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Old 11-28-2013, 09:30 PM   #1  
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Default cholesterol went up...

Went in for annual exam this week and doc ordered cholesterol test. Called me yesterday concerned....240 with ldl of 180. I have been on program since May 1, I have lost 82 lbs. How do I now have high cholesterol? It wasn't high when I was way overweight and eating crap foods. Any one else experience this?
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Old 11-28-2013, 09:53 PM   #2  
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And your HDL is?

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Old 11-28-2013, 10:22 PM   #3  
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That is not cool at all. I wish I had an answer. I am going back when I reach my goal (hopefully Feb. 2014) to have mine rechecked too. I have very low numbers and I hope they still are!
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Old 11-28-2013, 11:12 PM   #4  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thewife View Post
Went in for annual exam this week and doc ordered cholesterol test. Called me yesterday concerned....240 with ldl of 180. I have been on program since May 1, I have lost 82 lbs. How do I now have high cholesterol? It wasn't high when I was way overweight and eating crap foods. Any one else experience this?
There is actually a scientific explanation ( and its temporary). Any GOOD doctor who understands low carb would know.
Lolo will jump in here and explain. She knows the details. I have to look it all up to explain.
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Old 11-29-2013, 04:26 AM   #5  
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My cholesterol dropped about 30 points, 6 weeks after starting IP, from about 225 to 195 or thereabouts. My triglycerides dropped as did my LDL. So my cholesterol results improved on IP Phase 1 after just a few weeks.

But the biggest improvement was my blood sugar which dropped from a daily range of 120-180 to 90-119 in only about 3 weeks after starting.

Another huge improvement was my blood pressure, which was 140/90 before I started IP, and now is around 100/70 (due mostly to me losing 70 lbs on the IP diet).

I am getting another full blood workup this week and will post my results. I am curious how things have changed in the past 3 months with another 40 pounds evaporated off my body since my last lab tests in early September.

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Old 11-29-2013, 09:07 AM   #6  
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Wow! Sorry to hear that. Does your MD know the specifics of your diet, or just that you're dieting?

Here is what happened with my test results from just before I started IP to 4 months into maintenance.

Total cholesterol from 165 to 117
HDL 37 to 53
LDL 112 to 57
Triglycerides 79 to 33

I was very happy with this and I honestly thought this was typical for people on IP. I discontinued cholesterol meds at that point and will be retested soon.

I'm interested in hearing the info that Lisa mentioned above. I was not tested while I was on phase 1, so don't know if there was some short -term negative impact.
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Old 11-30-2013, 02:16 PM   #7  
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I could not find the old information as my computer crashed and I had no time to reorganize. But essentially what IP does it shifts your body into ketosis and provides little calories. This will put your body into starvation mode and since you do not replenish carbs to a level that turns this signal off, your body will go into survival mode and break down fat and get essential glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis using protein. Due to this, carbs are not absolutely essential food for life.

However, bodies are designed to run on carbs (= glucose in cells) and glucose homeostasis is therefore regulated by a large number of hormones. Hormones will regulate how glucose enters cells in different tissues and how it is used. You take carbs away and a lot of things start to change, some of them may be long-term as glucose indirectly regulates how certain genes are expressed.

Glucose acts mainly through two hormones: insulin and leptin. Insulin and leptin act together to essentially control your metabolism. They also regulate each others levels. IP talks about insulin, but kind of leaves leptin out of the game. Insulin acts on the pancreas, leptin the liver and the brain (hypothalamus). If you take away carbs and put your body into starvation mode, you turn off those signals.

Therefore, when you go on IP, not only your insulin levels crash, but also leptin levels go down dramatically. Leptin may have a much more important action when you stay on IP long-term. In a healthy body, your body will adjust and rebalance hormones within a couple of weeks or months. However, not all people are the same and in some individuals, this rebalancing does not seem to fully occur. If you stay in starvation mode for extended periods of time, you may therefore begin to experience symptoms of leptin deficiency. Since leptin affects insulin secretion and the production of sex and thyroid hormones and all these systems also influence each other, this may add up over time.

Coming to your high LDL levels, leptin regulates the expression of cell surface proteins (mainly in the liver) that bind LDL and remove LDL from the bloodstream for transport into liver cells. You lack leptin and expression of the LDL receptor goes down. If you go on any very low carb diet, your cholesterol levels will change within the first couple of weeks and then readjust. If your body does not rebalance, you will experience an increase in "bad" cholesterol levels over time. There are two forms of LDL, small particles and fluffy ones. In healthy individuals only the fluffy ones should increase during ketosis. Your doctor can measure, which form you accumulate. Small particles are associated with risk of heart disease. Fluffy ones not so much. You should also check on CRP (cysteine rich protein) levels as this is a marker of inflammation. My personal experience on IP suggested that what went up was damaging to my arteries, but this may be different in other people.

Leptin also regulates your thyroid levels. What most people and doctors don't know is that over 2/3 of your active T3 is actually made in the liver. There are two enzymes that control this conversion from inactive T4 to active T3. At least one of these enzymes is regulated in response to glucose/leptin. Again, if you go into starvation mode, your active thyroid hormones will crash. If your body is unable to readjust, you may become hypothyroid over time. When in starvation, your body wants to slow down your metabolism and thyroid hormones are a major way this is achieved. So, besides down regulating T4 to T3 conversion, liver cells may also divert T4 to a different form of T3, called reverse T3 or rT3. rT3 can bind the same receptor T3 binds to, but it does not activate the receptor. If rT3 accumulates, you essential have an inhibitor of thyroid action. Most doctors will only test for TSH, which is secreted from the hypothalamus in the brain. They may check free T4 levels (=secretion from the thyroid gland). Unfortunately, when liver thyroid production is affected, TSH and free T4 levels do not really change. You would need to test free T3 and reverse T3, as well. Thyroid hormones (or better: T3) is known to regulate LDL receptor expression among other effects in isolated cells. So, leptin may affect LDL levels in the blood through T3. T3 also has additional effects on cholesterol levels. In any event, you lower active T3 and increase rT3, you expect to see some range of hypercholesterolemia. Now, not everybody on IP or low carb experiences this. It is possible that you need to be somewhat hypothyroid (with respect to your thyroid gland) and/or have differences in liver function to see this. There are also nutritional deficiencies including vit D, iron, copper etc that may play into.

Also, leptin is secreted from adipocytes (aka your fat cells). That is why most obese people have high levels of leptin. Weight loss will therefore reduce leptin secretion, making you potentially more susceptible to negative effects closer to goal. There are also studies showing that weight loss reduces T3 levels.

Here is a link to leptin action from a blog:
http://www.jackkruse.com/chapter-one-on-leptin/

It may provide some additional insight into some of the symptoms several IPers experienced.

Chris Kresser is a proponent of Paleo and his blog has some info on thyroid hormones and cholesterol.

Hope that helps. I would discuss with your doctor what to do. He may just suggest statins, but I think it would only target symptoms.

Last edited by Lolo70; 11-30-2013 at 02:19 PM.
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Old 11-30-2013, 04:36 PM   #8  
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Reading the post above make me think that the human body is so complex, that it's a wonder any of us are alive and kicking. I know my doctor was thrilled at my last checkup that I lost weight, but I suppose there is a price to pay for everything.
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