Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

[MidnightRain]

I'm so glad to have you there so I can come here and ask these questions! This is what it is...

I had a routine check up with my doctor today. All is fine and she suggested that I go back on Monday after fasting to have blood test done too. I wonder if this would be wise because I just started Atkins less than a week ago and I would like the diet and the new supplements that I started taking with it, to have at least a month for me to know that the blood test results are an actual read. I imagine my body right now it's adjusting.

Four years ago I had blood work done and I had just started Atkins at that point too (no supplements though and I was eating very high in fat) and the doctor said that my cholesterol was high and wanted give me meds and put me on a diet. I didn't want the meds, I changed my eating and didn't continue with Atkins and I still wonder if that read could've been due to what I was eating at that time or if it was a real read. I don't think it was a good time for me to do blood work.

Now I'm taking the supplements that are adviced in the book for cholesterol. I'm very hopeful that the diet with the supplements will end up giving me good results. I feel that I need to give it time to work though so I can go for a blood test later on maybe a month down the road and really see what's what.

Have you been in a similar situation? What do you think?!

Thanks in advance!
MR

[Chris]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

Shortly after beginning a low carb diet, it's not unusual for cholesterol and triglyceride numbers to go UP. However, after a few months on the program, most folks find them to be within the normal, or even low normal range (even when they'd been high, previously). I'd suggest trying to postpone those tests for a while, if at all possible.

[BikerGoddess]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

Ideally, you should have bloodwork done prior to starting Atkins, then again about 6 months later (or a year, but at least 6 months). A lot of people see an initial jump in cholesterol during that six months (and here's where I go against 'conventional wisdom') but that doesn't mean you need medication or that it's bad for you.

The body makes its own cholesterol (from carbs, too...) and the cholesterol you consume has little to do with the levels in your bloodstream. The total cholesterol number means next to nothing by itself. Even the breakdown of 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol doesn't tell you the whole story, although the ratio is a lot more useful than the total. It's the size of the molecules that is the best indicator of whether you'll have heart/artery problems. And practically no one tests for that.

From what I've seen on this board, many people start off with really low 'good' cholesterol numbers. Those numbers jump dramatically in the beginning, and faster than 'bad' cholesterol drops, so your total will be up, but your ratio is better. After about 6 months, the 'bad' drops enough that your total starts looking good again, and that's why we suggest waiting for at least 6 months, since most doctors only see you above or below 200, and make wild assumptions from there.

From my own numbers, my ratio improved dramatically although I did see an increase in the total initially. However, and more importantly to me, both my triglycerides and blood glucose dropped from nearly 200 to under 100. For reference, blood glucose shouldn't go over 140 after eating pure sugar.

The meds they have out there now to lower cholesterol can damage the liver. And they're not proven to prevent heart disease. So I'd take my chances without them, personally. (My mother felt the same way, and managed to cut her total cholesterol 200 points on Atkins. My 77 grandmother also rejected meds, and I figure if she lived that long with chronic high cholesterol, it's not going to be what does me in...)

Laura

[2big4mysize]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

actually cholesterol goes up in response to any weight loss so this would be a good poit to get your beging numbers and see how much Atkins fixes you in a couple months cause that is what they wll do is retest in a couple months. if it comes back high and you have no history ask your doc aboutr an exercise program to lower your cholesterol and a change in diet.( you don't have to tell him you have already gone to Atkins just you are cutting out all those high fat high carb junk foods like doughnuts) and see where that puts you for the next testing.

My doc was all set to add drugs back at the 6 month mark of my Atkins but I ask about increasing my exercise program, lowering my sat fats, and adding things like nuts and flax seeds and he said we'd retest in 3 months and I was fine at that testing and was fine for over two yrs eating Atkins and working out.
go for it unless your insurance doesn't cover it then you might want to wait but it is nice to have the before and after rersults .

[not2late]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

About the "fasting test", as long as it's not an oral glucose tolerance test, you should be okay in terms of sticking with your Atkins meals and meal schedule. Just don't eat anything after midnight and try to get to the lab early to have your blood drawn. Afterwards, eat a good Atkins-style meal.

If your doctor wants an oral glucose tolerance test, come back here and post about that because for that test you will have to increase your carbs for a few days before the test in order for you to have accurate results.

[canuck]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

FYI: Most docs wont do this test unless you ask and will warn you when your chol is high....it means nothing if chol is hi....what you need to ask for is a lipoprotein(A) test, it tells you how much of the LDL is big soft mobile flakes so to speak and how much is the small sticky little buggars that collect n the sides of the walls of arteries and causes problems.
The other aspect that is significant is the ratio. Low risk is ratio of fewer than 3.3.
Soon the lipoprotein test will become known as being valid but it takes doc often decades to change their thinking as the art of medicine does not keep up to the science of medicine. IMHO.

[cleochatra]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

*runs in and tackles canuck and licks her face*

[2big4mysize]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

hey canuck welcome back.

so did you have the blood test.

[canuck]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

Thnx Cleo and 2 big.

Yes I did as my ldl was hi and lipoprotien showed it was mainy big fluffy ldl, just as Duke university studies says Atkins program does for some of us.

[BikerGoddess]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

Welcome back, canuck!

Laura

[Elizellen]

Re: Blood work/cholesterol/need advice!

Welcome back Canuck