Preband High Cholesterol

[peek 1]

Hi all

I am trying to convince my hubby to becoming a bandit since his cholesterol professor recommended a bypass, which my husband rejected outright. He doesn't want anything that's not reversible.

The problem is there's no medical research or evidence they can find that the lapband will help with high cholesterol other than the studies done with patients who have had the bypass surgery.

He is 47, overweight, has heart troubles and has had high cholesterol for many years that is not controllable with drugs. He has tried it all but they just seem to have a bad effect on his liver. Except for the weight, all these conditions are hereditary. I want him around a little longer!

Simply, I would like to know if anyone here has been successful in reducing their very high cholesterol after having lapband surgery.

Thanks in advance.

[MerryHearted 20]

Hmm. Well, mine was high enough pre-band that my doc told me he was going to put me on a drug for it. I asked him to let me try on my own. A few months after banding I got tested again and my cholesterol had dropped enough that I don't need to take anything for it. It's still just slightly above where it should be, and I've dropped 100 lbs now.

So I don't know if the band will necessarily "fix" high cholesterol entirely, but I bet just the eating so much less and eating healthier will bring it down somewhat. And maybe that's good enough?

[SuzanneG 1]

I'll know if mine has helped by next week. I have been able to give up Nexium and my BP meds! Yeah!

I too can't take the cholesterol meds, so I'm hopeful that mine will be improved. I'll let you know how mine turns out.

[Long2BFree 12]

I haven't been banded yet, but I think diet has a lot to do with the high cholesterol. My total cholesterol was over 525 about 8 months ago and my LDL was so high that it didn't register on the blood test and my HDL wasn't great neither. I was on three meds but had problems with them so the doctor took me off and put me on one other med. I had to take them before each meal and would always forget. Anyway, since the nutritionist put me on a pre-surgery diet of 5 shakes a day and 1 low calorie meal, my levels have stabelized. My doctor was amazed by my last test results that just came back four weeks ago as everything was normal. I am now a firm believe that diet does make a difference. BTW, heart disease runs in my family and so does high cholesterol.

[Telecia 1]

I think it would depend most on why his cholesterol is high. If its because of diet yes it will reduce. If its because of genetics it might not. Excersise is the only thing besides medication that will help with genetic high cholesterol according to my doctor.

We had a long talk about cholesterol one day because she had to increase my lipitor from 20mg to 40 despite the fact that have been conciously on a low cholesterol diet of sorts for the last 10+ years. I started to get really upset. Cause we do eat very little fatty foods. She said mine must be more due to genetics then diet and that was why she had to increase my dose.

But heck losing weight and getting more excersie will help with all of his health matters in some form, so even if it doesn't handle/reduce the cholesterol he still has other good reasons to do somekind of WLS.

I can't blame him for not wanting a bypass the fact they cut up and rearrage internal organs turned me off of it too. lol

plus everyone I know personally whos had the bypass have nasty side effects or are gaining their weight back!!

[Jachut 487]

Mine has always been high in the normal range- and it still is. It runs in my family. Luckily, with all the exercise I do my HDL/LDL ratio is really excellent so at the moment, its not a worry.

My mum who was more sedentary (plays a lot of golf, but really you need strenuous exercise, not just walking a golf course two times a week) had the high cholesterol AND the LDL/HDL ratio was bad too, she had a heart attack last November, a very mild one, but still. And since then she's taken up power walking and Curves (because her diet was already faultless) and its right back in the normal range.

[jfran 0]

THE BAND ITSELF will NOT reduce the cholestrol (as I am sure you realize). If you are banded and still eat the same high cholestrol foods but in smaller portions it may come down a bit, but not too much. For the band to really work, you need to be ready to make a total lifestyle change which includes eating healthy (not dieting) and exercising. The combo of these will help tremendously. Pre band (pre exercise, pre healthy lifestyle) I had a mildly high cholestrol level. Now that I have adopted a healthy life style and lost nearly 100lbs I have normal cholesterol, BP, Glucose, Triglycerides, etc....its all normal. I would encourage your hubby to go for the band if he is ready for a lifestyle change for the long haul and as others have said if its genetic all of this may not help at all but it will make him healthier and it will help to keep him around much, much longer.

[mbanja 1]

It is funny this came up right at this time because I just had a yearly check up at my pcp office and my bad cholesterol levels had gone up and good cholesterol had gone down since being banded. I agree with Jfran and Telicia and Jachut. It just depends on other factors. It is funny though cuz even at my highest weight I never had any problems with my cholesterol it was alway perfect just like my glucose levels and BP. That is why I was a self pay, healthy as an ox other than being fat.

[Telecia 1]

It is funny this came up right at this time because I just had a yearly check up at my pcp office and my bad cholesterol levels had gone up and good cholesterol had gone down since being banded. I agree with Jfran and Telicia and Jachut. It just depends on other factors. It is funny though cuz even at my highest weight I never had any problems with my cholesterol it was alway perfect just like my glucose levels and BP. That is why I was a self pay, healthy as an ox other than being fat.

Yep I have known that I had bed cholesterol levels since I was 16 and NOT overwieght (and very active). I was a foster kid durring my teens and at 16 our foster program (private program) Put ALL girls on the pill at 16 if they could. So I found out that my cholesterol was high. So from then on I have been conciously avoiding fatty foods.

And It has been FRUSTRATING to say the least because everytime I would go to the dr and they would check cholesterol levels getting scolded when I was already eliminating fatty foods from my diet and it didn't help.

So for 20+ years I have had dr's scolding me for something I can't control. It is rather nice now to have one who realizes its heriditary and does't chew out me out every visit. But for other things she sucks so I still have to find a new PCP lol.

[KarenG. 0]

I had high cholesterol before the surgery and was really hoping I wouldn't need the meds anymore for it when I lost weight but so far the weight loss hasn't helped my high cholesterol. It has helped me in EVERY other way though!

[Jachut 487]

The other thing to be careful of is the Protein first thing - you have to try to avoid too much saturated fat, which is very hard when you're eating a very protein focussed diet. You cant eat 16 eggs a week and expect your cholesterol levels not to respond.

[mbanja 1]

Good point Jachut, I was so focused on our "diet" and not really paying attention and when I got my chl results back I was like "Oh my gosh, I've lost 40lbs since last test, it should be good, what have I been eating...etc"

[peek 1]

Thanks ladies. My DH has just joined the gym so we will see how he goes with excercise and how that affects his chol readings in a few months.

He really doesn't want unnecessary surgery at this point as last year he had a particularly nasty foot infection that was not controllable by many drugs. He spent many multiple weeks in hospital on drips with some really heavy drugs after he developed a horrible multi-resistant staff infection that he picked up in hospital being treated for the initial foot infection! He has to be very careful about anything going wrong with his foot or any surgeries. Of course this has scared him.

The other thing is that when he was in his 20's and at about 65kg he still had high chol. He is not convinced the LBS will fix his chol at all because of the hereditary nature of his chol. It will certainly help his weight and his heart and that is a positive I am pushing at the moment. But he has to make the choice!

I am hoping at some point that he may 'come to his senses' and join me on the other side. He has seen my progress and has shown a mild interest but at this point, I think he is waiting for the 'success story' to happen (I am only half way there).

Thanks again.

[Telecia 1]

Ahh the dreaded MRSA I know it well. LOL. I spent 5 or so weeks fighting it off after my csection for my youngest. And nasty boughts of it for a few years after that. needing hospitalized every 6 months or so to fight off a new bought of it.

Till a friend of mine from outside the US recomended a product to me that got rid of the MRSA for good. SummerGlow® Apiaries : Superior certified Active UMF16+ Manuka Honey natural ulcer, wound, digestive treatment

2 jars of this stuff and the MRSA was gone. Haven't had any issues with it since.

Suposed to be great with healing infected wounds too.

Table spoon on toast every morning and in hot tea was all I did.