Help with Cholesterol

[Denise-80]

Hi - I’m post-transplant (May will be 9 years). I was switched to Bela and sirolimus and low dose pred about one year ago. Cholesterol is running 218-223 and has been attributed to the sirolimus. I don’t eat red meat and eat very little dairy. My snacks of choice are granola and/or chia pudding made with chia seeds and almond milk. Pravastatin was increased to 30 mg/day which really has no effect on my cholesterol but now my liver ALT is elevated at 67 U/L and AST is slightly elevated at 43 U/L. I’m VERY sensitive to meds…reason doc choose pravastatin instead of something more powerful.

Question: Other than increasing meds which I feel will be the convo with the doctor, what else can I do? The liver tests scare my more than the high cholesterol… should they?

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear from you.

D

[LisaSnow]

Have you been able to maintain a healthy BMI?

[Denise-80 in reply to LisaSnow]

Hi Lisa -Yes, my BMI is good…ranges from 21-21.5.

[LisaSnow in reply to Denise-80]

That's great! My cholesterols went really really high (over 250) when I gained weight. After I lost some, the cholesterols, especially LDL, lowered with the weight. It does sound like medication side effect is the primary factor in your case. I hope your medical team will work out a happy balance for you.

[BabyTee]

I am not a medical professional. I read and know what works for me.

What I found effective is a low carb diet and 30+ min walking/day. (Less than 50 net g carbs/day) I stay below 20 most days, since that works best for me. (I gave numbers, b/c everyone defines low carb differently).

About statins...they can cause blood sugars to rise. When the liver processes carbohydrates, a byproduct is cholesterol. Statins work by stopping this process, so it is pretty common for people who start statins to be diagnosed with diabetes, when they just have higher blood sugar because of statins. Keep an eye on your fasting blood sugar for at least 1 year after they increase your statin levels. That's my advice. Good luck!

[Denise-80 in reply to BabyTee]

thank you BabyTee!

[mingmiley]

Hi, Denise, I used to take nature made cholest-off supplement, at that time i only ate one meal a day, cholest-off took 20 off my cholesterol number. Now I eat two meals a day, and I doubled up my cholest-off intake, now I don't know how much my cholesterol is.

[Denise-80 in reply to mingmiley]

thank you! I will check it out!

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

I am 23-year post transplant and my nephrologist had to put me on Atorvastatin. It has not affected my creatinine as it is 0.9 - 1.1. Because of high cholesterol numbers, a year ago I had a minor TIA. Really scared me! I sure don't want to suffer a stroke, that's why I went on medication. My recent lab showed my cholesterol at 146 & HDL was 73. This worked for me, but we are all different. You need to talk with your primary doctor or nephrologist and get it under control