LDL levels in pregnancy??

[sbraz]

I just had a blood test the other day at 28 weeks, and my cholesterol is through the roof! I really freaked out until I found online that it is completely normal for cholesterol to sky-rocket in the third trimester. I went to my endrocrinologist today (have hypothryoidism which has been controlled the entire pregnancy) and she mentioned she is not worried about the overall cholesterol level but my ldl is high and if it remains that way she will want to put me on medication, (beginning of pregnancy my cholesterol was 132 and is now 273... LDL is high but so is HDL). I havent been able to find much about LDL levels during pregnancy online because it kinda seems women dont generally get tested for cholesterol during late pregnancy... I don't really know what to think about this... my diet is pretty good, my blood pressure is 110/70, I havent gained excessive weight, no other health issues... I dont want to be paranoid about what I eat between now and the next blood test, I kinda feel the baby needs everything it can get at this point, and from the few things I have seen online about cholesterol it seems as it goes back down after delivery, so I dont think I would start medication for the last few weeks of pregnancy...
Does anyone know anything about cholesterol levels during pregnancy? or how concerned I should be with my LDL?

[Jenica]

You should check out an article called "Unstoppable Heart" in the Jan/Feb Men's Health (page 120) about new research concerning cholesterol levels, I think it will reassure you quite a bit. Turns out the tests aren't really a good predictor of cardiovascular health. High HDL levels are still good but high LDL aren't necessarily bad. It's the size of the LDL particles that determine ill effects on your health. The smaller the LDL particles the worse for your health. Since your HDL is high I wouldn't really worry about the LDL. If you are still worried the article says there's more in depth tests that measure the size of your LDL particles. It recommends you first test your triglycerides and if that comes back over 200 then try one of the LDL particle size tests. If you get one of those tests and your particles come back large, your off the hook. The three tests are LDL-S3GGE test, the Vap test, and NMR lipoprofile test.

[Lilcrunchie]

Agreeing w/ the above. Dr. Eades' blog online also has great info on particle size and LDL levels. Gary Taubes has a great book (unfortunately named however) called Good Calories, Bad Calories that is very science-heavy but worth reading if you end up concerned post partum.

Also agree that you can tell more about your LDL by getting your triglycerides measured (a more important marker IMO). I wouldn't even worry about that until post partum though.

[sbraz]

thanks for your replies and the Men's health article, I found it online, and its helped me make some sense of this:

http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/con...ull/85/12/4543

which I had found earlier but didnt really understand, (and am still not fully grasping, its a bit technical), but it looks like smaller, more dense LDL particles are generally higher in pregnancy than in not-pregnant state, but that as pregnancy progresses its the bigger lighter LDL particles that really increase. I did have my triglycerides tested as well and it was under 200, so I'm not really worried, especially because I have always had low cholesterol levels overall (but high HDL), not pregnant.
I really have no idea what my dr. is thinking, but Im gonna try not to worry about this...

[Jenica]

I'm glad you're feeling better about this.

The problem with a lot of doctors is that they don't have time to keep up with current research in medical journals so their knowledge ends up being dated to when they graduated med school. So you're doctor is probably going with what would have been the recommendation when he/she graduated instead of with what current research shows. I really think there should be ongoing education requirements for doctors.