Re: OT - My cholesterol and thyroid results

[Guest guest]

Holly,Two things. First, the high cholesterol. My doctor here (in the UK) told me that they found, by gathering data from high cholesterol patients around the world, that high cholesterol needed to be in the presence of other risk indicators before it was recommended to be treated otherwise they were killing people by putting them on high cholesterol meds. The other risk factors are diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, age, gender and ethnicity. Usually I have been found to have higher cholesterol, but the ratio of 'good to bad' is o.k. I see it is the other way around for you meaning your LDL is too high, which normally is bad. Do you remember, though, recently someone posted an article regarding LDL and that there were in fact something like 5

different types of LDL and not all of them were bad like originally thought. I would keep these things in mind before consenting to taking statin drugs.The other thing is that your TSH is too high. You are off the high end of even the OLD range. The current recommended range (as of 2003) is more like .3 - 3.0 Your doctor and the lab he uses are way out of date. You are most definitely hypo range if he is diagnosing simply by TSH -- which one should never do. I am not familar with the reference range you posted for the Free T4 nor the designation 'Direct,' so I can't comment on it, however, to get a better picture you needed to have the Free T3 done at a minimum as well. Do you have that? Did he do antibodies testing to see if your body was attacking either the gland or the hormone?Your low ferritin could be one of the results of being hypo. It happens because for some reason

hypo can also lead to low stomach acid which in turn decreases the bodys ability to breakdown food which decreases the ability to release and absorb nutrients. Including B12, iron, trace minerals and other vitamins.And, if you have been going like this for a while, you could also be stressing your adrenal glands, and if that happens you could possibly be not producing adequate cortisol -- necessary to get the T3 into the cells and helps the body regulate inflammation.There is more of a puzzle here than seems at first glance.AmeliaFrom: spookyhurst

To: BTVC-SCD Sent: Fri, March 19, 2010 9:48:13 PMSubject: OT - My cholesterol and thyroid results

Yesterday I had a very disappointing doctor's appointment. My cholesterol has ballooned up to 314!

HDL = 87 (down a few points from last time)

LDL = 211

My doc (a new one) is insisting on a statin (as did my old one, before I left). At this point, I don't feel like I have a choice. The only changes since my last test (results were 264) are: surgery, quitting humira, starting LDN, and regularly taking garlic (sure didn't help any).

Thyroid results were abnormal, but my doc doesn't feel it warrants any further tests or treatment:

TSH = 5.670 (range .450 - 4.5) - 1 year ago it was 3.99

Free T4 (Direct) = 1.34 (range .82 - 1.77)

I can't afford to pay for the tests myself, or go to a good thyroid doctor, so I'm just kind of screwed.

Ferritin is also down to 36. Yuck. All in all, major disappoint abounds :-(.

Holly

Crohn's

SCD 12/01/08