Hooray for Doctors like William Davis!

And a thanks is in order to Nancy LC on Active Low Carber forum for reminding me what an excellent blog he has.

So I'm starting this week by posting my last labs:
Total Cholesterol = 377
HDL = 53
LDL = 281
Trig = 214
Ratio: 7.11

This is really a wake-up call for me. My cholesterol labs have been horrid for years, so this isn't a huge shock or anything. I was on Lipitor for years. They switched me to Vytorin for a while when I complained that I hurt all over and besides my numbers still weren't good. Finally I did the research for myself and found out about the statin scam being perpetrated on our country by the pharmaceutical industry and it's largely cooperative handmaidens, our family doctors.

My regular physician is just horrified that I continue to flaunt death in the face by not taking at least Crestor, which in her opinion "may save my life".

Oh, and while I'm at it, let me mention that none of my doctors in 25 years or so has ever optimized my thyroid. But I digress.....

The reason these last numbers are a wake-up call is because:

1) I really did think that low carbing would cure my cholesterol issues
2) I now know that high triglycerides are more a risk marker for heart disease than high LDL.
3) I also know that hypothyroidism leads to poor blood lipids. A connection, that, I'm very sorry to say none of my doctors ever pointed out or seemed to acknowledge.

And with all this in mind, it's more proof that my Metabolic Syndrome is not under control yet.

So I'm pulling out all the stops.

Starting this week, I'm taking 5600 mg of Carlson fish oil daily. 500 mg Slo-Niacin (and upping that to 1000 mg daily starting today hoping the flushing doesn't drive me nuts). 8000 mg of Vitamin D3 and all this is in addition to the supplements I have already been taking.

I'm having my hormone doctor manage my thyroid from now on. SHE GETS IT!!! I had a very nice visit with her the other day and she acknowledged that there is certainly a correlation between my non-optimized thyroid labs and my poor blood lipids. She wrote me a prescription for 60mg of Armour to be taken twice a day. THANK YOU, Dr. Glaser.

I'm hoping that all of this will also lead to some victories in my weight loss battle, too.