Newbie with cholesterol question

cholesterol
newbies
dementia
prediabetes
(Carol) #1

I’ve been lurking for a while so I finally signed up as you people seem pretty nice and smart!

Quick summary: I started learning/trying about keto in April and have been serious with it since May 1, 2020. I have been “prediabetic” for years and years, but noticed my fasting sugar being in the 120’s and 130’s this past spring. That and just having the desire to feel better, I thought keto would be the best new way of life for me. My father also was type 2 diabetic for years without being prescribed medication and he now suffers from dementia (have you ever heard of type 3 diabetes?!?) which is another motivation for me. I have lost 5 pounds since the start and I started with a “normal” bmi so weight loss is not really my goal. I am doing dirty keto because I would not adhere to counting carbs daily. I do plug things into the app about once a week or especially when I am eating a new food but mostly I just estimate. I will report that I am not falling asleep at 2 pm everyday and feel so much better and fasting blood sugar has been so much better! (Sorry! that was not quick!).

Last year my doctor prescribed atorvostatin for elevated cholesterol and it didn’t make me feel good so I didn’t continue it. This year, my cholesterol is even more elevated and the doctor asked me if I would consider taking medication again. I said yes (again, fear of dementia) and started lovastatin and so far it has agreed with me during these two weeks. I have been reading tons of information on statins and am now even more confused as to whether I should be even taking it, but that is probably another subject. On to the real question here (finally). How long does it take for cholesterol to go down on keto? The doctor wants me to retest my cholesterol in 6 weeks to see if the meds decrease the cholesterol and check my liver and CK of course.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

It takes about six months for cholesterol numbers to stabilise after beginning a ketogenic diet. We often get people who were tested around three months and panicked. By six months, their doctors are usually happy.

The problem is that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. It may be an indicator (“marker”) of risk, but its presence in atherosclerotic plaque is part of the body’s repair process, not the cause (think of fire trucks: would you say that cutting back on the number of fire trucks would lower the number of fires?). The other problem is the side effects of statins: memory loss, diabetes, muscle pains, and so forth. Most people who discontinue taking their statins do so because of unacceptable side effects.

You will have to decide for yourself how best to proceed, but I can tell you that a well-formulated ketogenic diet has been shown to bring about a significant improvement in cholesterol numbers for most people, raising HDL, generally improving LDL, and lowering triglycerides. Some people find their lipid numbers going up, but they fall into a specific category that the researcher Dave Feldman calls “lean-mass hyper-responders.” To learn more about that phenomenon, and about the role of cholesterol in the body, go to his site, www.cholesterolcode.com. Dave is a citizen-scientist, a software engineer by training, who is now doing original research in lipidology.

One thing you can tell your doctor is that you want to treat your cholesterol by diet, and would like since months to try before returning to taking a statin. He or she might go for that. There is remarkably little actual evidence to support our medical establishment’s obsession with cholesterol, and there is growing evidence to show that lowering cholesterol might actually be harmful. Do a search on these forums, and you will probably be surprised, and perhaps heartened, by what you find.

(Bunny) #4

I wanted to say something about my personal experience from my own blood work when I went on the ketogenic diet.

It was quiet the opposite my cholesterol, triglycerides numbers were all very “abnormal” before going keto and after keto everything went to “normal” so I’m not a hyper-responder.

Another reason might be is I don’t eat a lot of fat on a ketogenic diet or as much as recommenced everyday.

(Tracy) #5

I have been Keto for over a year and I too have had to overcome the decades of brainwashing about fat and cholesterol. This week I will be telling my doctor I no longer want to take a statin. I have had brain fog and memory issues for the time I’ve been on it. PLEASE take my advice and Youtube videos of Dr. Ken Berry and what he says about cholesterol and how our bodies need it. Even with the knowledge I have about the science of Keto, I still needed support from this forum about telling my doc I don’t want a statin.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6
(Carol) #7

Wow! Thanks! I looked it over quickly but will definitely dive in! Exactly what I’m looking for!

(Carol) #8

Excellent info. Thanks. Just asking Dr. Google turns up lots of conflicting info on cholesterol and statins. Appreciate it! I have more reading to do!