So how's your cholesterol?

Much to my surprise, mine went up after losing almost 100lbs!

Did yours?

I am curious for those vets who went in to maintenance, did your numbers level back off after your stopped losing?

I wonder if I should start a medication or if it will work itself out.

Any advice?

I am 3 years out from my VSG. Mine went down 35 points year1 up 20 year 2 then up another 40 year 3 eating kind of bad last year. I am seeing that what I eat now shows up in my blood work or I am what I eat so to speak.

I would say fish oil would definatley help I take 4-5 grams a day now. But I'm at a very high risk for heart disease. Diet and extra fiber can help get your numbers down too. 

If your doctor thinks it's bad enough I'm sure he will put you on medicine or something.

Good luck

 

That's interesting that your numbers have been climbing. I am not sure if mine is age related or not.

I am going to look at adding back my fish oil pills. I don't do much fiber either. It seems like my tummy doesn't like a lot of fiber. I do exercise 3 times a week. I love what swimming does for me. It contours my body wonderfully and makes me feel so fantastic!

Anyway, thanks for your ideas. I will def add back my fish oil pills and try to see if I can find some fiber my tummy can agree with

My cholesterol has always been very good overall with high HDL and low LDL. It has gotten a bit worse since the surgery 9.5 months ago. I noticed that my HDL is lower and my overall cholesterol, while still in the good range, is higher than it's been in years.

Yeah, it's werid. I wonder if it's because our bodies are so busy breaking down fat.

I guess mabye some day someone will be able to tell us why.

Thanks for your response!

 most probably won't be interested in this, but i have been researching heart disease and while looking across my blood tests i came across one called 'high sensitivity c reactive protein assay' which measures inflammation.  when i googled what the test was and how to interpret the results i realized that i have inflammation in my body and that affects your arteries and how they handle cholesterol.  so if you know your c reacive protein number that might give you a bigger picture on your total heart health.  this is newer research and now that i've discovered it i see it popping up everywhere.)

Your doctor may also use a highly sensitive test called hs-CRP to help determine your risk of heart disease. According to the American Heart Association:

• You are at low risk of developing cardiovascular disease if your hs-CRP level is lower than 1.0mg/L
• You are at average risk of developing cardiovascular disease if your levels are between 1.0 and 3.0 mg/L
• You are at high risk for cardiovascular disease if your hs-CRP level is higher than 3.0 mg/

worth a read.  (i am on a low inflammation diet now because mine was 4.1)

i predict this will become much much more publicized over the next while.

clinical data

layman's terms

Hmm. That's very interesting. They sure don't have down very well now how to predict it. He He

My dad had a stress test one week saying he was fine, then had a small heart attack the next. Crazy. I have seen that sort of thing so many times. One of my husband's co-workers actually died on the treadmill during a stress test! So, I am not sure they have it all figured out yet.

I am not a super health nut but I would like to understand better why it went up. I really don't think it's dietary related since I eat way better than I did pre-op. I guess it could be that my body is breaking down fat for energy and and in doing so, releasing products that are showing up on this test. It's the only thing that makes any sense to me why it would go up.

Thanks for the interesting info. I will have to request those tests next time I am in.

At my physical, when I was almost 7 months out, my cholesterol had improved across the board.  Last year, my pcp wanted to put me on meds, but I resisted.  This year she said to continue with diet and exercise, as well as taking fish oil.  The best change from last year was that my triglycerides went way down and are now normal.  Some of the recent info I've heard is that, for women, elevated triglycerides can be riskier than elevated cholesterol.  I was very please.  However, as I am not quite a year out yet, I don't have long term data to look at. 

You know, now that you mention it, I stopped my fish oil pills at that time. Hmmm.

Maybe that's the answer. Dr. Oz got me started on them a long time ago and after surgery I was so focused on all the other stuff the doc said to do, I kind of dropped all the good things Dr. Oz had said to do over the years.

That's probably it!! Now I know. I bet once I pick them back up, I will be back on track.
 
I never thought about them for that purpose but I am sure that's why he said to go on them. I will pick some up next time I am at the store. I know they are good for you. I used to alternate days with the fish oil and the flax seed oil. I think there are different beneficial properties in each, so I would alternate days taking each in hopes of getting the benefits of each without overdoing it.

Thanks so much! My heart thanks you too!

My husband uses red krill supplements instead of fish oil and swears by it! The fish oil capsules used to give him fishy burps. I never could taste them, but he wasn't a fan.