Dr. wants me to take Welchol but....

[kclynn]

Diagnosed a month ago.

4-29-09
a1c 6.4
fasting glucose 112

ast 40 10-35
alt 63 6-40

cholesterol lipid 164 <200
tryglicerides 225 <150
hdl 34 >41 L
ldl 85 0-99


1 month later

a1c 6.2
fasting glucose 98

ast 30 10-35
alt 54 6-40

I have been eating a low carb, moderate protien diet and also lost 10 lbs. She didn't test cholesterol numbers this time. As you can see everything else is down. Yay me!

So my question is why does my Dr. want me to go on welchol? It has only been a month and I have made downward progress in all areas. My numbers aren't that way out there to start (except my weight and Triglycerides, but the triglycerides are down from a couple years ago by 50 points due to improving the quality of the foods I eat. I still have been eating too much of them, apparently). I also confess to not exercising like I should but started today.

I told the Dr. no. I think I should keep doing what I am doing plus add in the exercise and that should keep my numbers improving. At least I thought I would try it this way for a month or two.

I just want to know if I'm missing something?

Thanks,
Lynn

[genie86333]

Hi, Lynn.

I'm not familiar with Welchol, but I see it's for lowering both your A1C & LDL - your A1C is already going in the right direction (not that it was extremely high to begin with - your highest A1C (6.4) is my lowest!) and she didn't test cholesterol this time, so I don't know why she'd want to put you on it in the first place (If she was concerned with the test results last month, why didn't she do it after the 1st round of tests?)

I'd say, you're the boss & I'd go with your gut feeling. You can always change your mind & go on the medicine in a month or two.

[kclynn]

Thanks, that is what I thought exactly. But this is all new so was just making sure I wasn't missing something!

[yannah]

I am the leader of my health team. wasn't always, but it became apparent I had to take over, and apparently I rock.

[genie86333]

You're welcome, Lynn.

As Yannah said, you're the boss of your healthcare team.

I'd say, at the very least, ask the doctor for her reasoning & CURRENT test results that back up that reasoning, before agreeing to any changes. I don't think that's too much to ask.

[ShottleBop]

Show your doctor the UCSD Statin Effects Study (https://www.statineffects.com/info/index.htm):

As of this writing, no study has shown statins or any other cholesterol drugs to lower overall mortality in women; and epidemiologically, cholesterol in women does not have the same relation to mortality as in men. Although higher cholesterol is linked to a higher rate of heart attacks per se, it is not linked to overall cardiovascular death or to overall death; indeed, lower cholesterol is linked to a slightly higher risk in some studies. Consistent with this, there is a decided reduction in heart attacks in women with statins, but the death rate overall -- or even cardiovascular death rate - has not been shown to be reduced. It is possible that there are subgroups of women for whom statins confer benefit exceeding risk, but this has never been demonstrated.