- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 10,735
Last time I went for my annual physical, I tried to get my doctor to run an advanced version of the lipid profile that exposed more detail about what the particle sizes were for my LDL concentration. He didn't want to do it because insurance wouldn't pay (that's a separate discussion), so I didn't argue and so I don't have that result. But I'm scheduling this year's visit, and am going to try again, since last time my LDL was considered to be less than optimal, and knowing the particle sizes would help to understand if action needs to be taken or not.
Anyway, I was curious as to how the smart people on this board have managed this LDL measurement thing for themselves. For me, my calculated LDL is above "where it should be". But I question the value of the calculated LDL that comes in the standard lipid panel. That's based on some well-respected studies I've read (I'll dig those up later, if needed), where lots of folks with "normal" LDL had cardiac events, and lots of people with "high" LDL were fine.
The analogy I think of with LDL is, just because you have 100 tons of LDL on boats, you really need to know what kind of boats you have. Do you have 10 barges with 10 tons each, or do you have 100 PT boats with 1 ton each. Those PT boats drive straight into the artery wall and "boom", you're in trouble!
Anyway, I was curious as to how the smart people on this board have managed this LDL measurement thing for themselves. For me, my calculated LDL is above "where it should be". But I question the value of the calculated LDL that comes in the standard lipid panel. That's based on some well-respected studies I've read (I'll dig those up later, if needed), where lots of folks with "normal" LDL had cardiac events, and lots of people with "high" LDL were fine.
The analogy I think of with LDL is, just because you have 100 tons of LDL on boats, you really need to know what kind of boats you have. Do you have 10 barges with 10 tons each, or do you have 100 PT boats with 1 ton each. Those PT boats drive straight into the artery wall and "boom", you're in trouble!