Got cholesterol labs back from the doctor...

[astronaut23]

I have been eating this way for a month now.

What sent me in search of this way of eating was having a high cholesterol level of 369.

Called the doctor today to see if my blood labs were back...I'm floored....Total cholesterol of 80 and bad cholesterol of only 30...wow...

[astronaut23]

Heres the real kicker though can you believe that the Dr wants me to continue taking statins with those numbers and reevaluate in 6 months...lol...what a joke...Dr's are pill pushers to the extreme.

[lmggallagher]

Congrats to you on your great results!

Doctors can be so funny - some just aren't prepared for this at all. Did he explain why he still wants you on Statins?

Best wishes - Michelle

[geo]

Wow! TC of 80 and LDL of 30 is incredibly low and fantastic for only one month. Is this with statins?

He probably wants you staying on the drugs just to see if this was a fluke or not, or if you will continue on your "diet"...he's probably well aware that people don't stay on "diets" for long...I would definitely question him about it.

[astronaut23]

Congrats to you on your great results!

Doctors can be so funny - some just aren't prepared for this at all. Did he explain why he still wants you on Statins?

Best wishes - Michelle

Yeah imagine that...fixing problems without pills. Just lifestyle changes.

The funny thing is the pharmaceuticals don't work...even if biomarkers are improved like lowering of sugar it doesn't cure the underlying disease. Dr. Mcdougall discusses this in how diabetic pills do much harm.

This way of eating is amazing in the health benefits...its hard to believe...but the results for so many people speak for themselves.

[astronaut23]

Wow! TC of 80 and LDL of 30 is incredibly low and fantastic for only one month. Is this with statins?

He probably wants you staying on the drugs just to see if this was a fluke or not, or if you will continue on your "diet"...he's probably well aware that people don't stay on "diets" for long...I would definitely question him about it.

Yes this is with 20 mg of Crestor...because of the 369 total cholesterol...I had over 200 LDL as part of that 369 cholesterol. While I was still eating meat but starting taking the statins my LDL had come down to 150 but you see even 20 mg of Crestor couldn't get it down to a safe level. It wasn't till going plant based that it dropped this much.

[Vegankit]

That's fantastic results. Congratulations.

There can be errors when looking at a single test result. I think you need some sort of a plan with your doctor - both to retest for this result and again in the future to see if these numbers hold and to show your doctor that you are maintaining the diet. You need to make it clear that you want his help to wean you off the drug. He probably needs reassurances that you will maintain the diet as well as some proof that the diet is effective. You might be the first patient he has seen who has done something like this and he is wary or having problems realizing how effective diet can be.

[PineappleTraci]

Congratulations on those beautiful, beautiful numbers! You probably *feel* awesome too.

I love the fact that you're not chasing after this doctor to give you approval and validation. ("But Daddy, I mean, Doctor! -- I just wanted you to tell me you were proud of me!")

Heres the real kicker though can you believe that the Dr wants me to continue taking statins with those numbers and reevaluate in 6 months...lol...what a joke...Dr's are pill pushers to the extreme.

Ha! You totally rock.

[cobrabubbles]

I have been eating this way for a month now.

What sent me in search of this way of eating was having a high cholesterol level of 369.

Called the doctor today to see if my blood labs were back...I'm floored....Total cholesterol of 80 and bad cholesterol of only 30...wow...

Is this an endocrinologist? You may want to contact your primary care physician, or even your insurance company, and ask for help finding a specialist who is supportive of getting off meds. I ran into the same thing. After 3 years "The pills are finally working!" was his explanation... Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[astronaut23]

No not endocrinolist. Regular doctor.

[astronaut23]

But what you say is ridiculous. Dr.'s think their drug regimen finally worked a miracle when it doesn't work in 99 percent of the people cause they don't change their diets. Dr. Esselstyns book has an account of a guy who reversed his artery disease and the cardioligist bragged that it was the drug regimen that was responsible. Geez.

How much does a drug regimen work in people. So finally someone reverses and the cardiologist thinks its the drugs that never work in others who don't change diet?

[cobrabubbles]

But what you say is ridiculous.

don't get me started... my last visit to that endocrinologist, he had a "trainee" with him. I had dropped about 35 lbs at the time and he asked "do you know why you need less insulin now than before?" I responded "Yup. Lower levels of intra-cellular lipids is reducing my insulin resistance".

His response in front of the young MD? " No... it's because there is a direct correlation between weight loss and the need for using insulin!"

Pure genius... And the good news is he's training the next generation!

[ETeSelle]

The meds obviously had a great deal of impact on lowering your cholesterol--you can't drop down that much in that short a period via diet alone.

When you get off the statins, that number will go up. Then it will gradually go down over time if you stick w/ this WOE.

[cobrabubbles]

The meds obviously had a great deal of impact on lowering your cholesterol--you can't drop down that much in that short a period via diet alone.

I went from 205 to 107 in 15 days when I started this. Okay, granted the initial test was early september, and the follow up test was near the end of October, but I made no changes to my diet from that test date until I started this WOE October 7th. by the 22nd my Total cholesterol dropped 98 points. When I stopped my statins it went up to 122.

[astronaut23]

Well I found out from my Dr. why she wants me to stay on the statins. "Because my cholesterol was 369 before starting them". Wow, she thinks that the its all due to the miracle of taking a drug. LOL...yep certainly can't have anything to do with because I ate 10 percent of less of total fat from whole food plant sources and ZERO cholesterol for the last month.

How many people get on statin drugs and their cholesterol falls from 369 to 78 with no dietary changes in a month? She should know better than that kind of nonsense.

But to cut her some slack she didn't know I was eating a plant based diet until the office called back and once they explained why she wanted me to stay on these statins I made it pretty clear about my dietary changes and that I was eating a ZERO cholesterol diet and a truly low fat diet.

Either way I am thrilled that my nums dropped from 369 down to 78 total.


Oh and she was worried about my HDL being low but I'm not concerned about it at all. I remember Dr. Esselstyn says low HDL is not a concern with people eating this kind of diet. That when the total is this low then high HDL is not needed. High HDL is needed when people are consuming lots of cholesterol and need the HDL to transport it back to the liver for clearance. I certainly don't want to go back to eating animal products to boost HDL...because that will boost total and LDL also. With LDL of 30 I'm not worried about the HDL not being over 45 or whatever it is that they want.

But is there any way to boost HDL other than eating animal foods because my HDL was higher when eating animal foods...no doubt about that but my LDL was over 200 also...

I'm a lot less concerned with a profile of HDL 33 LDL 30 than I am HDL 45 LDL 200. Also my triglycerides went from over 100 down to 75 so that is a good improvement in health marker there too.