The Cholesterol Thread: HDL v. LDL v. Lipitor - CAGEMATCH

[lemon boy]

So what say you innerweb doctah's:

Cholesterol what do you know?

I just got the annual physical and got the chol reading of 274. Evidently this is a really bad number: 200 hdl 74 ldl….
I'm queued up for the butt scan too.

HmMMF See, that’s fuckt your "good" cholesterol is WAY high for what they say you should have and your "bad" cholesterol is "low" WTF should it matter about the combined? IIRC I have a similar setup but with somewhat higher "bad" but still under the "limit" and the combined is what gets me, I just checked at the AHA and per their little quiz ONLY 25% of cholesterol comes from food so per that there's no way for you to go below 200 even without eating :/

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/cholesterol/atp3xsum.pdf

And this little gem:

Any person with elevated LDL cholesterol or other form of hyperlipidemia should
undergo clinical or laboratory assessment to rule out secondary dyslipidemia before
initiation of lipid-lowering therapy. Causes of secondary dyslipidemia include:
• Diabetes
• Hypothyroidism
• Obstructive liver disease
• Chronic renal failure
• Drugs that increase LDL cholesterol and decrease HDL cholesterol
(progestins, anabolic steroids, and corticosteroids).

(emphasis mine)

And check out page 25 and 26 (of the report), something odd is that as you get older you get fewer positive points for having higher cholesterol (counterintuitive).

I'm totally gonna have to look up my old blood tests cause my doctor is always giving me shit about this as well, I'm starting to smell a great BIG FAT lipitor RAT!

Have fun with the butt scan, that's shitty.

[Buster Highmen]

Man, I must be flipping my bits today. I meant that my "bad" chol is 200. Maybe I meant ldl of 200.

Anyway, yeah, I've also got hypothyroidosis evidently.

In the past when I've gotten this done, they said it was OK to drink coffee. So I drank coffee I made with the french press that morning. But when I got the wild results, even with this pinchbag diet I'm on and some folks mentioned that coffee made w/o a filter induces higher cholesterol, I started googling to find these articles indicating that unfiltered coffee is bad.

I think the doc is trying to get me on lipitor which I'm not going to do. I just small a big fucking rat in all this shit. I'm 6' and weigh 180 and I'm not in bad shape....

[lemon boy]

Woah, okay 200 for ldl is pretty high I guess….

The few times I've fasted I was specifically told nothing besides plain water for 12hrs, which is pretty easy to do, pound the last Hammy at 8pm, drink water, blood test at 8am, 8:04am crack into the thermos of coffee in the truck

Try a back to back test just with pulling out the coffee?

I also wonder how elastic some of the tests are and if they can be gamed at all, not that I would necessarily but…I'm curious.

[PNWbrit]

Think I've got the hyperthyroiditisism in my future. Metabolism becoming increasingly humming bird like as I get old(er).

[wilcox510]

Generally triglycerides are the most affected type of cholesterol as far as eating before the test goes. I tell patients they can have anything without calories before the test, which generally includes black coffee (no cream or sugar). Never heard anything else about coffee affecting the results otherwise, but of course that doesn't mean it can't happen. As LemonBoy suggested, a large part of cholesterol is genetic, so just because your fit doesn't mean you can't have high cholesterol. If you have hypothyroidism, it might be reasonable to get that under control (and work on diet and exercise if there is room for improvement there) then recheck your cholesterol. Hypothyroidism also seems to elevate triglycerides more in my experience, but can be a cause of elevated LDL.

[Buster Highmen]

Generally triglycerides are the most affected type of cholesterol as far as eating before the test goes. I tell patients they can have anything without calories before the test, which generally includes black coffee (no cream or sugar). Never heard anything else about coffee affecting the results otherwise, but of course that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Google "coffee cholesterol" and read the Johns Hopkins findings. Unfiltered coffee drinkers have higher cholesterol. And I know how to lie with statistics.

As LemonBoy suggested, a large part of cholesterol is genetic, so just because your fit doesn't mean you can't have high cholesterol.

I know.

If you have hypothyroidism? it might be reasonable to get that under control (and work on diet and exercise if there is room for improvement there) then recheck your cholesterol. Hypothyroidism also seems to elevate triglycerides more in my experience, but can be a cause of elevated LDL.

So what if I have hypothyroidism. What are the symptoms? What's the concern? I've read the basic stuff and I don't have the symptoms specified, except fatigue sometimes, and there're other reasons for that.

Be forewarned, I'm very, very suspicious of the medical, insurance and drug industries. I'm not impugning your character or sincerity personally, but more often than not, doctors don't know what the fuck they'res really talking about.

[lemon boy]

B- Have you thought about finding yourself a hippy doctor (if you don't have one already)? Of course, I have one that often flips me shit about not eating so much meat and stuff but I generally really like the style at that office.

[Buster Highmen]

B- Have you thought about finding yourself a hippy doctor (if you don't have one already)? Of course, I have one that often flips me shit about not eating so much meat and stuff but I generally really like the style at that office.

Not really...I try to complement my basic essense of patchouli, birkenstocks and macrame' with the opposing camps views.

We've gone the naturopaths way with one of the nubs allergies and the $500 initial test is a bit daunting for we of scottish soul.

[lemon boy]

Wow, that's not natural…that's parasitic!

Mine isn't all natural or anything the group is just big on fusing traditional/natural with modern medical often in different/effective ways. Doesn't smell like patchouli at all.

[Buster Highmen]

Normally, I'd just blow this shit off and write it off as another smarmketing ploy by the medinsurdrug cartels. But I've got some reasons I need to resolve whether or not this is a real issue.

So the first assumption is that the unfiltered coffee may have skewed the test. So I have another one scheduled in 7 weeks. I'm going to stay on this diet, eat fruit for dinner the afternoon before the test, consume absolutely nothing between 4 pm and the time of the test. Then I'll take stock again.

I am stopping the unfiltered coffee, kind of a bummer, because the shit is tasty.

[Stymie]

Dude, what do you have against Lipitor? Probably one of the most successful and relatively safe drugs on the market.

[road trip]

Man, I must be flipping my bits today. I meant that my "bad" chol is 200. Maybe I meant ldl of 200

Point of clarification. Your "Total Cholesterol" is not your LDL + your HDL. Total also includes triglycerides... and it isn't a simple calculation like LDL + HDL + TG = TC there are other variables in play (of which I'm not too keen on).

Just for the sake of it, here is a recent lipid panel of a patient in one of my lipid studies (pre-treatment):

Plasma Cholesterol (TC): 265 mg/dL
Triglycerides (TG): 139 mg/dL
HDL: 68 mg/dL
LDL: 169 mg/dL

So just make sure you have your numbers correct... don't look at TC in and of itself... a good number to look at is "non-HDL cholesterol" or just LDL. Generally, an LDL >180 is bad for anybody, >160 is bad for somebody with 1 to 2 risk factors (hypertension, smoking, old age, family history of heart disease, etc), and so on...

Take with it what you want. I work for the evil conglomerate of pharma companies hoping to make money off of athersclerosis medications like the aforementioned Lipitor. In fact, my company developed the first of many "Lipitors"... so I'm probably the least trustworthy!!

Information HERE.

[lemon boy]

Road trip- what does your evil pharma-marketing brain say about the Framingham risk assessment tool?

It seems to be to be betterer than merely talking about LDL in relation to risk factors.

Thanks for finding the full report.

Stymie- obviously I'm not buster but the idea of taking some kind of maintenance drug all the time to reduce something that maybe could contribute to you having a heart attack that might happen especially if as the Framingham thing suggests it only gets you a potential benefit of 1 or 2 % pts on your 10 year risk of heart attack, depending on your situation…not too into that really.

[Buster Highmen]

Dude, what do you have against Lipitor? Probably one of the most successful and relatively safe drugs on the market.

From : lipitor.com:

Muscle problems. LIPITOR can cause serious muscle problems that may lead to kidney problems, including kidney failure. You have a higher chance of muscle problems if you are taking certain other medicines with LIPITOR.

Liver problems. LIPITOR can cause liver problems. Your doctor may do blood tests to check your liver before you start taking LIPITOR, and while you take it. Symptoms of muscle or liver problems include:
Unexplained muscle weakness or pain, especially if you have a fever or feel very tired
Nausea, vomiting, or stomach pain
Brown or dark-colored urine
Feeling more tired than usual
Your skin and the whites of your eyes turn yellow
If you have any of these symptoms, call your doctor right away.
The most common side effects of LIPITOR are:
Headache
Constipation
Diarrhea
Gas
Upset stomach and stomach pain
Rash
Muscle and joint pain
Side effects are usually mild and may go away by themselves. In clinical studies of 2,502 patients, 98% of LIPITOR users did not have side effects that stopped them from taking their medication.

When there's big money to be made, I don't trust the corporate medium.

As for RT: my hdl+ldl = 274. Too big a number, but I'm really not convinced that it means what everyone says, particularly in light of my low thyroid and unfiltered coffee.

If I have to take that shit, I will, but I'm not going to if I can lower the numbers by changing my diet and habits.

When you really give something a close look, there's more smoke and mirrors and marketing bullshit than anyone wants to believe.
Besides, my maxim has always been that "the only drugs I consume are of the recreational sort".

[Stymie]

From : lipitor.com:

Muscle problems. LIPITOR can cause serious muscle problems that may lead to kidney problems, including kidney failure. You have a higher chance of muscle problems if you are taking certain other medicines with LIPITOR.

Liver problems. LIPITOR can cause liver problems. Your doctor may do blood tests to check your liver before you start taking LIPITOR, and while you take it. Symptoms of muscle or liver problems include:
Unexplained muscle weakness or pain, especially if you have a fever or feel very tired
Nausea, vomiting, or stomach pain
Brown or dark-colored urine
Feeling more tired than usual
Your skin and the whites of your eyes turn yellow
If you have any of these symptoms, call your doctor right away.
The most common side effects of LIPITOR are:
Headache
Constipation
Diarrhea
Gas
Upset stomach and stomach pain
Rash
Muscle and joint pain
Side effects are usually mild and may go away by themselves. In clinical studies of 2,502 patients, 98% of LIPITOR users did not have side effects that stopped them from taking their medication.

When there's big money to be made, I don't trust the corporate medium.

As for RT: my hdl+ldl = 274. Too big a number, but I'm really not convinced that it means what everyone says, particularly in light of my low thyroid and unfiltered coffee.

If I have to take that shit, I will, but I'm not going to if I can lower the numbers by changing my diet and habits.

When you really give something a close look, there's more smoke and mirrors and marketing bullshit than anyone wants to believe.
Besides, my maxim has always been that "the only drugs I consume are of the recreational sort".

Re-take the cholesterol test... if it comes back as high as before... you should listen closely to your doctor about statins. I agree with you somewhat about the way drugs are marketed. However, just be an educated patient- read all you can and ask questions. Most of the time the benefits outweigh the risks- lipitor is relatively safe (your descriptions above nonwithstanding). Listen, no drug is a silver bullet... medicinal chemistry is still very much a imprecise science- we do the best we can, though.