Should I take a statin? Please take a look at my bloodwork.

[Pantera]

I'm 6'1, 210 lbs, and on the leanish side (about 13% bodyfat). Here is my cholesterol bloodwork:



My LDL is slightly out of range, and my apo-b could be lower. I've been trying to get my LDL down, but it's being resistant to being lowered. I do 45 minutes of cardio 3 times a week and eat a clean diet.

My doctor said I might want to think about a statin. I'm a bit hesitant because of the usual side effects people report. How bad is my cholesterol, and what's your opinion on the statin?

 

[koslawikov]

No Statin. Your Cholesterol is ok, total Cholesterol is slightly higher, HDL is in positive range and LDL just slightly elevated and your triglycerides are ok. As long your triglycerides are in range, even worse HDL and LDL are not this dangerous. Do not take a statin, statins you take for very bad cholesterol and only then because Statins have harsh side-effects, so you are all good, I have seen way worse lipid profiles. And do not listen to your doc, they just want to put you on pills and want to give statins to everyone with slightly elevated cholesterol even tho it is not even dangerous, it is nearly criminal to tell you to take a statin with this lipid profile.
For someone on Gear this is a lipid profile many would wish, I have seen profiles with nearly no existing hdl and ldl really over the top, in that case the thoughts about a statin could be right in place.

 

[Pantera]

Thanks for the reply. I think I will try to get my LDL down naturally. I think I can find some spots to clean up my diet - replace more whole eggs with egg whites, more fish, etc.

 

[koslawikov]

You can try to use some Cardarine, burns some fat and it has positive effects on my lipids, Niacine with the flush effect can help as well, red yeast rice can help too, but buy it from a quality source.

 

[readalot]

I'm 6'1, 210 lbs, and on the leanish side (about 13% bodyfat). Here is my cholesterol bloodwork:

View attachment 273604

My LDL is slightly out of range, and my apo-b could be lower. I've been trying to get my LDL down, but it's being resistant to being lowered. I do 45 minutes of cardio 3 times a week and eat a clean diet.

My doctor said I might want to think about a statin. I'm a bit hesitant because of the usual side effects people report. How bad is my cholesterol, and what's your opinion on the statin?

This is your bloodwork on what? Compounds, dosage, duration?

 

[OldGHGuy]

Personal choice but with this profile I agree I would not add at this point. That said, I am on low dose statin and it does wonders for my cholesterol (sub 150 total, etc) with no side effects. I would not fear them and they do make a huge difference for those that need them. Funny how many on the boards will pin high dosages of steroids (from the black market, I might add) but warn against taking a mostly benign, FDA approved, safe pharma drug that has been tested safe over and over again and that which can have a profound effect on long term health. Tren? Hell yes! But stay away from those statins.

 

[Pantera]

This is your bloodwork on what? Compounds, dosage, duration?

Sorry, should have specified. For the last 9 months, I've been cruising on 120mg test cyp per week injected twice per week (every 3.5 days). That puts my total test at about 800 - 850 ng/dL at the trough.

 

[readalot]

Sorry, should have specified. For the last 9 months, I've been cruising on 120mg test cyp per week injected twice per week (every 3.5 days). That puts my total test at about 800 - 850 ng/dL at the trough.

My compliments on your well thought out dosing.

Your trig/hdl-c ratio is excellent. Great the apo B was done as well. Only other components to ease your potential concern would be hs-crp and lp(a).

Follow up nmr lipoprotein (if performed) would show your lipid particle counts should be excellent. Well done.

 

[Pantera]

My compliments on your well thought out dosing.

Your trig/hdl-c ratio is excellent. Great the apo B was done as well. Only other components to ease your potential concern would be hs-crp and lp(a).

Follow up nmr lipoprotein (if performed) would show your lipid particle counts should be excellent. Well done.

Thanks man. I appreciate your replies.

Edit: What are your thoughts on my LDL, in the context of my other markers?

 

[readalot]

Thanks man. I appreciate your replies.

Edit: What are your thoughts on my LDL, in the context of my other markers?

Ldl-c is an incomplete metric on its own. Run the nmr is you want your ldl-p quantified. Your apo B and trig/hdl-c are the most useful results from what was shared. As a proxy for nmr results, both indicate you are in good spot. If you have high risk of CVD (many risk factors) you should do the nmr test.

 

[readalot]

Some references if interested....

Please help, Statin advice, Lipids are off

@Scruf Are you on a keto diet? In your first post you said you were in ketosis every day. If so, what do your macros look like? The reason I ask is because keto diets are usually very high in fats, and the most fucked up my lipids have ever been was when I tried a keto diet for a short time...

thinksteroids.com

 

[Jin23]

My compliments on your well thought out dosing.

Haha it's quite weird seeing a normal protocol on this boards no. Although the 850 is at through ...

 

[readalot]

Haha it's quite weird seeing a normal protocol on this boards no.

Pleasantly shocking.

@Pantera is the winner today on the forum.

 

[Jin23]

Pleasantly shocking.

Yeah. I just realized the 850 is not at peak but through. So it's somewhat high, unless this is to correct for a high shbg. The high dose is probably why ldl is out of range somewhat.

With a high androgen load you need perfect lipids or very low inflammation. Statins in micro dosages, 2.5 mg (rosuvastatin x2 week) can do a lot for some folks (including me, that dose lowers my ldl by 40% on cycle) and is totally without sides as normal dose is more then 2.5 every day.

 

[Pantera]

Yeah. I just realized the 850 is not at peak but through. So it's somewhat high, unless this is to correct for a high shbg. The high dose is probably why ldl is out of range somewhat.

With a high androgen load you need perfect lipids or very low inflammation. Statins in micro dosages, 2.5 mg (rosuvastatin x2 week) can do a lot for some folks (including me, that dose lowers my ldl by 40% on cycle) and is totally without sides as normal dose is more then 2.5 every day.

I've been thinking of lowering the dosage so that 850 is my peak. It's probably better for health.

You know what's really weird? For the last few years, my cholesterol has been great. At all times, regardless of what I'm blasting. Here's my lipid profile from this past February - just 10 months ago - at the tail end of a 20 week blast of 1 gram test + 0.5 grams of mast e per week:



I was about 235 lbs when this test was taken. It's always been like that for me. No gear, blasting or cutting, ever touched my cholesterol. Now all of a sudden, on a cruise dose when I'm 25 lbs lighter, my LDL is higher and not budging? It's so weird. I took a blood test in August and the results were pretty much the same as in my original post. I read online that actively dieting can temporarily raise LDL - and I was dieting during both of these recent tests - but I'm not sure how true that really is.

@readalot Thought this might be of interest to you as well.

 

[readalot]

Thanks for sharing with us mere lipid mortals.

 

[OldGHGuy]

For what it's worth, my cardiologist is an advocate for adding statins to the public drinking water supply, similar to fluoride (no kidding). They are that much of a "free lunch" against cardiovascular disease, he says.

 

[Pantera]

View attachment 273633

Thanks for sharing with us mere lipid mortals.

Hahah. Is there anything that you could think of, that would cause such a turn around in how my body handles cholesterol within 6 months?

 

[readalot]

For what it's worth, my cardiologist is an advocate for adding statins to the public drinking water supply, similar to fluoride (no kidding). They are that much of a "free lunch" against cardiovascular disease, he says.

Make sure he throws any a little SERM as well for the xenoestrogens. I wonder what we can add to the water supply to get these kids off the screen for a few hours?

 

[readalot]

Hahah. Is there anything that you could think of, that would cause such a turn around in how my body handles cholesterol within 6 months?

Like you said, dieting. Keto in some will significantly raise ldl-c.

Oxandrolone and other oral 17aa AAS raise hepatic lipase and can torch lipid particle counts.

Nice read....

The effect of hepatic lipase on coronary artery disease in humans is influenced by the underlying lipoprotein phenotype - PubMed

Increased or decreased hepatic lipase (HL) activity has been associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). This is consistent with the findings that gene variants that influence HL activity were associated with increased CAD risk in some population studies but not in others. In this review, we...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

N.B. section 6 and Fig. 8