SCD and Cholesterol

[Guest guest]

Thought you all might be interested in this year's blood work compared to

last year. Last year, as you know, I was incubating the endometrial

cancer. And, also, as it turns out, the complex sleep apnea. So my

cholesterol was up, and the doc was all over my case for stuffing my face

and refusing to eat healthy.

Well, I'm eating the same way I was last year. And.....

Test

2007

2008

HbA1C

5.6

5.6

(< 6.0)

Bg

81

94

(65-99 mg dL)

Total

Chol 259

214

(125-200 mg / dL)

HDL

70

70

(> = 40 mg / dL)

LDL

168

127

(< 130 mg / dL)

Triglycerides

103

87

(< 150 mg / dL)

I will note that this year's fasting interval was at least an hour

shorter than last year's... they didn't keep me waiting as long as I

anticipated, and I decided that doing without my anti-inflammatories for

that long was just plain nuts, since I ended up missing my water therapy

that day between a 2.5 hour wait for the blood draw, and then the car

breaking down, and then another two hour wait to talk to the doctor about

the tests he was ordering.

HbA1c holding steady. (I loved the way he mentioned it... " At this

point, you do not have diabetes... " almost sourly, as if he was

disappointed not to find it at the 2004 level of 6.0, which I still think

was caused by the knee injury and the 6 weeks of pain I dealt with before

I could get an orthopedist's appointment.)

On the cholesterol, it's interesting to note that the HDL is the same,

while the LDL went down... and this corresponds with the fact that last

year, I was taking almost six times as much salmon oil as an

anti-inflammatory as I was this year. Fish oil is noted for raising LDL

in relation to HDL, but the benefits of the Omega 3 fatty acids are

typically felt to outweigh the detrimental ratio. (Try telling this to a

conventionally trained doctor, however!) I've been off the higher dose of

salmon oil only a couple of weeks (thanks to my CPAP), so it will be

interesting to see what next year's tests will yield. I suspect it will

be back in the normal range it was before I started with the hip pain.

Also here is an interesting article on the relationship of sleep apnea

and cholesterol.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/107/4299.html

Apart from my vitamins and anti-inflammatory supplements, I'm not on

any other meds.

However, he says that my red blood cell turnover is higher than it should

be. In point of fact, what's high is the RDW, or the differences between

the sizes of the red blood cells. Given that the turnover of red blood

cells is around 90 days, and I had been on CPAP (Constant Positive Air

Pressure -- therapy for the sleep apnea) for about a month when the

sample was taken, and given that the red blood cells would be the most

likely to be affected by the apnea, it seems reasonable to me that their

might be a difference between healthy cells created since CPAP and

unhealthy cells created before CPAP.

The doc disagrees. Says this means I'm losing blood somewhere, and he's

sending me for (oh joy!) a colonoscopy. I asked if it could be related to

recovery from surgery, since the body can take up to a year to stabilize,

and he insisted it was not. I also asked if it could have a relationship

to the sleep apnea being newly treated, and he said that it could not

be.

My idea of entertainment does not include a colonoscopy for Christmas...

but even less do I like the idea of having the d@mn thing hanging over my

head. <sigh>

Anyway, my point of all this is... before you blame healthy eggs, dairy,

and good fats for a higher cholesterol, look to other facets of your

health!

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund