First I'll tell ya that I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes April 2011 at the age of 44, I have been athletic my whole life and I have had for the most part a heathy diet my whole life.
So the thing I'm confused about is the total cholesterol number, mine is at 202 which is supposed to be lower than 200 and my doctor wants it to drop but...
Here's my numbers
Total Cholesterol 202
LDL 91
HDL 97
triglycerides 68
To make a long story short my ldl is good, my hdl is great and my triglycerides are great. So where can I improve? any body know much about this stuff?
in my opinion, don't worry about total cholesterol unless your bad (LDL) is high and your good (HDL) is low. Doctors put way too much emphasis on treating numbers without considering the person. If your heart and pipes are in good shape (and you've seen a cardiologist), and you don't have family history of heart issues, then I would say you are fine.
your total cholesterol is elevated because your HDL is elevated. but HDL elevation is a good thing. don't worry about trying to lower your total cholesterol. tell your doctor he needs to look at ALL the numbers, not just one.
So far all the doctors I've seen I don't like very much. It seems like they all just go through a check list and don't realize every person with diabetes is different. For example when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, the doctor diagnosed me with type 2 because of my age. After doing a little research about diabetes, I started to think I had type 1 because I wasn't overweight and I have been an athlete most of my life. So I called and told the doctor what I thought and sure thing when all the lab work came back I was diagnosed with type 1 at the age of 43. So for 2 weeks I was being treated for type 2 and I went from 175 pounds down to 140 pounds and I looked like a concentration camp prisoner. I was eating like crazy because I was always hungry as well. Soon after being on insulin I got my weight back up and have felt pretty good for the most part.
Yeah, I'm in a weird spot where my HDL is good, but my LDL is higher than they'd like. I don't recall what the numbers were off the top of my head. My doctors and I agreed to wait-and-see.
Yeah, I've had to do a LOT of shopping around for doctors I like. Too much ignorance, too much patronizing, too much "by the checklist," and too much average patient mentality.
I actually spent the first year diagnosed as a Type 2 because at 21, my doctors at the time felt I was "too old to be a type 1" and warned that I "would never have good control" -- that they'd soon put me on medication to "prolong my organ function"
Finding my first diabetes center, they recognized me as a type 1 right away and immediately put me on insulin. Almost immediately, everything improved.
It took me months after I moved to Texas to find doctors I liked. I ran into doctors who would toss me a prescription for antibiotics with no explanation and wouldn't answer my questions.
My advice is to check reviews online on sites like HealthGrades.com, Vitals.com, Angie's List, and other healthcare and doctor review sites. Use your chapter of the JDRF and ADA to locate doctors and get advice / support.
Also, educate yourself and be vocal about your efforts to educate yourself. One of the best gauges I've found is how the doctor / clinic reacts to an informed patient. Doctors who hesitated or got weird when they found out I was educated generally haven't worked out. On the other hand, doctors who have been enthusiastic about it and/or suggested other reputable healthcare information sites generally have turned out okay.
You have to live in your body and are thus your best advocate. Don't accept trips to "Never"land or "Assumption Junction" just because the person has a doctorate. If they start listing off "You'll never ___" or making assumptions that feel wrong or off-base to you, you might just be right. Trust your gut.