OK, I went back for my thyroid follow-up with the endocrinologist today, and will be increasing my meds for that. But when she ordered the thyroid tests she also did a lipid panel and now is freaked out about the results.

Well actually I was a little upset too, just because I was hoping two months on thyroid meds would show an improvement, but actually the numbers were worse! Two months ago my TC was 229, this time it was 279. Two months ago my calculated LDL was 165, this time it was 204. HDL at 50-something and triglycerides at 60-something both remained about the same.

She wanted to *immediately* put me on statins, which I flat-out refused, much to her displeasure. I said that all the studies I had read about indicated that statins were basically useless for someone in my category, but she essentially just shouted me down and said "how can you even say something like that! *ALL** the studies show that statins dramatically reduce the risk of heart attacks!"

I also told her that the standard Friedewald equations didn't calculate LDL properly when TG were below 100, but she insisted that was wrong also. I also told her I would not even *consider* the significance of the results of an LDL number unless it was *directly calculated* and also the actual type of LDL was determined, to which she said nothing.

Well the bottom line is that she didn't prescribe them, and I would not have taken them if she had. And I have to go back and have my thyroid rechecked in three more months and she wants to repeat the tests then.

In my own mind I think part of the problem may be because I had not fasted long enough before getting the tests. I had worked late on Tuesday and had to go out, and didn't home until 10 PM, and was hungry then as I had not had any dinner, so I made myself a dinner which I didn't eat until nearly 11 PM. *THEN* I remembered I was having the blood drawn at 7 AM and was supposed to fast for 12-14 hours or some such, but by that time I just said "screw it" to myself as the only number I was interested in was the thyroid number, which they said I didn't need to be fasting for, so I went and had the blood done anyway, but I sort of discount the numbers.

However in three months I want to go back and have better results to show her that statins are not the answer - so before I go back I'm looking fro a couple suggestions.

1) Ideas about else I might be able to do to improve the TC number. I already take daily: 500mg Slo-Niacin, 5000mg D3 (my vitamin D level was 52 when last checked a few months ago), 2000mg fish oil capsules (360mg EPA, 240mg DHA) - plus of course a LC diet, etc. Any other ideas?

2) I shall go googling and checking my favorite bloggers for articles and links about statins, but anyone have any favorites they would like to suggest? I'd like to print some stuff off to bring in a notebook when I see the doctor next - but of course it would need credibility.

Interesting, I'm not alone. Had my VAP done on 12/31/09. My TC and LDL been slowly creeping up, along with HDL going up and triglycerides going down. Been taking fish oil to get better numbers on HDL and trying to increase fats to get trig even lower. The more I read the more I'm finding out that folks on LC or VLC seem to have these higher TC and LDL numbers. Not really concentrating on those, just working on hdl and triglycerides for now.

TC=417
LDL=333
HDL=60
Tri=86
LDL pattern type = Pattern A (about the middle of Pattern A) (Great!)

Doc didn't have much to say other than they are not familiar with the long term affects of this type of diet. He said, conventional wisdom would be to put me on meds. At this point, not going on meds, feel great. I exersise 3-4 days per week-not over weight-(treadmill, bout 45 minutes each).

There was a very recent study showing that targeting statins for an individual situation was more effective than blindly assigning them according to LDL numbers.

Tailored statin treatment more effective for CAD prevention than treat-to-target

But - since the main thing you changed was adding the thyroid med - How do you know it isn't the thyroid med that is wrong and making things worse?

Tee hee! Good for you!

Man, your doctor is really something of a dunce about statins and women. You might want to be prepared for the argument next time and print out some relevant studies and articles.

Watch out for niacin, it can raise your blood glucose. Do you really need to lower your LDL? Only way to know is to do a NMR or VAP test and see what sort you have. Otherwise why risk a worsening of blood glucose to make your doctor happy with a stupid test?

"2000mg fish oil capsules (360mg EPA, 240mg DHA)"
Check Dr. Davis's blog but I think he uses a lot more than that. There's a fish oil I get from iherb.com that's really potent. It's the Carlson Lemon Fish oil, it's in a bottle you pour it into a spoon. A Tablespoon of that is a huge dose.

Your D3 status of 52 is probably marginal. I say that because 60 is probably the bottom of the ideal range and most labs use a method of calculating D3 that inflates the number by 25%. There's just a couple of labs that use the most reliable method, it's a test you can order off of the Vit. D3 council site.

Yeah, my blood glucose has not been quite in the range I would like it, and I've been toying with the idea of dropping the niacin (or at least maybe cutting the dose in half) to see what happens. But that's a definite maybe.


I'll look into that but I think I actually get more as I usually eat 2-3 cans of sardines and/or oysters every week also, and also had been taking cod liver oil (though I think I'm currently out of it) and the fish oil caps were in addition.


I agree that I would like it a bit higher, and perhaps it may be now. I had it tested in September last. I've used the home testing kits from grassrootshealth.net. Actually I see I was wrong! I just went back to their website and saw my numbers for March (when I did my first test, after just a few weeks of supplementing with D3) and my September test show:
Date of Test D2 (ng/mL) D3 (ng/mL) Total (ng/mL)
03/26/2009............0...............46.............46

10/12/2009............0...............58..............58

So I actually improved from 46 to 58 between March and September. I've slightly upped my dose since September. Of course I'm not getting as much sunlight either. So not sure where my number actually sits, but it's still better then it has been.

I would have found another doctor that was not totally brainwashed by the statin makers. I don't see anyone suggesting anything so you will have to put up with me.
My first thought was to take GCBC with you to your next visit/confrontation and show her the bibliography (last 100 or so pages) and point out that Taubes came to the conclusion that cholesterol does not cause heart disease from these references. Then I though about you taking her "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, if you have it. Great read, especially if you like or can allow yourself not to be confused by the often understated British wit. When I read it I often found my self at the end of a paragraph and then had a "wait a second!" realization that Dr. Kendrick had just eviscerated some one, an idea, or expert pronouncement so cleverly that if he had done it to them personally they would have not realized they had been cut to ribbons until it was well over.

Then I remembered that there is a bibliography of the Eades book Protein Power Lifeplan on the web. Here are two links to the chapter called "Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly".
PPLP Biblio w/PubMed #'s - Ch. 4 A-L
PPLP Biblio w/PubMed #'s - Ch. 4 M-Z
There were so many references that it took two pages to list them because of the web sites size restriction. If you go to pubmed.gov and put in the number shown after the PMID: (for example PMID: 9738689 is the first one listed), so 9738689 would go in the search box. Hopefully you can find some papers that would good to print out. BUT, I doubt that she will even listen to you or read the papers since she sounds like she is so convinced that she is right.

There's all those excellent articles at Men's health too. Two new studies out the last couple of weeks that eating fat doesn't contribute to heart disease.

Mmmmm, yeah I want to print some stuff out for my doc too.......if she can come off her ignorant, pharma- company-backed high horse for long enough to look at it!

Yeah do I know that feeling!

I have a friend that is new here, just started lc, and has high cholesterol. She is scared to jump into the full fat thing and is not eating any red meat. I’m looking for more links about fat not affecting cholesterol.

Is this in the latest issue? I need to send it to a friend.

First of all....'Total Cholesterol means nothing!!!'--Dr. James Carlson
http://drjamescarlson.blogspot.com/...ns-nothing.html

Now onto the sat fat myth...

Men's health-Low-Carb Diets Work -- and They're Healthy
Go ahead, have the steak
http://www.menshealth.com/men/nutri...M10000013281eac

Men's health-What if Bad Fat is Actually Good for You?
http://www.menshealth.com/men/healt...M10000013281eac

Men's Health-Stop Blaming Saturated Fat
http://www.menshealth.com/men/nutri...M10000013281eac

Jimmy Moore's artical- Examiner Bio Not Guilty: The long-standing vilification of saturated fat finally turning to vindication
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-...-to-vindication

Dr. Ronald Krauss exposes the myth of CVD risk from saturated fat
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abs...27725v1?papetoc

I have very hi total cholesteral and LDL. My HDL is great, my triglycerides are great and I had a VAP test done,,,,,LDL PATTERN A!. Go ahead have the steak...to quote one of my favorite movies...'Looks like meats back on the menu boys!'.......

Thanks. I'm sorry if I thread hijacked.