I know many of you have been asked these kinds of questions a million times and are going to tell me, oh dont worry or are going to tell me to ask for more conclusive test...which as many of you know is much easier said than done....but I received back my lab numbers yesterday and was totally shocked and horrified...I thought they would be so much better and was convinced I was helping myself not hurting myself...if anyone can provide me with any insight I would appreciate it..

My background:

My woe ( since Feb 2010) is not atkins but i eat less than 5 carbs daily, so basically meat, eggs, cheese, fats...i also exercise some ( until recently was daily) and also i have been on crestor for about 2 years and prescription fish oil that long...i am also getting close to the 100 pounds lost mark, and am going thru menopause now....here were my numbers:

total 261
trig 49
hdl 58
chol/hdl ratio 4.5
ldl 193

i know about 4 months after i started my woe my total was 190 and i was thrilled it had dropped..now i am stunned and questioning everything...another note my dad has high cholesterol, has had heart attacks, etc so it does run in family...anything you can pass on to me i would appreciate as now i am questioning everything i thought i was doing right..My doc says she wants me to continue my meds, quit my woe and exercise more and come back in 3 months..thanks so much...Stacy

Stacy...these are FABULOUS numbers. Your triglycerides and HDL, which are the only numbers here really worth a damn, are great. Your triglycerides are very very low, which puts you at low risk for heart disease. Your HDL is good but could be better--I'd like to see it get above 60. The fish oil will help with that, but HDL rises slowly so it will take time.

I would encourage you to read some of the sticky threads in this section of the forum to understand why statins are a poor choice for you and why these numbers are nothing to be afraid of. Having high cholesterol is not necessarily bad for you--it depends on what *type* of cholesterol you have. In your case you have lots of the harmless "large/fluffy" type. Your father may have high cholesterol with lots of the harmful "small/dense" type, which would indeed be a risk factor for heart disease. These are NOT the same thing.

I know this is going to sound like blasphemy, but your doctor is towing the party line. My recommendations to you would be to ditch the meds, keep your WOE, and find a new doctor. I don't know if it's possible for you to receive a VAP test where they do a more extensive lipid panel, but it's worth asking for it given your father's history. This would prove to you that you have the low-risk Pattern A and might ease your fears.

Please educate yourself and don't let the medical establishment scare you. You are NOT at risk of a heart attack--in fact, I'd wager that you are considerably healthier now at 261 than you were at 190. I would encourage you to check out Dr. Davis's Heart Scan Blog--he's a cardiologist who is against statins. Dr. Eades of Protein Power fame has also written quite a bit on the subject on his blog. Hopefully other board members knowledgeable in this area will post replies as well, like NancyLC.

--Melissa

Thank you so much, I have been worries sick about this and worried I would have to change my woe, which has helped me drop almost 100 pounds and made me feel so much better....i was hoping you would answer and give me some advice...I stopped my statins about a month ago after reading how bad they were for me, which is why I went in for the test in the first place, I was just floored when my total number came back so high..i think I will continue my omegas add in some niacin and go from there.thanks again

Yes niacin would be a much better choice for you if you'd like to be proactive. Statins are not effective in women for preventing heart attacks or reducing mortality and they can have some nasty side effects...so why take them? Doctors give them to patients because that's the conventional wisdom that they hear and most doctors are too swamped with patients to have time to look at the actual medical research that says that statins are not effective. You, however, don't have to accept what you're told. You're a grown, intelligent woman who is perfectly capable of doing a little research and making informed decisions. Glad to hear that you are feeling relieved.

--Melissa

Also, cholesterol NATURALLY rises as women get older - I read somewhere that it is a protective response- wish I had the citation handy, but maybe someone else will know of it. Also thumbs up everything Melibsmile said.

Oh Melibsmile, if you read this - always wanted to ask about your cute avatar pic - is that a real mousie and what's he got?

It's a chinchilla and he's holding a Frosted Mini-wheat. I figured early on that if I could resist the most adorable animal holding a piece of high-carb gluteny cereal, then I'd be able to resist everything else too

--Melissa

Oh cool! It was truly diabolical of them to add frosting to the Mini-wheats, I even liked the huge plain kind...

Thanks, I have also read that and read in raises during menopause which lucky me, I am going thru now also...oh the joys of womanhood at the age of early 40's...