Diagnosis and Cholesterol

[Jakster]

Hello, I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes today and came out with so many questions about this but of course once I had left the doctors but I have another appointment with the nurse next week. He also said that my cholesterol was 8.4 and has referred me to a Lipid clinic. How long do you usually have to wait for the appointment to come through and what happens at the clinic. There is a history of Angina in my family, with they be tesing for this? I am a 42 year old female

Thanks very much

[smithy]

Hi there Jakster,

Sorry to hear of your problems.

I'll try to answer some of your questions:

T2 Diabetes - there are many help forums online, a particularly good one is Diabetes-abc.com. The monitors on here are very knowledgable and should be able to answer most of your questions.

Not very up on lipid clinics as i've never been to one!!

My understanding is that Angina is a symptom (though i am no expert and may get put right), and any tests they do is normally as a result of you having Angina, however if you classically fit the bill for CVD your doctor should be able to do a CVD risk score and you could then discuss with him/her whether or not further tests are needed.

Good luck

Tony

[Robert787]

Hi Jakster, time to watch TV. There are some Very good documentries on how our eating habits have been changed by those who sell us food.

Try to catch up on "The men who made us fat" BBC 2 i think.

Stuff the diets, they dont work, just learn how to eat well and miss out the ton of sugar they sell us!

All the best,

RS

[DakCB-UK in reply to Robert787]

Personally, I think that my diet has caused about a 25% reduction in total cholesterol. Not enough (maybe that's "don't work"?) but worth having.

I agree about dropping the high-sugar stuff though!

[Jakster]

Thanks all for your detailed anwers. It's all a bit scarey when you are first diagnosed and I have all sorts going through my head. Due to bad diet, lack of exercise, too many long, very stressful hours at work for the last 2 years I sort of had an incline that it was coming. My first step is a lifesyle change, cut my work hours and pick up the exercise initially.

Thanks again!

[FionaW]

Hi Jakster

Most important bit of advice I can give is while you are waiting for your appointment to come through jot down any questions you want to ask in a note book(I stick it in notes on my mobile as I take this everywhere with me and knew I wouldn't forget it) and take it with you to your first appointment.

Until then maybe some of this can explain a few things to you to the best of my knowledge and although it may seem like a long post at least you can come back to it if and when you like to.

Cholesterol is split into two groups, Low Density Lipoprotien (LDL) remembered as the Bad cholesterol by remembering 'L for Less desirable' and Higher Density Lopoprotein (HDL) remembered as Good cholesterol by remembering 'H for Highly desirable'. A general blood test will show the total cholesterol levels and a fasting blood test will be able to show them separately.

Angina is the chest pain associated with the condition called Atherosclerosis. This is when the arteries narrow and reduce blood flow to the heart resulting in the angina when over excited or on exertion. LDL contributes to the build up of the fatty lumps that block the arteries. This narrowing of the arteries can also lead to an unexpected blood clot (thrombosis),

HDLs actually reduce the amount of excess LDLs a bit like a scavenger eating up what is left. So the higher amounts of HDLs are better than higher amounts of LDLs.

Most of our cholesterol is made in our liver from fats in our food and is essential for strength of our cell walls. Only a very small amount is absorbed directly from the food we eat.

If fat encourages the liver to make the cholesterol then if we have an increased fat intake it will increase the cholesterol production and make us produce far more than we need so it stays in our bloodstream and eventually blocks the arteries. I picture this like debris in a steam once it starts to build it will build up fairly quickly, not sure if that is exactly how it works but it helps me to make sense of it and would be worth asking at the clinic.

Not sure on the total connections but saturated fats are connected more to LDL than overall fats. That is if you have a low fat intake but with a high percentage of it being saturated it is worse for you than a medium fat intake where a low percentage is saturated. But that to me is all I need to know.

hope that helps

[FionaW]

To me being told from a health care professional is not unsubstantiated but fact.

I must admit there are things that have been believed by health professionals that turn out to be wrong and the practice changed again.

However, when I say it is all I need to know it is because when you get lots of facts told to you at once it is only human nature to summarise what you have been told.

[DakCB-UK in reply to FionaW]

I think it's not fact (and facts are few and far between in any experimental science), but it is the current best-supported theory.

[Aliwally]

Hi Jakster,

Sorry to hear about the type 2, but as Smithy says there are lots of good websites to help.

I am hovering on the brink between high/normal and impaired fasting glucose and I must say that diet and exercise makes a tremendous difference to me. I try and avoid all junk and highly refined carbohydrates. I do test my blood sugar myself (although I don't need to) and putting on weight and eating junk raises my blood sugar.

My experience of the lipid clinic was not as positive as Traci's, only because I had to wait 16 weeks in my area (north London) and at that time they could not offer DNA testing for FH. FH is the single gene cause of very high cholesterol, but you may not have it (I don't). I now go about every 6 months and although I have had my ups and downs with them, they are much better on medications than most GPs, from my experience.