s the actual link. Maybe yours included something more?
https://www.crossfit.com/essentials/lack-of-an-association-or-an-inverse-association-between-low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol-and-mortality-in-the-elderly


(John Drewett) #15

I just finished David Diamond’s video and was reading something about the higher your cholesterol the better your chances for All Cause Mortality deaths and Heart events , the relative risk thing is messing with my head , i’m having a hard time believing that this is super star medicine it is with only the 1 out of 100 improvement it provides . What I can’t get is that my hero would be hoodwinked ( Peter Attia ) he interviews Feldman but it is a 3 hour thing and Atta comes away less convinced , in any case thank you very very much to the both of you for this stuff , i want to get clear on it and will do so in time perhaps . I had come to believe that perhaps the statins had worked because the stablize the plaque ( as calcium or whatever it turns into ), but because Attia was convinced more than for anyother reason , anyhow i’m 61 and have not taken that before , I mean the statins , again thank you


(John Drewett) #16

Ok , this is a big picture look at this thing and nice


(Bob M) #17

There are quite a few like Attia. I follow Dr. Lipid (Thomas Dayspring) on Twitter, to see the “other side”, and Attia and Dayspring are like-minded. (In fact, Attia interviewed Dayspring for multiple sessions after interviewing Feldman.)

I simply find Kendrick’s theories more convincing. For instance, sickle cell anemia causes massive heart disease. Why? (It damages the endothelium. LDL meaningless in this context.) Pollution is associated with heart disease, as is stress. Neither of these cause LDL differences. Why then do they cause heart disease (assuming they do – causation always difficult)?

There’s a saying about “white swans” and “black swans”. If you have a theory that all swans are white, they are – until you find ONE black swan. Then your theory is wrong.

The problem with the LDL (or LDL-p or LP(a) or oxidized cholesterol, or whatever) theory is that it doesn’t take long before you become inundated with black swans. Why do people with higher LDL tend to live longer? Why do people who have heart attacks not all have high LDL or high total cholesterol? Why do CAC scores seem to be unconnected to level of LDL? It goes on and on and on…

(Edited for 3+ times for grammar…)


(Bob M) #18

Maybe my link was broken? Or had extra “stuff”? Not sure.


(John Drewett) #19

some of your thoughts are some of the things that have kept me away from the statins all of this time , but are you saying calcification can be reversed or do you mean plaque ," I would say that if you want to see if that will not progress or potentially even go down, concentrate on vitamin K2, magnesium, low carb, fasting if you can, vitamin D (from the sun if you can get it - I never can). " Those are probably the biggest bang for your buck." I’m glad to hear you are partial to the Vitamin D from the sun , i feel that i thrive on it ( the sun ) , i mean tomorrow will be a 2 meter high tide and i’ll get in and swim against it . Is it your guess that the Vitamin K2 and the magnesium things do good things for the arterial wall , wait maybe i need to visit Malcom Kendrick’s notes or i bet i’ll find it there


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #20

Atherosclerotic plaque and arterial calcification can be reversed. Reversing the latter, I believe, is a slow process. In any case, a well-formulated ketogenic diet is invaluable in this regard, as it generally contains or promotes the synthesis of vitamins D and K, which are very important to getting the calcium out of the arteries and back into the bone where it belongs. Eating in a way that minimises further damage to one’s arteries is a highly sensible choice, since it will allow the repair mechanisms to eventually do away with the existing damage.


(Bob M) #21

I believe Ivor Cummins is (doing?) going to be discussing results of a study of athletes with high CAC scores to see if they can be reversed. I also believe the Wheat Belly doctor (Dr. Davis) has a cohort of people that use his techniques (similar to what I said above, but more), who have had their CAC scores reversed. It’s not a study though, so like Atkins, might be relegated to the trash bin.

I think this is an area where we really do need a study, as we assume reversal of the CAC score is good, but is it? I think it’s good, but we’d have to see. I know statins raise CAC scores, but the statinators think that’s “good” because they make calcification supposedly harder/more dense and supposedly less likely to break off. I personally think that’s just an ad lib justification for something bad, but you can easily find this theory.