High cholesterol?

[hopefulmom76 41]

One year out, 110lbs down, and had my labs done...my cholesterol is up since my vsg. My doctor is suggesting I start taking simvastatin again (I took it for two years prior to surgery). This makes me feel like a failure!!! The reason I had surgery was for my health...and now I will be back on a pill. I am so disappointed. Has anyone ever experienced high cholesterol after wls surgery?

[KristenLe 5,980]

Sometimes high cholesterol is genetic and can't be controlled with just diet. My sister is small and has a higher cholesterol than me. However - I would try to lower it by diet first. I am assuming you were fasting before your blood work.

[Read2016 658]

Agree with Kristenle, genetics are hard to overcome... My dad and aunt neither who ever had a weight problem both struggle with high cholesterol... 110lb lost far from a failure

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein

[OKCPirate 5,323]

@@hopefulmom76 - possibly time for some diet analysis. Are there sources of trans fats in your diet? Switching my diet over to mostly lean meat, eggs and some fruit and vegies with little processed food has significantly lowered my "bad" cholesterol.

I am not yet convinced all the evidence is in about cholesterol though. I am thinking that inflammation is more dangerous, but I am not that dogmatic yet (and neither is my doctor, FYI). We have discussed, "just how much of these government recommendations are being influenced by some major food companies."

All that said, Dr. Dean Ornish might have the best diet in the world, but I would rather die early than eat only that. That is the price I will pay for enjoying life.

[OKCPirate 5,323]

Agree with Kristenle, genetics are hard to overcome... My dad and aunt neither who ever had a weight problem both struggle with high cholesterol... 110lb lost far from a failure

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein

Solution: pick better parents next time

[hopefulmom76 41]

Thanks all for the responses! Great points!

I suppose I should take a closer look at my diet. I probably eat too much red meat. I just figured since I never seem to eat much, that there's no way my cholesterol would be high.

I think I'm telling my doc I will try the statin after I make some diet changes and exercise more. Some of the statin side effects scare me too.

[Paluma0268 45]

Mine was up too. I immediately blamed the increased intake of red meat, but I also figured this wouldn't happen due to the limited amount I was eating. Apparently that is not the case. I don't want to add yet another pill because I'm trying to get rid of most of the ones I take, so I convinced my NP to wait a few months and recheck. Is it my red meat intake that's doing this? I try to eat chicken and fish as well, but nothing beats a good medium rare filet sometimes...

[jennmonterrozo 139]

I agree with the genetics. My 16 year old stepson who is very fit and active was just told his cholesterol was high!

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[stacyrg2 350]

Yes. My total cholesterol went from 154 to 306. Now that I'm in maintenance (maintaining a 120+lb loss) and my calories have increased, my cholesterol is leveling off. Down to the low 200's now and my surgeon and PCP believe it will continue to drop. Mine was caused by malnourishment during the losing phase. My calories were very low and my activity was high (I trained for and ran 4 1/2 marathons, plus did other physical activity). I know many here will doubt the cause, doubt my doctors' intelligence, etc. but their diagnosis and treatment was borne out by my other lab values and it reversed when my calories increased and stabilized. My doctors did not, and still do not, believe I need statin drugs. It is NOT all genetics nor is it caused by the type of food you eat.

[Christinamo7 4,042]

I am not yet convinced all the evidence is in about cholesterol though. I am thinking that inflammation is more dangerous, but I am not that dogmatic yet (and neither is my doctor, FYI). We have discussed, "just how much of these government recommendations are being influenced by some major food companies."

I am not yet convinced all the evidence is in about cholesterol though. I am thinking that inflammation is more dangerous, but I am not that dogmatic yet (and neither is my doctor, FYI). We have discussed, "just how much of these government recommendations are being influenced by some major food companies."

yes. yes yes yes. I do believe inflammation is at the root of an awful lot of what ails us. as I always say, listen to what @@OKCPirate says.

[Icantbelieveit 955]

I was told my cholesterol was high with my blood tests preop, but also told that no need to test until I lose and start maintenance because my cholesterol levels will be high just losing weight rapidly. Until then, no meds

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[jea(n__n)ette 98]

It's part genetics, part environment, part your metabolism is changing/adapting to weight loss, and part diet. My mother is anorexic and my father was never overweight, both had high cholesterol. That's my genetics right there. My cholesterol shot up when I started a stressful career several years ago and pre-op I was glad it went down. That's environment right there. Give your body some time to adjust because of your weight loss. Your body is saying "whoa! I'm getting less food so let's try to grab onto everything and store it in the liver!" You can even go completely vegan and your body will still make your own supply of cholesterol. Now here's the kicker, avoid processed food as much as possible (even though once in a while we need to treat ourselves or we go nuts).

Businesses are allowed to claim 0 trans fat or 0 fat if per serving if the amount of fat is less than 0.5. Yep, that's right, they legally are allowed to claim that and put it on Nutrition Labels. That Krispy Kreme donut has 0.4 grams trans fat, I eat a fifth portion anyways and my coworker laughs. If the doc wants you back on statins then by all means take it. There's no point of going through all of your amazing weight loss just to have a heart attack! When your cholesterol levels are back under control, by then it's possible to go off meds and the level is maintanable. Good luck.

Edited June 4, 2016 by jea(n__n)ette