Best cholesterol medicine?

My endo. is always trying to get me to take medication but when I tried it my BG went up. Any recommendations on best cholesterol medicine to take with Type 1?

My recent cholesterol was highest ever 236 (HDL 62, Trig. 46, LDL 165, non-HDL 174) The HDL and Trig. were improved but the LDL was worse—last overall was 197.

Six weeks ago I started a lower carb. lifestyle to make it easier to control my sugars and just have a better life. Some think this will help my cholesterol levels, too. What really helps???

I had high cholesterol for years and the minimum dose of simvastatin brought it back into range. Your HDL and Trig #s are excellent so “all” you have to do is get that LDL down. I was told by my endo that bringing blood sugar down helps cholesterol numbers. Your renewed efforts will probably provide multiple benefits.



Maurie

My cholesterol level was 2.9 and my Dr wanted me to start taking Crestor to get it down. I don’t like taking medication and so started taking fish oil capsules twice a day. I have also reduced the fatty meats, eggs and cheese. I was able to get my cholesterol down to 2.0 in 4 months. I know everyone is different but I really do think the Omega 3 capsules have helped…

Paul

No doubt ANY of the cholesterol meds help reduce cholesterol. Many people question whether that truly means reduced rates of heart related conditions. Most people find Low Carb diets do reduce cholesterol but in some it can actually increase it so make sure you get a f/u cholesterol panel if you decide on LC as your strategy. Other methods include increasing your soluble fiber intake and plant stanol/sterols (these can be expensive though).

Blood sugar is most closely tied to triglycerides (in that lowering blood sugar will help reduce triglycerides) and fish oil capsules usually are given to help with triglycerides as well. Controlling blood sugar is obviously a good goal regardless and may help reduce the LDL some but I wouldn’t look for a large effect from this alone.

Fenofibrate 200 mg/day. Helps BG and lowers cholesterol. If you really want to improve your lipids more fat and less carbs.

Hmmm. Cholesterol medication. I guess in my view the real cholesterol problems are low HDL and high Triglycerides. You can raise HDL with things like good fats, fish oil, red wine and exercise. You can lower your Tris by tightening up your blood sugar control and reducing your carbs.

But in your case, your HDL is fine and your Tris are already low, so I guess I would just sit pat. Do you think there is a problem? You shouldn’t just take a medication for no reason.

What is your thyroid like? My cholesterol skyrocketed when my thyroid went out of whack but came back down when that leveled off.