Good morning. I am interested in veterans (or anyone post-op) that had high cholesterol before wls and whether surgery had any effect on cholesterol numbers - 6 months out, 1 year out, years beyond, etc. Also was this with or without startig/continuing any medication? Thank you.

I had ridiculously high cholesterol, even taking medication. I stopped taking medication on my own long before I even considered surgery. I did not take medication after surgery. At my 6 month follow up, my cholesterol levels were within normal range. If I can find my lab paperwork, I'll come back and post the numbers.

It might take a while for your cholesterol to adjust. Burning a lot of fat rapidly can make your cholesterol spike until your weight stabilizes.

Cholesterol and weight don't really correlate well. You could be paperthin and still have very high cholesterol. You might lower the cholesterol a little bit with good weight loss but if you are genetically prone to have high cholesterol which is called familial hypercholesterolemia, you would still need to be on medication. I have always had high cholesterol and had quadruple bypass heart surgery back in 2002. I have been on medications for the past 20 years because I have that familial hypercholesterolemia. You should talk with your doctor about that. I have lost 40 pounds since my sleeve surgery in March but I still stay on my medication. My cholesterol has not really varied much since the surgery

My cholesterol went from over 330 down to just over 100 at my 6 weeks check up. My next check up with blood work will be in September. I'm 10 weeks out.

I've had high cholesterol since I was a teenager. at my three month labs I was in normal range.

In October 2014, as I was completing the pre-qualification process for the sleeve, my total cholesterol was 254. So my official comorbid diagnosis was dyslipidemia, a.k.a. high cholesterol.

In April 2015, a few days before being sleeved, a recheck of my total cholesterol indicated it was 197. It had further dropped to 160 approximately two months post-surgery.

In October 2015, my six month post-op labs indicated my total cholesterol had spiked into the 300s. Apparently some people experience a phenomenon called transient hypercholesterolemia whereby the free fatty acids that we burn off during weight loss end up in our bloodstreams.

People do not always realize that cholesterol is also tied up in our stored fat and muscle tissue. When we burn off our fat stores during weight loss, stored fat gets mobilized into the bloodstream.

My primary care provider wanted to place me on prescription cholesterol-lowering drugs. I refused because my body tolerates them horribly. I started taking high doses of niacin and red yeast rice, and my cholesterol is now in the high 100s.