I realize I’m hogging the forum with three posts today, but a lot going through my head as I just got back my bloodwork and am three months to the week on Keto, and entertaining Carnivore.
I told my Dr today that I am freaking out over my Triglyerides divided by HDL and equalling 12.5. Mind you I was celebrating the Triglyceride level is was 513 last year (mentioned in other post).
I shared (through my Keto research) how we want that number "as close to 1 as possible.
He said, in front of my husband (who is not researching this) that that was IMPOSSIBLE!!! That I couldn’t have heard that etc…
Then he said with my LDL of 216 that I need Statins!!!
He was adamant about it.
I just returned from getting a fasting Insulin and an LDL particle test (my begging)…
What’s a girl to do…I’ve scheduled to see Dr Westman at Duke, but they can’t see me until August…
Tell your Dr that you have done the research and you are scheduled to see the dr who best understands the cholesterol. Thank him for his advice but no thank you.
You could try getting your husband and/ or dr to watch these …
For starters! Plenty more if they need them!
Good luck, I wish you well.
Your doctor can’t make you take pills or pick them up at the pharmacy. Tell him you don’t want to take them. If he insists you can just say okay and forget about it. I agree with what information @CrackerJax posted.
Statins aren’t helpful in a relevant way for anyone who hasn’t had a heart attack already. And even then it’s not a huge improvement statistically. They’re pharmaceutical industry money making drugs that are based on old ideas about cholesterol. All this is my opinion and how I’d handle it in regards to myself.
Just stick to what you want to do. Three different doctors told me the same thing about stains. Nope…not doing it. The last doctor, who I really like, I told " I know you have to give me the speech, write the RX if you have too…" She did both, I’d had an allergic reaction to one kind before I discovered Keto. Told her that. She said to try ‘this’ one and if I had a reaction…Took the Rx, tossed it in the trash when I got home, called 3 days later and said I’d had a reaction. (Rash…in cash you need to…) and it’s never been mentioned again.
I was on statins. When I improved my health and learned all this stuff, I took myself off 2 blood pressure tablets, Omeprazole and my statin!
I had a lovely Drs apt, I went in and said, “I thought I would come and tell you how well I am”!
Haha!
Told her I had taken all sugars and starches out of my diet and never felt better. I said I had stopped my drugs. She weighed me - 2 stone down at that time. BP great. She was impressed! She said about statins and I said, that I knew it might be controversial but there is a reason our cholesterol goes up with age, it’s to protect us from degenerative diseases! So I was willing to take the risk. TBH my cholestetol was never that high!
I have never had it checked, too lazy to go, and I have plenty of faith!
Make your own choices.
I am a getting the same message from my doctor but am going to carry on because I am confident that my triglycerides have dropped, so heading in the right direction I think.
Have had a statin some years ago for three weeks, with awful side effects so stopped.
From what I have read and others are saying here, LdL is not the bogeyman it is cut out to be, unless you have cardiac problems already.
I see a cardiologist semi-regularly (whom I really like), and my g.p. pretty often as well (again, someone I really like). Both of them, however, know absolutely nothing about keto. I even get the feeling that my g.p. thinks it is junk science and reckless. My cardiologist is happy that I have lost 55 lbs., however, he would like to see me on a statin. My g.p. is just exasperated and somewhat annoyed and told me there is no point in me going on a statin if I am going to continue eating this way. He has never really acknowledged my weight loss. (You may be wondering what it is that I “like” about him.)
At any rate, I just take whatever they say with a grain of salt. Honestly, their comments and opinions just roll off of me like water off of a duck’s back. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I am in charge of my body and my health, and I am proceeding as I see fit. I have done enough reading to feel comfortable about keto and the myths about it being “unhealthy.” My cholesterol recently after a being a year on keto compared to three months after starting has improved substantially, and some of the values are actually great. I believe it will continue to normalize (mainly LDL).
So, I would say, do a bunch of reading about the hot button issues involving keto - dietdoctor.com and here, so that you feel more comfortable that you are not doing anything detrimental to your body and health. If you like this doctor, continue to see him but if he pushes it, just decline taking a statin. If you feel bullied and uncomfortable, try to find a different doctor who knows more about keto. I am wondering if Dr. Westman has a directory of keto doctors in your area.
Good luck on your journey. P.S. Post as much and as often as you want on here! Every post is a contribution in some way or another as they all promote discussion and people’s personal experience and advice.
Thank you Marianne! Thank you for sharing your situation!
Re: Dr Westman he is in my area!!! My appt is with him!!! Just not until August …
I’m on a list for cancelations as I could get there last minute to help them fill a cancelation.
It ends up my math was wrong, and my results are actually better than I thought (tri/hdl)
Thank you!
Wow, that’s like hitting the Diet Doctor lottery! Good for you. He will be worth the wait, and I would not be surprised if you can get in to see him sooner. I’m sure he will allay a lot of your fears and make you feel much better.
Whatever you feel is right! Your Doctor makes suggestions while YOU are the one in control. Honestly I’d go the Feldman Protocol route to FORCE my numbers right JUST to shove it up his ass but that’s me. I’m spiteful that way
I’ve been Doctor shopping for years since my eyes were opened to how useless so many of them are and only now getting into a good groove. Got my hormone replacement moved from my Urologist that totally sucked at it to an optimization Doc that’s got me feeling better than I did when I was in my 20’s (Almost 40 now), Actually got a primary care doc which I haven’t had in years because there functional and optimization sorta at the same time, they’ll IV you with all types of awesome crap because you WANT it, and not because you “need” it (very biohacker friendly) it’s a good deal! You’ve obviously educated yourself more on this than your Doc has, do what’s right for YOU!
Captain Kirk, thank you for sharing this video. I get bored real quickly on YouTube with people putting out videos left and right just to earn a buck, but this guy speaks to me beautifully!!! Loved the car and bus analysis.
I’m shocked Im not seeing anyone in my situation with such high triglycerides, but I’m trusting that this will all work out.
Thank you for sharing this!
A really great source of information. On cholesterol is Dr. Nadir Ali. He is a cardiologist in Texas. He is very clear and has loads of clarifying info on YouTube.
He has become my favorite, all time, source for anything on cholesterol. I encourage everyone to take the time to listen to his videos.
If one does the research and is in touch with one’s own body then - while the doctor’s advice is certainly well worth hearing - it is not a commandment.
Take such advice as you would from a well-meaning aunt or uncle. But in the end, you must make informed choices about how to take best care of yourself.
The relevant science is freely available. Read it.
I agree that it is important. It is difficult to disagree with doctors but sometimes important to do so if you are informed about what you are disagreeing with them about.
I disagreed with my endocrinologists about the irreversibility of diabetes. Took me 15 years but eventually I was proven right.
I didn’t have high triglycerides at the time of the cholesterol brouhaha with my GP, just high LdL. I got a referral to a cardiologist who is known here and is a supporter of keto.
He wrote a letter to the GP and what he said to me in the consult was that the test results were just numbers and since I am not an older white male who has already had a heart attack, he considered my risk negligible.
The clincher was my cardiac calcium score was zero.
So, if I were in your position, I would have a cardiac calcium scan in order to figure out my risk and go on the number that calcium scan threw up, since as far as I can tell it is the most important one.
I was also feeling confident about fending off the statin prescriptions because my insulin levels were low and my BGL was healthy. If I had high triglycerides I would be checking my insulin levels too.
So I have recent bloodwork to celebrate (for me)…
I’ve had high Trigycerides for 7 years now, some years VERY high.
high Cholesterol for 12
low HDL for 12 , with only four years being “normal” BUT very low spectrum of normal.
and 12 years of LDL never being normal and far from normal.
Trigycerides have been as high as 582 and 513 last week 148
last week was my highest Cholesterol, but similiar to others at 297
HDL my highest yet last week at 57
LDL was one of my highest yet at 209
What I’m celebrating is my triglyceride/HDL ratio
This over the past 12 years has been as high as 12.51 (and the goal is closer to 1 the better)
In February three months into Keto it was 4.44
and last week it was 2.59 !!!
) and it’s never been mentioned again.
…