August Tests Back

Did pretty well this time. Predictions: "... this time I expect an HDL of maybe 41; Overall Cholesterol 140; LDL 75 (I hope); Triglycerides of 125 or below." (last post)

HDL was better at 48. I estimated 41. This reflects the 4 grams of Omega 3/day plus the 2.5 Crestor plus the Trilipix plus the Zetia plus at least one Niaspan. In China I did do the Niaspan but not the statin. The statin does great for LDL and with the Trilipix - triglycerides.

Overall Cholesterol was 143 which was pretty close to my estimate of 140.

LDL was 79. I estimated 75 but was worried that it might be higher. It was, but not much. There is an habituation issue, I suspect. But I think this would have been lower if I had consistently taken 2 Niaspan/day plus all the rest. That will be worth doing. If I remember to take the Niaspan early and there is not a stomach problem, I'll take two. Otherwise one.

I predicted that triglycerides would be 125 (normal) or below and that is true. In fact, this is one of the lowest readings I have had at 76. Not sure what to make of this. I think Trilipix is key, but the Crestor, even at 2.5mg/day, and the one Niaspan all contributed.

My Dr. (didn't see him today) will say that's pretty good. I'm curious about whether there is any rollback that might be shown in a scan. I did get a note, as I mentioned, from the Orange County Group that ran the scan recommending an 18 month followup. My Dr. will say "wait, there's too much radiation to warrant doing it now." And he will say that no result from the scan would be likely to indicate any different response.

I'm averaging 121/67 in blood pressure over many hundreds of readings over the past year. There is a slight downward trend. I still need to do more stretching and some upper body work and lose ten pounds. I'm at about 200 now, up 4-5 pounds from my last trip. 185 would be ideal. I did get to 189 briefly in Hangzhou last Fall. Maybe I could shoot for 190 by Christmas.

I'd like to get off the statin entirely but it is effective, especially with respect to LDL. Still, there are rumors on the net about a connection between statin use and Alzheimers. But maybe muscle cramping could be an indicator that all is not right with Crestor. I haven't had that as yet (at least).

Next tests would be 4 months from now or early January. That would cohere with my PSA as well.