good cholesterol levels

[wendyl]

My 75 year old husband is being treated for a leg ulcer and it was suggested by family (not doctor) that he should have a blood test to check for this. Believe it or not this took a month or more to materialise and the message from the surgery was that he had a slightly raised 5.4 cholesterol level to go on a low fat diet and have another test in six months the person on the phone when he asked what that meant said to cut out things he liked such as cakes and biscuits!!
He already has a low fat diet and has none of the other symptoms of diabetes but I think cakes and biscuits belong to a diabetic diet rather than low fat. I think he should query what blood test he actually had but I cannot find a site that specifies a good cholesterol level
Advice welcomed please

[Le Chat]

wendy - Anything 5 or under is the ideal apparantly. However, higher readings are not necessarily bad as there are 2 types of cholesterol - good and bad. In the USA the reading splits them into these categories but not in the UK, so I am led to believe. 5.4 is only marginally over. What I don't understand is what cholesterol has to do with his leg ulcer? Or was it just 'thrown in' as an extra. Your Dr's receptionist should be able to tell you exactly what he was tested for and the results. Go in with you Dad and she will be able to print them off for you. Remember, they work for you, so don't take any crap!

[wendyl]

The ansaphone message from the doctor was that it was slightly raised. When he rang back he received the message about diet. Like you I don't know what a cholesterol test had to do with the ulcer although I do know that ulcers can be troublesome to diabetics - hence the suggestion for diabetic test I'm not impressed and don't attend the local surgery but its 'hobson's choice' here I am afraid or travel several miles if you can get another doctor to accept you anyway. I will try to persuade him to challenge this and find out why he does not appear to have had the right test.
thanks Le Chat for your interest

[bednobs]

the advice you have been given seems perfectly reasonable to me, although a little more information would have made it clearer. Most gp's will routinely test for cholesterol if you are over a certain age, as they get more "points" for giving lifestyle advice, checking blood pressure routinely eyc etc
High cholesterol foods include things such as cakes, bscuits, saturated fats (animal fats; butter, any fat you cant see through at room temp ie fat on pork chops etc), prawns, eggs cheese, offal. so try to cut those out or reduce the intake of them
Current UK guidelines state that it is desirable to have a total cholesterol level under 5mmol/l, and an LDL level under 3mmol/l.
As the first poster daid, there are 2 types of cholesterol , hdl and ldl. Hdl is "good cholesterol", wheras ldl is "bad cholesterol" you have to have a good ratio of one to the other.
Try this site for more info
http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/choles terol.html

[wendyl]

How well I know about Doctors getting 'points' (and fees) for doing extra tests I used to be a receptionist so have some knowledge about this and diets. The diet of both of us is well balanced and low fat anyway although my husband may add the odd cake or chocolate bar, he drinks half a pint with mates once a week and has the occasional glass of wine and does not smoke . My real gripe is that a diabetes test does not appear to have been done and he recently supposedly had an MOT re a prescription for an ongoing 'mans' problem - at least they checked his blood pressure then and it was OK

[bednobs]

a diabetes test may have been done, it depends on the quality of the person reading out your results and what their knowledge is. Has he had a urine test or a finger prick test?

[wendyl]

believe it or not 'no'

[wendyl]

My husband has now questioned his results and been advised that he is clear of diabetes. I am sticking to feeding him a reasonably low fat diet and he is no longer worried - its a pity the message from the surgery could not have been more accurate and reassuring in the first place