I had to have some blood work done recently. Well, a little over a month ago on 10/25. I finally got the results back Tuesday. And they were a little startling in one aspect. At least startling in the sense of seeing something I wasn’t expecting.
Apparently my cholesterol isn’t that well off:
| Test Name | Result | Reference Range |
| Glucose (blood) | 89 | 60 – 115 mg/dL |
| Hemoglobin A1c | 5.9 | 3 – 6.1 % |
| Fructosamine | 1.7 | 1.2 – 2.1 mmol/L |
| BUN | 16 | 5 – 25 mg/dL |
| Creatinine (blood) | 1.4 | 0.5 – 1.5 mg/dL |
| Alkaline PHOS | 50 | 30 – 125 U/L |
| Total Bilirubin | 0.5 | 0.1 – 1.2 mg/dL |
| AST (SGOT) | 28 | 0 – 41 U/L |
| ALT (SGPT) | 32 | 0 – 45 U/L |
| GGT/GGTP | 30 | 2 – 65 U/L |
| Total Protein (bld) | 7.3 | 6 – 8.5 g/dL |
| Albumin (blood) | 4.9 | 3 – 5.5 g/dL |
| Globulin (blood) | 2.4 | 1 – 4.5 g/dL |
| Triglycerides (heart.org info) | 167 * | 10 – 150 mg/dL |
| Cholesterol | 204 | 175 – 280 mg/dL |
| HDL Cholesterol (heart.org info) | 37 | 35 – 80 mg/dL |
| LDL Cholesterol | 133 | 104 – 179 mg/dL |
| Cholesterol/HDL | 5.5 ** | 0 – 4.9 |
| LDL/HDL Ratio | 3.61 | 0.9 – 5.3 |
Damn.
Time to go see the doctor and learn about making some changes to myself, apparently.
That, or just ignore it and have a heart attack or a stroke eventually.
Until next time...
OK, remain calm at all times. Your other numbers are fine and you’re obviously in good health. The cholesterol numbers aren’t within the good range but they’re far from catastrophic. Your doctor may talk to you about your diet and may also start you on one of the statins to control your cholesterol numbers medically. This is a triple win, because it’s been proven now that statins also reduce incidence of heart attack and stroke.
In my case, after examining my diet in detail, my doctor concluded that my cholesterol levels were in all probability inherited from my parent(s) which is why he went for the statins. My good cholesterol is now way up while my bad cholesterol is very low. I think you’ll be fine.
Thank you. I am calm. Actually, I’m fairly “lah tee dah” over the whole thing. Which is weird because I tend to be a slight hypochondriac at times. I’ll be scheduling an appointment with my doctor to go through the process of what’s going on inside me.
I’m glad you were able to get yours under control through!
Text me: I deal with this stuff all the time; I used to have a Chol/HDL ratio over 8.0! and now it is down to 2.3! It all can be improved.
TG are fickle; and the HDL isn’t bad. Things are not as bad as it looks.
Thanks, Spo. I’ll text you.
I’m not particularly worried about the numbers. I’m sure my doctor will complain about my lack of exercise and my lack of diet. All things I need to start paying attention to, I suppose.
I would not panic over those numbers. THe LDL is within normal ranges, so if you got the HDL up, the total would be fine. Getting the HDL up would also help the TriG go down. Best way to get HDL up: exercise. Sorry.
I’m not panicking yet. Although the thought of exercise makes me panic.
I’ll trade you high glucose for high cholesterol.
Getting old sucks, and not in a good way. Trust me on this.
Where’s the medical nanobots that we were promised?
The same place that the wheeled space stations, PanAm flights to the moon, and manned missions to Jupiter are. Not to mention the flying cars and jetpacks.
It’s not that bad, but you do need to cut out excessive red meat and fried foods, and get some exercise. We’re gettin’ old.
The exercise is the big one there for me. Ugh.
You turned 40…and you eat like a teenager.
But I at least drink like an adult! 😉