Friday, August 28, 2009

More Numbers

Man, this is boring, boring stuff. You know, if you're not me.

VAP test results came back today. Apparently, the fat is pretty fluffy. Good.

Also, when they ran my lipid profile in July, my LDL was 162(considered high), HDL 47 (good) total 221.

NOW the LDL is 146 (moderately high), HDL 52 (very good) total 215.

Of course, the total number doesn't mean much, it's all about what kind of cholesterol you have.

These tests were run almost exactly a month apart. So things are headed in the right direction - although the triglycerides went from 61 to 73, but both of those are still quite low.

As far as the extended results from the VAP, the Lp(a) cholesterol (a very dangerous inherited LDL cholesterol that does not respond to statins), very good. 6. (Under 10 is what you want.) All LDL is pattern "A" the large, buoyant kind. Whew. Pattern B is dense, and often associated with diabetes. I have none of that, not even any A/B pattern. It's the Lp(a) and the pattern that you really want to look at, and the main reason for the VAP.

CRP = 1.1. Under 1 is low cardiac risk , but 1.0 - 3.0 is average cardiac risk, so I'm on the low end of average.

So there you go. No statin for me. The numbers do kind of fascinate me, but then, they're my numbers.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Statin update

Well, I called the study and they got back to me and said I could go on Zocor, but I had to go off during the infusion time. (October) Going off and on seemed a little strange, so I decided to wait until after my infusions to take it.

I wanted to talk to my endo about it. I had my appointment yesterday, and talked to him about waiting until after the infusion to start the statin. He thought that was a good idea, although he wasn't sure he wanted me to treat the cholesterol at all.

I have a family history of high cholesterol, but no history of heart disease. Have I mentioned how much I love my endo? He knows the ADA guidelines, and the reasons behind them, but he firmly believes in treating the individual. He was saying all the stuff that I was reading, that treating high cholesterol doesn't necessarily prevent heart disease, and that some high numbers don't necessarily a sick person make.

HOWEVER, seeing as you do need to be a tad more aggressive when dealing with diabetics and cholesterol, he ordered a VAP test and a CRP test, and he was trying to describe what it was for, and I said "to see if my fat is fluffy?" He laughed, and said "how do you know that term? That's exactly it." I said, "they told me in class."

So there you go. Let's all hope for fluffy fat.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I Did It AGAIN!!

I switched up my insulins again, and once more, overdosed. This time, it was on Friday. Woke up, thought "time for my Lantus", and boom. All 10 units were of Novolog. Fabulous. I didn't even think about it (or notice! How scary is that??) until about 10 minutes later when I went to take my Novolog to dose for breakfast. That's when I realized...I've seen this bottle today...and it wasn't good. (I keep them in separate places.)

I was on vacation, and was packing up to leave. I completely blame that. But still. NOT GOOD, people! I ate my breakfast, doubled it, in fact, which can account for maybe a third of the dose that I took, and then told my husband and went and sat in the car eating Starburst while he packed up everything.

It actually wasn't too bad. I would check my sugars every 15 minutes, eat a candy, and wait. Timing wise, it worked out pretty well, so I didn't go too low or too high. LAST time, (and I can't believe I have a frame of reference for this, gah!) I freaked out and drank a can and a half of Dr. Pepper and munched candy one after another. I got fairly high (mid 200's) and then waited for the insulin to do its thing. This time, I just kept it slow and steady, but this time, it was more insulin. There will NOT be a next time.

Still, though, lots of candy on hand is a good thing. I think I need to be cured now. Obviously I can't be trusted with these meds.