Cholesterol Issues Post Op

[Velvetkiss]

Before I had my revision to the DS I was taking medication for High Cholesterol and that kept my numbers in good range. Once I had the DS, the Dr's took me off cholesterol medication and I just had my yearly lab ran and it is all High, except my Good Cholesterol that is low. All have gone Up since stopping medication and having the DS. The Dr wants me to go back on Medication. Is this normal for the DS? Should I go low fat? Also my Thyroid is still too high, so we are changing dose of medication again and going to check in a month. I am just so shocked at how much my cholesterol changed.

Cholesterol: Before DS (10/16/2013 on medication) and After DS (10/14/2014 no medication)

Triglyceride 102 / 149

Cholesterol 139 / 275

HDL Cholesterol 28 / 26

Fasting Time 12 / 8

TC:HDL Ratio 4.96 / 10.58

VLDL Cholesterol 20 / 30

LDL Cholesterol 91 / 219

LDL:HDL Ratio 3.25 / 8.42

Non HDL Cholesterol 111 / 249

 

[Elizabeth N.]

There is no reason to go "low fat" because you are not absorbing much fat in the first place. My first guess, which will be trumped by anyone with medical training, is that you might have a cholesterol issue that's not related to being obese--like maybe a genetic/family proclivity of some kind. People who have those kinds of troubles have to have medication. My BIL does the kind of hard physical labor that is unattainable for most people, is of normal weight (actually a little low in body fat), and has high blood pressure and cholesterol. It's inherited. Diet has zero impact on it.

Low "good" cholesterol can be improved in some people by increasing physical activity.

 

[Velvetkiss]

Elizabeth N., thank you for responding and I feel it may be a genetic thing or inherited because I seem to follow my mother ( who has always been thin, low body fat, and very active and never overweight) in health issues, I have the same thyroid issues and sinus issues and well she has always been thin and active and she has high cholesterol, actually when I was even at my highest weight my cholesterol was better than hers. So I just may always need medication. I am just glad I do not have to go low fat, because that would cause issues with all the vitamins I take. I was shocked too that my good cholesterol was low because I have been actively walking on the treadmill and I had the best NSV of being able to walk through an entire building from front to back without stopping to rest, because before my DS I was very immobile so to improve my mobility has been the best gift. I hope the more active I get the better the good gets and that the meds help.

 

[robs477]

There is no reason to go "low fat" because you are not absorbing much fat in the first place. My first guess, which will be trumped by anyone with medical training, is that you might have a cholesterol issue that's not related to being obese--like maybe a genetic/family proclivity of some kind. People who have those kinds of troubles have to have medication. My BIL does the kind of hard physical labor that is unattainable for most people, is of normal weight (actually a little low in body fat), and has high blood pressure and cholesterol. It's inherited. Diet has zero impact on it.

Low "good" cholesterol can be improved in some people by increasing physical activity.

Exactly! I know a lot of peps that are thin with high cholesterol.

 

[Kate]

@Velvetkiss: Like your mother my mother is thin, very active and never overweight but struggles with high cholesterol. She is on medication for it and is actively careful of foods that are high in cholesterol. I share this with you as while I have not had to worry about my total cholesterol since the DS, my "good" cholesterol has always been low and has not improved with exercise. I basically have to walk about 5 miles every day to get my "good" cholesterol to stay at 40 which is the very low end of normal on my lab sheets. Both my surgeon and my PCP feel that as high cholesterol is genetic for at least one side of my family, I may always struggle with keeping the "good" cholesterol in range. I applaud you for taking the genetic history into consideration. Isn't the increased mobility fantastic?!

 

[Parousia]

I'm in a similar position. At my last blood test my cholesterol had gone up and my doctor wanted to put me back on Lipitor. I asked her to wait a few months and test again, just in case it needed more time for my weight loss to make a difference. I'm still hoping it will go down on its own, but I don't have great expectations that it will! High cholesterol is definitely in my family (mostly on the male side, though).

 

[Velvetkiss]

@Kate Yes the increased mobility is wonderful!! I am starting to feel like a mobile person again. @Parousia I too thought about waiting to see if the weight loss helped, because I had heard some people's cholesterol can go high with rapid weight loss and then stablize, but knowing I do have the genetics for it in my family, I am going to start taking the generic of Lipitor and once my weight is stable, my Dr said we could try to go off it and see if there is any change.

 

[Brandy]

I was on high cholesterol drugs before my surgery but I'm not going back on them no matter what my blood work says. IMHO, there isn't any medical science to justify it. I don't want to lead anybody astray, nor do I want to sound like a conspiracy nut. But I just thought that sometimes you don't even know when things are controversial and treating high cholesterol in the majority of cases is becoming more and more controversial. Time to do your own research if you care.

 

[Munchkin]

High cholesterol post DS is genetic. Has no relation at all to what you are eating.

 

[Velvetkiss]

Thank You for all the responses. I am taking the medication as I do feel this maybe more related to my genetics.

 

[bearmom]

Some medications like birth control pills or estrogen replacement can affect some cholesterol (raising it).

 

[DianaCox]

Statins have demonstrated some unexpectedly positive effects besides lowering blood lipid levels. http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/060111p32.shtml

 

[Velvetkiss]

@bearmom thank you for pointing this out, but at this time I am not on birth control or any estrogen replacement. @DianaCox Thank you for the article, that was some very good information and interesting it can actually have some positive side effects, as you usually only hear about the bad side effects.

 

[Munchkin]

If I had to take prescription drugs I would be happy to be on statins! There has been talk about making some of them OTC because probably most of the adults in the country should be taking them! Just like vitamins!

 

[Brandy]

< from the FDA web site.

My husband is part of one of many class action lawsuits that have to do with statins and diabetes. The FDA has several warnings of things health professionals have to monitor for their patients when they prescribe these drugs, so I don't think they are going OTC. A quick web search showed http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/health/fda-warns-of-cholesterol-drugs-side-effects.html about the increase in diabetes and memory loss. And here’s one from JAMA advising against statins for people over 80 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1904808 just because they interact with many other drugs.

An Huffington Post article: The Cholesterol Myth That Could Be Harming Your Health

"Not only is cholesterol most likely not going to destroy your health (as you have been led to believe), but it is also not the cause of heart disease. And for those of you taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, the information that follows could not have been given to you fast enough."​

It is, as you can see, a bit on the "Sky is falling" side. Full disclaimer, another quote: "Eight of the nine doctors on the panel that developed the new cholesterol guidelines had been making money from the drug companies that manufacture statin cholesterol-lowering drugs." I hate all the conspiracy shades, but the health information that is in there is worth reading between the lines. He says that medical research shows that cholesterol is manufactured by your liver to perform a bunch of awesome things like fight disease and increase your vitamin D absorption. It is harmless in your blood and having too low a level is bad. Having a lot of it can be a warning sign, but statins block the liver from producing other chemicals that the body needs and can throw the whole thing out of whack. The amount statins may reduce the risk of heart disease is not a good enough compensation, in the author's opinion.

I developed high cholesterol as a side effect to another drug that I was only on for a few months. The statins never did bring my cholesterol down enough to make my doc happy. I went off three drugs a month before my DS. I don't know what was causing what, but I do know that I am doing so much better mentally that my doctors are commenting on it. I feel like the real me for the first time in years. But that is just me, and my body is always weird with drugs, even absolutely normal ones like Benadryl give me problems.

As I said before, this is just a heads up that there is some controversy here. I just thought it would be nice if I backed up my warning with some science.