Sunday, July 17

An HDL Miracle or Medical Mistake?


Back in March, I had my cholesterol checked and found out my "good cholesterol," the HDL, had dropped from a low average of 43 to only 29, which is below the safe range.  My ratio of good cholesterol to bad went from a barely good 5.1 to a not so good 7.   As a result, I made a change in my diet to include salmon at least three times a week, oatmeal for breakfast with flaxseed added, and lots more nuts.

Recently, I purchased private life insurance that required a medical exam, and today I received the results of that exam.  It has been only a little more than 4 months since my last test and according to the new results my HDL is up--way up.  It is now 52 (normal range is 35-59) and the ratio is down to 3.9 (the lower the better).  How can that be?  Can that be right?  While my total cholesterol is 205, I can't tell you how good I feel about the surge in my HDL.  I hope it's not a mistake.

2 comments:

SteveA said...

Healthy lifestyle means better lifestyle - it's that easy!

Anonymous said...

Two things can drop HDL quickly. The first is a low-fat diet and the second is inflammation, such as an injury.