Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Finger-stick Fasting Blood Cholesterol
Old 02-03-2010, 12:00 PM   #1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Finger-stick Fasting Blood Cholesterol

I'm not clear on this. I'm going to go to a health fair and get a cholesterol test to see how 5 months of low carb (and high fat) affect my levels.

I talked to one of the organizers, saying I was going to fast, and he said "Oh no, we don't do the fasting cholesterol test, only the total."

Now, I had the feeling that those finger stick machines gave you all the numbers, HDL, LDL, and Triglycerides. So I figured that if I fast, then I can get all the information I need to calculat HDL and LDL.

Correct?
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 02-03-2010, 12:31 PM   #2
Moderator Emeritus
Rich_by_the_Bay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 8,827
The LDL is calculated from the total and the triglycerides; the latter is greatly affected by eating. HDL is measured directly, so fasting is not necessary. If you don't fast, throw out the triglycerides and LDL.

FWIW, the "non-HDL" cholesterol (total - HDL) gives you the prognostic information very well.
__________________
Rich
San Francisco Area
ESR'd March 2010. FIRE'd January 2011.

As if you didn't know..If the above message contains medical content, it's NOT intended as advice, and may not be accurate, applicable or sufficient. Don't rely on it for any purpose. Consult your own doctor for all medical advice.
Rich_by_the_Bay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-03-2010, 12:53 PM   #3
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 3,851
I get the finger stick total every eight weeks, when I contribute at the local blood bank and only get the total count.

However, since I'm a T2 diabetic, I do go to a heart care clinic every six months and get the fasting test which does the full breakdown of the three indicators (HDL, LDL, Tri's).

BTW, I do get elevated Tri's, but this has been traced back to possibly my slightly elevated ingestion of my daily infusion of wine ...

I have a blood test scheduled for next Monday and have not had a glass of vino for at least the last three weeks. Let's see how that works out

At least the wine gets the fats off the wall and well circulated (the doc dosen't buy that theory...)
rescueme is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-03-2010, 01:06 PM   #4
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Do those machines always give the level of the triglycerides?
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-03-2010, 01:44 PM   #5
Moderator Emeritus
Rich_by_the_Bay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 8,827
Quote:
Originally Posted by TromboneAl View Post
Do those machines always give the level of the triglycerides?
No; it varies.
__________________
Rich
San Francisco Area
ESR'd March 2010. FIRE'd January 2011.

As if you didn't know..If the above message contains medical content, it's NOT intended as advice, and may not be accurate, applicable or sufficient. Don't rely on it for any purpose. Consult your own doctor for all medical advice.
Rich_by_the_Bay is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Fasting vs non-fasting blood tests kaneohe Health and Early Retirement 3 08-28-2009 09:17 PM
pull my finger: calmloki Other topics 10 01-17-2009 08:00 AM
Pulling a finger can reduce blood pressure REWahoo Health and Early Retirement 15 10-25-2008 07:07 AM
"Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own." dex FIRE and Money 14 09-30-2008 10:47 AM
Do you really stick to the 4%? Florida FIRE and Money 48 09-13-2008 09:49 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:13 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.