OMG Chloresterol check -more evidence!

[tulula59]

Ok, so managed to get a free chloresterol check via a main supermarket today and it came out at 5.9. Pharmacist v helpful and noted: 'so, you exercise, eat really healthy, don't smoke, are not overweight etc etc but your score is really too high. You should get your thyroid checked and if your t4 is low ask for treatment with thyroxine as you are most likely hypothyroid and this score could cause a heart attack'.

I explained that this was an issue that I'm trying to get me GP to understand. He replied that surely any GP should take such things into account. He was aghast that no GP has ever tested my chloresterol I told him I'd come on my own account.

So, my question is: Has anyone secured a diagnosis of hypo on elevated chloresterol (as well as other symptoms and the risks this causes?

[Katkin1]

And how come the man in the supermarket seems to be more clued up about thyroid than many doctors?

[tulula59 in reply to Katkin1]

He was youngish, clearly very intelligent and I hadn't even told him why I was checking it! He was very enthusiastic about getting me healthier - what can I say obviously pharmacy bods have better training than endos!

[nursey]

I am worried now as my cholesterol is 5.8 and my gp didn't even mention it or ask about family history. My mum died with heart problems and my dad who is still alive has has a couple of mini strokes, also 2 aunts died of heart attack. I hope your gp helps now and thank you for highlighting this. I would be interested on advice 're cholesterol and hypothyroidism. Thanks.

[PinkNinja in reply to nursey]

Hypothyroidism tends to cause a rise in cholesterol. If your cholesterol is below 6 you are probably ok. If you personally have heart disease, you might want to get your cholesterol a little lower but if you don't currently have a problem you should be fine.

There seems to be a correlation between LOW cholesterol and increased chance of death rather than HIGH cholesterol.

You may well find if you get better treatment for your thyroid, your cholesterol may come down.

[flatfeet1 in reply to PinkNinja]

Are we talking total cholesterol here ?

My LDL was 5.9 and HDL 2.2 giving total of 8.1 !

Doc said he wasnt too concerned, I trustingly thought he would make the connection but didnt.

[tulula59 in reply to flatfeet1]

Sorry flatfeet yes, total 5.9. He does want a fasting retest in 2 weeks time so it'll be interesting to see what that reads also.

[flatfeet1 in reply to tulula59]

As you say OMG . . . I need to go to a supermarket to get mine checked to see what they say.

Please let us know what you next results are

[DeniseR in reply to flatfeet1]

Sorry but I just had to laugh at this ' I need to go to the supermarket to get mine checked'

It's awful that it's come to this, what's the matter with these GP's??

[flatfeet1 in reply to DeniseR]

Hi denise,

crazy I know

After Tulula had mentioned that she had hers done there, on the way back from docs I dropped into the supermarket and as it turns out they are doing tests for this at the pharmacy now (free I think)

I thought that I read some where that supermarkets could in the near future be putting in video links to doctors so you can do shopping and doc appointment in one.

[Hidden]

I started on "borderline" hypo, but my cholesterol had gone from very low a few years ago to 7.7. My GP at the time started me on Levothyroxine. My TSH went up steadily until it got to 5 on treatment. My cholesterol hasn't budged in 2 years. More evidence I think I'm not absorbing.

Most docs don't know about the link. I had a window to start treatment 7 years ago, TSH low end of normal, cholesterol 6.6. Because I don't smoke my doc at the time did nothing. It makes me so angry.

[Hidden]

It did used to be a marker for low Thyroid, a quick search on posts about cholesterol...

thyroiduk.healthunlocked.co...

& some interesting links perhaps.... J

cholesterol-and-health.com/...

sott.net/article/242516-Hea...

[tulula59 in reply to Hidden]

Have certainly checked out all th elinks. Thanks for those. Are you saying that it is no longer 'considered' to be a marker or related to hypo or just that GP's see no need to consider it now that the gold standard TSH has taken root?

Also, I read about vit d being very necessary. I can confirm that I have also been on 6000iu of vit d for over 3 years (have osetopenia and I'm menopausal) so it's highly unlikely that I have a vit d deficiency me thinks.

I'm currently compiling a full list of test results and symptoms but want it to be watertight so if I'm going to use this as an indicator in any way I'll want to back it up with some kind of evidence probably. Any pointers to research?

[Hidden in reply to tulula59]

sorry, I'm no expert but pubmed & NHS list hypoT as a 'cause'? J

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedheal...

nhs.uk/Conditions/Cholester...

[tulula59 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, checked out an dcopied where necessary.

Keep the faith!

[Hidden in reply to tulula59]

you too! 'every little helps' (guessing!) J x

[Glynisrose]

For starters its lack of treatment that causes heart and other problems. Why are people panicking over what is a very slight raise in cholesterol? 5 or below is an optimum range devised by poorly educated research scientists. Cholesterol does not cause heart problems, more people with low cholesterol have heart attacks than those with high. Its just a ploy to get patients to take statins for which doctors are paid well to prescribe!

[Joyia in reply to Glynisrose]

hear hear Glynrose entirely agree

[greygoose in reply to Glynisrose]

Thank you for saying that! I said something similar recently and got 'shouted' at for being ignorant. lol

[nightingale-56 in reply to Glynisrose]

Fully agree with these comments. Interestingly, my cholesterol has come down from 7.2 to 6.00 since starting D3!

[DeniseR]

My cholesterol is low(can't remember the actual numbers at mo) and I am hypo, so it can't always be a point of diagnosis I guess.

[greygoose in reply to DeniseR]

Was it low before you started treatment? Mine is low now but was slightly high at the time I was diagnosed.

[DeniseR in reply to greygoose]

Yes, I'm pretty sure it's always been low

[greygoose in reply to DeniseR]

OK. Well, we're all different. Mine was only very slightly above the top of the range, but my doctor screamed at me: You're blocking up your arteries, Madame, you're going to have a heart attack! And he blamed it all on my eating butter, which he consedered the food of the devil! lol Silly fool. You should have seen his face when the blood tests said Hashi's. lol I sacked him on the spot (and found another even worse!) but I'd like to go back to him now and give him the benefit of my newly aquired wisdom! lol

[DeniseR in reply to greygoose]

Yes we are, just wish the docs would realise. I have to say, I find it hard to believe anything that comes out of any medical 'professionals' mouth these days.

Maybe you should write him a letter with all the info he needs to know about treating someone like you in the future lol

x

[greygoose in reply to DeniseR]

Nah, life's too short to stuff a mushroom! People like that, you can't educate them.

I did once have a homeopath that I thought I was educating quite nicely. I dictated to him what I wanted him to prescribe and explained a lot of things to him, and he seemed to be catching on. Then, somehow, he met up with the local endo, and it was finished. Everything she said was right, everything I said was wrong. I knew that woman, she was totally ignorant, even if she did diagnose me, she had no idea how to treat me. Sigh. It was time to move on...

[DeniseR in reply to greygoose]

You've got to be a bit stupid if someone can change your views that easily! Maybe he was just doing what you said as he didn't have a clue either lol

[greygoose in reply to DeniseR]

Oh, he definately didn't have a clue, he admitted to that right away. I said, that's ok, I know what I'm doing. And as long as he did what I told him, everything was ok. But then he started wanting to give me iodine to 'kick start' my thyroid. I said, you can't kick start a corpse, and left. Ah well, all part of life's rich pattern! lol

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

'Life's too short to stuff a mushroom' roflmao! I will have to use THAT one! lol! I may even have to update my FB status! lol!

Thanks for the giggle GG!

xx

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

And you know the worst of it, Louise? Once, when I was in love, I did stuff mushrooms! A whole panful of them! What a waste of time!!! (They were quite good though...)

[Glynisrose]

Have to say if a doctor told me the sky was blue I'd want to look to check.......

[greygoose in reply to Glynisrose]

lol

[DeniseR in reply to Glynisrose]

Haha.....true!

[nightingale-56 in reply to Glynisrose]

He'd probably be wrong - it's usually grey lately!

[tulula59]

Just one quick point and thanks for all the comments.

The pharmacist did say, to his credit that: 'If you do decide to go the the GP in this case about your high cholesterol then DO NOT allow him to put you on statins. If your result is higher than it should be because of an underfunctioning thyroid then that is what you should be treated for and statins will simply make things worse whilst covering up the original problem'.

Personally I do think he was being pretty openminded and ethical tooboot.

Agree entirely that very low cholesterol can be probably more dangerous (we need it of course we do) but...... if it is raised BECAUSE of a poorly functioning thyroid then surely this needs to be taken into account.

[Starfish123]

Hi,

My tsh came back borderline so the dr asked to see me, I was being tested due to severe pains, turned out to be gallstones/gall bladder pain. I asked if I had a problem with my cholesterol, I was told no as my average was good.

I was referred to an Endo some months later, the first thing she brought up was my high cholesterol at 7.1, she also referred to it in her letter back to the dr.

It was the Endo that prescribed the Levo. The dr when I saw him again said he had not been told how to treat me. When I asked about follow up blood tests he told me to have them done at the hospital when I was next there.

I've changed dr within the surgery to one that will treat me.