Counter Intuitive Cholesterol Results

[Robfromwales]

In March last year (2021) I started taking statins in consultation with Dr after risk assessment. I am 62 and have mild narrowing of heart arteries along with mild leak in BAV and I have a 4.9 TAA.

In June my non fasting cholesterol levels were:

Total 3,0

HDL 1.8

LDL 1.5

tricylcldes 0.7

So after a full year of taking statins and changing my diet to have more oily fish, eat more etc and fruit etc etc I had my cholesterol test and my results were

Total 3.2

HDL 1.3

LDL 1.4

Tricycldes 1.1

So while in 'normal ' range the results have gone (save for modest reduction in LDL ) the wrong way! Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose the only other things that are different in 2022 to 2021 is that I have been on Candesartan (32 mill) and Apixiban so I dont know if that is likely to have an impact. And the only other other thing is that I have been taking omega 3, garlic and occasional magnesium supplements.

Any one have any advice?

[Robfromwales]

The first cholesterol results are June 2021 and the second are June 2022. Sorry if that was unclear.

[AlfredV]

Trigs are up and HDL is down, they do tend to move in the opposite direction. Trigs are usually elevated by increased carb intake and/or alcohol. I wonder whether it could be fruit, aka nature's candy? Most fruit we have nowadays has been bred to be sweet and has little resemblance to the fruit our ancestors used to eat. I can't really comment on the meds.

[Hidden]

I would be really pleased with results like yours. Mine are significantly higher in spite of maxxed statins, good diet, and exercise. I would say, from my uneducated position, that things are fine, given our bodies can be different in a day to day basis. However if you have concerns talk it through with your health professional, and perhaps raise the question of the supplements you are taking if you have not done so before.

[gilreid1]

I would agree with lowerfield. I had my bloods taken today (six month review) and if my results are like yours I will be asking to stop statins immediately

[Robfromwales]

I am grateful for the figures . It just seems a big negative jump in lowered HDL and raised trigs when been on statins longer and with a change in diet. Alfred makes an interesting point about fruit and maybe I am eating too much ( which again is kind of counter intuitive). It won’t be alcohol and carb intake has been lowered but again I suppose I need to try harder to my sure it’s not diet related

[Mart25]

Rob, I know I'm a bit late replying, but my view is that your June '21 and June '22 results are essentially the same. If you take a cholesterol test today and do it again tomorrow you will not get identical results simply because your body will be in a slightly different state (eg. maybe you are a bit dehydrated one day and not the next) and the test itself is not perfectly accurate. There will always be a bit of variability.

So my guess is that the major change in your cholesterol levels happened between March '21 (when you started taking statins) and June '21 (when you had the first test). I suppose you didn't have a cholesterol analysis before you started statins? My guess is that your levels started significantly higher.

You would not really expect a big change in levels after 3 months of statins - they've mostly done their job in that time. But the important thing is your levels are quite low and LDL is particularly good. And they have stayed low (as long as you keep taking the statins). In my view, you have nothing to be concerned about. In fact, celebration is in order!

[Robfromwales]

Thanks Mart. Fully take your point and am grateful and thankful for the generally good findings. I suppose what I was driving at was that a reduction from Hdl from 1.8 to 1.3 with my changing diet seemed counter intuitive. Plus also a rise in trigcycldes. But as you say it might be that such fluctuations on even a kind of daily basis may be responsible .