Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: nearly50 on March 09, 2017, 10:30:50 AM
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Hi, just wondering people's views on this. Got tested for the first time last week through Medicheck and these are my results, with ranges.
TRIGLYCERIDES 1.37 mmol/L 0.00 -2.30
CHOLESTEROL *6.34 mmol/L 0.00 -4.99
HDL CHOLESTEROL *1.88 mmol/L 1.20 -1.70
LDL CHOLESTEROL *3.84 mmol/L 0.00 -3.00
My total cholesterol, good cholesterol and bad cholesterol are all high - my ratio is only 3.37 though.
Bit of background - weigh under 8 stone, walk at least an hour a day (usually hit 10,000 steps by midday). Vegetarian, very rarely eat fried food, or much dairy. Do use butter but only when I buy bread, which is fairly rare).
One the one hand I think this focus on cholesterol figures is mad and that my risk of heart attack/stroke is still low and that I'm doing everything I can. On the other I wonder if I should be looking at my diet, I do think it is fairly restricted as I have digestive problems and am paranoid about eating quite a few things.
Think this is down to hormones to be honest - anyone have any words of wisdom?
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Hello nearly50.
I am ten years older than you but we are similar in many ways as I am also eight stone, a daily walker and a vegetarian. My cholesterol was within normal range when I had it tested about five years ago but that was before I was fully vegetarian. The reason I'm posting is that I read recently that a high fibre intake helps to lower cholesterol levels so you may want to increase the amount of fruit and veg you eat if that's possible for you.
Wishing you well.
K.
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sparkle, you're probably better not knowing! Thanks for the link, it reminded me of what is possibly the most important factor - my dad had a heart attack at 47, and had heart disease for the rest of his life. Lasted to 88 though!
Thanks Kathleen, I eat a lot of fruit but probably should eat more vegetables. Looking at high fibre and oatmeal/berries/avocado seems the way forward. What to eat becomes such a minefield when you have digestive problems too.
medicheck told me to input figures here
https://qrisk.org/2016/
and go to doctor if I scored above 10% and I score 2.5% so I need to get this into context!
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My cholesterol is always raised when my oestrogen levels are low. Now that I have a constant high blood level of oestrogen, my cholesterol levels are normal for the first time in over 16 years i.e. when I started menopause. Same goes for blood pressure.
I realise it might not be the same for everyone but it is worth considering.
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My feeling is very much that cholesterol is not the enemy we used to all think it was. It is sugar. Have a watch of this video I think it explains my views on things.Just remember to convert the readings given to UK equivalents using the link underneath.
http://www.drnorthrup.com/video/blood-sugar-your-key-to-vibrant-health/
http://www.joslin.org/info/conversion_table_for_blood_glucose_monitoring.html
My Mum had a severe stroke with a cholesterol of 3.3 but her fasting glucose was 7. She has never recovered and is now a very poorly lady dying from vascular dementia.Never actually diagnosed as diabetic, but on the borders with those sugars, and her diet was absolutely dreadful. It could be a coincidence, but I am not a fan of worrying about cholesterol any more. Mine is similar to yours nearly50. However my blood glucose machine tells all- eat too many simple carbs and sugars stay elevated for much longer than if I eat well. I have to be careful as I am at risk of diabetes as my last baby was over 10lbs.
This is good too.
http://www.drnorthrup.com/video/medical-tests-women-over-60/
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Hi,
Interesting reading. My fasting glucose was tested last week at 6.8, yesterday i did it again with the glucose drink. Results monday and asked for cholestrol check too, never had it done before. Improving my diet which wasn't bad anyway. Wondering if hormones changing things. Never had problem before.
Thanks
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Thanks so much Machair, I will have a proper look later at home :) I think what you say is very true though and I have been trying to eat low sugar items over the past year or so, and not really paying attention to levels of fat as much as I used to.
Mary G, this was one of my other results, taken at the same time
17-BETA OESTRADIOL 910.5 pmol/L
so I think that means my oestrogen levels were pretty high at the time.
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Thats a healthy Oestrodiol reading:) I agree with cholesterol not being as great an issue as the sugar levels, and your good cholesterol is really nice and high which my Dr told me balances out the naughty cholesterol so I really would not stress if you are eating a balanced diet cutting bk on the sugar and getting enough exercise.
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Don't worry about your cholesterol, it's just a health red herring. Give it a few more years and it will have dropped of the radar.
Check out this website for more info.
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/
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Just a point nearly50 my gran ate a very high fat diet and I mean high fat, and she lived to 102 and got a telegram from the queen! She was rather sceptical of doctors and loved nothing more than Lancashire home baking. She was very content with her life, and had very little, so may be this is the way to be. Mind you in her day there was no pressure to attend screenings or medical appointments, so I think people lived in peace in a way - in the dark but happy!
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My cholesterol is higher than that - it was 7.4 when measured a few weeks ago. Even so the doc was not worried because I am not overweight (although just under 9 stone - but medium frame size), exercise a lot, have a very healthy diet masses of fruit and veg, lean protein, yogurt, eggs, nuts etc but eat very few carbs and almost no sugar except fruit ( and wine/G & T at weekend ::) ). There isn't anything else I can do. Doc said that some people have naturally higher cholesterol. She also did that Q test thing and I was low risk.
I certainly don't need any more oestrogen - OK my levels will be nothing like yours nearly50 - (that is very high - it is within the range of the ovulatory peak or late follicular phase and I presume you are still peri-menopausal so that will be some of your own - that would be probably too high to sustain into your 60's I imagine - due to having to take all that progestogen) - but I have no flushes and mine are probably consistent with early follicular phase. I haven't had them measured for years. I certainly would not increase oestrogen just to see if cholesterol is reduced.
I haven't read the links but wonder if my high protein/fruit/veg diet has something to do with it as I rarely eat bread, cereals, rice, pasta or potatoes - not even once a day.
nearly50 when I had mine done a year ago my HDL was 1.7, LDL 4.2, Total 6.5 but the ratio was 3.82 and it is OK if less than 4. Therefore I am puzzled about all of this (ie the individual readings) - my doc said the ratio was more important! I will have a look at the links at some point which probably explain...
Hurdity x
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Great, thanks a lot for that. All very reassuring and I think I will keep thinking about cutting sugars rather than worrying too much about fat. Good for me to just check what I'm eating again though and make a bit more effort.
Hurdity, all that oestrodiol is my own as I'm not on HRT. Still perimenopausal FSH is 16 and LH 21 so all pointing to midcycle. Though what's midcycle when you've had one period in 5 months?!
Thanks everyone :)
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Just a point nearly50 my gran ate a very high fat diet and I mean high fat, and she lived to 102 and got a telegram from the queen! She was rather sceptical of doctors and loved nothing more than Lancashire home baking. She was very content with her life, and had very little, so may be this is the way to be. Mind you in her day there was no pressure to attend screenings or medical appointments, so I think people lived in peace in a way - in the dark but happy!
Machair, my Nan was exactly the same! Always looked for the fattiest meat, ate cream and butter, wasn't overweight and lived till 99!!! Didn't ail much at all. Food was a lot simpler and not tampered with though unlike it is now.
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Oh yes and my Gran used to tell tales about "The Change" and how several times her periods were so heavy she flooded and ruined beds and chairs! Then she went on to live her entire life in years all over again!
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I managed to get my cholesterol down from 6.5 to 4.8 a couple of years ago, watching what I ate & exercising more. It's crept up, but GP wasn't unduly worried by it. I'm back exercising again, though not keeping such a close eye on how much I'm eating as it became a chore. But I do try & eat fairly sensibly. I find being dairy free makes it harder sometimes as foodstuffs tend to be made sweeter as a result. I do as much of my own cooking as I can using substitutes.
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My feeling is very much that cholesterol is not the enemy we used to all think it was. It is sugar.
Absolutely agree Machair. The wheel of truth is turning, though very slow...we have been mislead for centuries... :(
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Don't worry about your cholesterol, it's just a health red herring. Give it a few more years and it will have dropped of the radar.
AGREE!!!
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I think we only have one life and it is so easy to get obsessed with screening tests and results when we are feeling well. Better I think to live and be happy to a certain extent and enjoy things in moderation. Smoking is not good though, my Mum and Dad smoked for many years, and although now 85 Dad has battled bladder cancer for a decade, and Mum has been a cabbage since she was 75. Both have chest infections all the time and it isn't good. They have done very well to reach this age but many don't. I would have loved a Mum that I could talk to now. but she doesn't know who I am and hasn't been aware for many years. I wonder if she had been a non smoker if her fate would have been different as her Mum lived to 102 in excellent health.
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I managed to get mine down from 6.5 to 4.something with diet. I did it by making up a spread sheet (called the 'low fat spreadsheet' ;D ) to keep to the guidelines for fat and saturated fat. It was dismal. No cheese. I used to end up with a load of calories short at the end of the day, and only wholegrain starch to make it up :( Once I bought some chapatis. Normally, if you make them they are virtually no fat, but these took my daily saturated fat allowance over the top :o It is surprising what contains saturated fat. Biscuits are bad and wafer ones like kitkats are beyond the pale. It is the only time in my life I have lost weight through diet. ::)
Anyway, I threw in the towel on that one when my vit D tested low and I was wondering about the balance of my diet. There is only so far you can go by replacing creamy pasta sauces with tomatoes, and curry sauces with tomato based ones - you end up eating everything in tomatoes............
I have had my cholesterol tested since, and it has only crept up a little bit and the balance is much better.
Another method I have read about is to make sure your diet contains plenty of the following:
Oats - for the beta glucans. You can also increase soluble fibre.
Almonds - some other nuts are good too, but they do vary in fatty acid balance.
Soya and other beans.
I haven't tried it as the soya is not good for people who have had kidney stones, and I am allergic to the nuts ::) but I do have plenty oats and other beans.
The other thing to look at is fatty acids. There is a school of thought that too much omega 6 and not enough omega 3 is associated with inflammation and that cutting out saturated fat has not had the effect it should have had because it is easy to replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated that often contains an high proportion of omega 6 fatty acids (sunflower is mostly omega 6). Olive oil is mostly omega 9s which are neutral and is good for sweating onions etc and rapeseed is similar but will take higher temperatures. There are nut oils which may contain more omega 3s, but they usually do not like being heated so are better for salads and dressings.
Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids are used in the proportion you eat them. Ideally, you want a proportion of Omega 6 to Omega 3 of 4:1, but in the modern diet 20:1 is good going. In a non-veg diet fish, esp sardines and pilchards are a good source. Vegetarians need to get it from nuts and seeds - check out the ratios though.
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Sounds very complicated. I posted earlier in thread about my diet. I eat high protein low carb - but medium fat ie very few fried foods, but lots of lean protein (meat fish eggs), olive oil, lots of nuts, some beans, oats about twice a week, very few other added carbs (except what are in beans, fruit and veg), almost no cheese (except cottage), lots of low fat Greek yogurt, milk only in tea and coffee (8 mugs per day!), very rarely biscuits cakes bread pastry etc - I have more or less eliminated these from my diet. Alcohol mainly at weekends. Other than cutting out even more meat, eggs and increasing carbs again I can't see what else to do. My fat intake is not high...maybe if I did a spreadsheet it would be ::). Also doc did not say I should reduce anyway :-\
Hurdity x
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Blimey dahliagirl, get round here and sort me out! You could be on Mastermind! ;) x
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Sounds too much like hard work to me dahliagirl - well done on sticking it out more than a day! Hurdity, think I eat much the same as you, but I don't eat enough nuts, beans, oats. I say I'm vegetarian but I do sometimes eat fish so I am going to make an effort to eat more oily fish. My problem is that I can go months without eating any rubbish and then completely fall off the waggon and do something mad like eat boxes of mince pies. Hot cross buns are my downfall at this time of year too.
Think the consensus is that you only live once and there's too much focus on this one number when really added sugar is the thing to watch. :)
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As I said before apart from high sugar levels I am not too bothered about numbers. Life is very much about chance. I used to breed guinea pigs. They are amazing little creatures. They give birth to their offspring after 9 weeks gestation, and they walk within moments after birth and are absolutely wonderful. I loved them all, they all ate the same wonderful green veg based diet, with more veg than any government guidelines, and they all lived at the same address. Their life spans were anything from 9 months to over 10 years with all factors being equal- male or female it was all chance. Same has happened with my Persian cats - all loved and all kept the same, some passed on at 7 some at 17.
My parents had a very unhealthy lifestyle, but they are alive at 85, albeit with medical issues, but I have seen healthy living friends succumb to terrible diseases in their forties. I think we should do our best and then live our lives without fear and worry, and above all not feel guilty if the worst happens. My concern is that some pressure is coming from government telling us how to live, and then making us feel bad if we get a disease that they claim is partly our fault from some aspect of our lifestyle. My thoughts anyway.
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All joking aside Machair, whilst I eat really well, I am absolutely not prepared to give up on any food stuff. I cut back on carbs if I need to lose a few pounds but still eat them in moderation. I don't have a sweet tooth but if once in a blue moon someone offers me an eclair or raspberry tart who am I to say no!!!
I've always been lucky in that I've always been tiny despite having a massive appetite all of my life, hubby and kids are the same. However, I've gained a little recently as discussed so I'm reducing portion size. I know the rise in my cholesterol is due to the sudden disappearance of oestrogen, my diet can't be faulted so I'll just continue sensibly. Now the migraines seem to be calming I'll be able to exercise more.
Happy days! :)
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So delighted your migraines are calming, that is the best news ever! :)
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Thanks sweetie :) x
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Fat is better for you than carbs. You get far less hungry on a low carbon diet with a reasonable amount of fat. Fat is not the enemy in diets or weight control.
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Like I said, you can do it, but it is dismal ;D I know someone who had got hers down from 9, but she says she is very strict. She is also so incredibly thin that she must have had some eating disorder in the past. I also worry that you can get so caught up with trying to restrict one thing, that you neglect another.
My in-laws lived totally blameless lives and died at 70 and 73 from cancer, even though their parents lived until late 80s/90s. So I came to the conclusion that you have to enjoy what you have got.
I eat lots of nice food, not sunflower stuff. If it is fatty, it has good enough to be worth it ;) Plenty of fish, and I am learning to like beans better ;)
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I really agree dahliagirl. In fact my in-laws are an interesting case as my father in law had high cholesterol at 6.5 and lived to 87 in good health, whereas his wife died at 75 with a 10 year history of Alzheimer's and had a cholesterol of 4.
He ate crisps, she snacked on fruit.
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Interesting conversation. My parents lived into their 80s, neither looked after themselves at all. They left responsibility for their health firmly with their doctors. Hard to know what is down to lifestyle and what is down to genetics for me. I don't want to live my last few years depending on other people as my mum did - that would be my idea of hell. Maybe we'll have robot carers by then though :)
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I could do with a robot carer now - someone peel me a grape! ;D
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It'd be great, wouldn't it? I'd get it to go to work for me and I could skype in instructions for the pupils.
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Bump for new member nicolaVR
Hurdity x