Hello all-
Had some follow up blood work at PCP today. She wanted to do a follow up lipid panel. I was able to get the results right away. I had this same test done in June of this year and she was very happy to see my LDL drop and HDL up-the LDL drop was significant from my physical in Feb of this year. She seems to be fixated on my LDL and that June measure was after starting on Armour thyroid in Feb. She was aware of the diet change due to the colitis (started that mid May) and mid May is also around when I started on budesonide. I am doing a very slow taper off Budesonide now and by end of 2015 I'll be off.
Well she walked in with the results and said "what happened?" and obviously the results were not what she expected. Seems my LDL is back up around originial state (145), triglycerides up to 120 from 88 but my HDL is up to almost 90 which she loved. That one just keeps going up. Glucose is 86 and A-1C is great. So we discussed if the Budesonide could have anything to do with this? She said it will usually raise blood sugar but it could be possible "that my body is storing it this way" and reflecting in the lipids since it's all connected. That glucose # is down from where it was in Feb so I have not had that side effect.
I have been trying to search this cholesterol/Budesonide link but am not finding much. Any feedback? She wasn't interested in taking any action and we also did Vit D levels at my request and a thyroid retest just to make sure that's stable for now. Won't have this back till next week probably.
Regular physical scheduled for next Feb where we will jump on this blood testing merry go round again.
Thanks for any insight. Taia
Budesonide-Cholesterol increase?
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I'm not much of a believer in the standard cholesterol lipid test as being a good indicator of heart disease, so I might not be the best to write in, but with that said I know that vitamin D is known to cause HDL levels to rise dramatically in some. Avoiding wheat tends to raise HDL also. You can read about this here on Dr. Davis's sight ~
"Blow your HDL through the roof"
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2015/06/b ... -the-roof/
"Blow your HDL through the roof"
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2015/06/b ... -the-roof/
Just wanted to follow up on my original post.
Blueberry-thank you for that link-very interesting. I am GF and my Vit D level just tested at 70 so that could be why my HDL is good.
Clemmie-yes-that is what my PCP is watching-the thyroid/LDL link. It initially went down (the LDL) once I started the Armour Thyroid and my thyroid was just retested last week and stable just like in June when my lipids and thyroid was tested. I'm not too worried about it at this point now that I've thought about it.
So now that I'm almost 6 months post LC diagnosis-my wheels are spinning. Overall, I feel a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year but still not quite where I want to be. Maybe just more time. I've been gf/df/ef since mid May and working on the soy more recently but think I have that down. Supplementing Vit D, magnesium-glycinate, spray and foot soaks, the Vit B mix that Tex suggested. I am out and about doing things but if I'm meeting someone for a meal, I take an Immodium. I am at the end of Budesonide taper-on med since mid May. In another week I'm off. To be honest, it never really did much for me and my GI looks at me so shocked. Is there any clue as to what may be going on when Budesonide does not work?
I'm not sure I want to do any other meds-I've been following threads on Cholestryamine, Enteragram with interest.
I've been reading up on mast cell issues. Not sure it's that although I have had lots of allergies all my life-more seasonal. I also had multiple bouts of ideopathic uticaria that I was given a script for-this was like 20 yrs ago and about that same time a Dr determined I should stay away from NSAID's which I have since then. Kind of mulling it all in my head wondering if I'm missing something.
One more thing-I have had periods of time with more normal BM's especially since Sept 15th (won't every forget that date!) but it seems to be like a week on that's pretty good and then a few days where stools are looser and then back to better for another 5 days. I can say that overall I seem to "recover" faster if I have a mini flare and more good days than bad. I just can't figure out the cycle-hormones? Who knows. I can feel within a few hours of waking up if it will be a good or bad day-just a subtle feeling in my gut when you become more tuned in. Fast transit always a big issue for me but that has lessened overall but there is still that sometimes surprise especially in that 1 hr window after eating.
May or may not do Enterolab down the road but need to wait since I've been on Busesonide for 6 months.
Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts? ideas? can relate?
Thanks a ton everyone. Taia
Blueberry-thank you for that link-very interesting. I am GF and my Vit D level just tested at 70 so that could be why my HDL is good.
Clemmie-yes-that is what my PCP is watching-the thyroid/LDL link. It initially went down (the LDL) once I started the Armour Thyroid and my thyroid was just retested last week and stable just like in June when my lipids and thyroid was tested. I'm not too worried about it at this point now that I've thought about it.
So now that I'm almost 6 months post LC diagnosis-my wheels are spinning. Overall, I feel a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year but still not quite where I want to be. Maybe just more time. I've been gf/df/ef since mid May and working on the soy more recently but think I have that down. Supplementing Vit D, magnesium-glycinate, spray and foot soaks, the Vit B mix that Tex suggested. I am out and about doing things but if I'm meeting someone for a meal, I take an Immodium. I am at the end of Budesonide taper-on med since mid May. In another week I'm off. To be honest, it never really did much for me and my GI looks at me so shocked. Is there any clue as to what may be going on when Budesonide does not work?
I'm not sure I want to do any other meds-I've been following threads on Cholestryamine, Enteragram with interest.
I've been reading up on mast cell issues. Not sure it's that although I have had lots of allergies all my life-more seasonal. I also had multiple bouts of ideopathic uticaria that I was given a script for-this was like 20 yrs ago and about that same time a Dr determined I should stay away from NSAID's which I have since then. Kind of mulling it all in my head wondering if I'm missing something.
One more thing-I have had periods of time with more normal BM's especially since Sept 15th (won't every forget that date!) but it seems to be like a week on that's pretty good and then a few days where stools are looser and then back to better for another 5 days. I can say that overall I seem to "recover" faster if I have a mini flare and more good days than bad. I just can't figure out the cycle-hormones? Who knows. I can feel within a few hours of waking up if it will be a good or bad day-just a subtle feeling in my gut when you become more tuned in. Fast transit always a big issue for me but that has lessened overall but there is still that sometimes surprise especially in that 1 hr window after eating.
May or may not do Enterolab down the road but need to wait since I've been on Busesonide for 6 months.
Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts? ideas? can relate?
Thanks a ton everyone. Taia
Taia,
Glucocorticoids (including budesonide) are known to raise not only LDL and HDL cholesterol levels, but triglycerides as well. And it usually doesn't take long to see a substantial rise in cholesterol levels. Some studies have shown that this can occur beginning about two weeks into the treatment.
The effect should fade away after you wean off the budesonide.
I'm kind of surprised that your doctor isn't aware of the cholesterol side effect.
Budesonide just doesn't work for everyone. If I recall, most trials show it to be effective in roughly 65–75 % of cases. Sometimes it can fail to be effective because of a low vitamin D level, but your vitamin D level is more than adequate.
Tex
Glucocorticoids (including budesonide) are known to raise not only LDL and HDL cholesterol levels, but triglycerides as well. And it usually doesn't take long to see a substantial rise in cholesterol levels. Some studies have shown that this can occur beginning about two weeks into the treatment.
The effect should fade away after you wean off the budesonide.
I'm kind of surprised that your doctor isn't aware of the cholesterol side effect.
Budesonide just doesn't work for everyone. If I recall, most trials show it to be effective in roughly 65–75 % of cases. Sometimes it can fail to be effective because of a low vitamin D level, but your vitamin D level is more than adequate.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Thanks Tex-I suspected as much. Kinda sad that I was the one that had to bring up the possible connection (sigh) with the meds and cholesterol. My family Dr office seems increasingly busy and I just don't think they have the time to look through records, make connections. I always go in as prepared as I can be-sometimes I feel they should pay ME for the visit! I know we have all been in that boat.
Have a great weekend and no more tornadoes/rain-had a small one in Ft Worth area by us last night.
Taia
Have a great weekend and no more tornadoes/rain-had a small one in Ft Worth area by us last night.
Taia
Doctors have so much red tape to contend with these days that it's no wonder that they don't have any time available to review a patient's records before an appointment. They barely have a few minutes available to visit with each patient. At the current rate of shortened appointment times because of cramped schedules, I can't help but wonder how far away we are from the day when doctors won't have any time available to see patients at all — all of their time will be used up by red tape and administration requirements. 
The problem is that medicine has become a huge, highly-integrated industry, and it has grown to the point where it has become so bogged down by red tape imposed by government programs, insurance company regulations, and pharmaceutical issues (to say nothing of overzealous, predatory lawyers), that treating patients has to take a back seat to all the administration issues.
We lucked out with the weather (so far, at least) and only had a little over a tenth of an inch of rain from the current weather system. But as wet as it already is, that was enough to make water stand in places.
Tex
The problem is that medicine has become a huge, highly-integrated industry, and it has grown to the point where it has become so bogged down by red tape imposed by government programs, insurance company regulations, and pharmaceutical issues (to say nothing of overzealous, predatory lawyers), that treating patients has to take a back seat to all the administration issues.
We lucked out with the weather (so far, at least) and only had a little over a tenth of an inch of rain from the current weather system. But as wet as it already is, that was enough to make water stand in places.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.