Cholesterol 2023: Part 1, WBC count
Here are the results compared to 4 months ago:
Sep 2022 Ref Jan 2023 Ref
Total cholesterol 4.3 < 5.17 5.4 <5.2
HDL ("good") 1.7 > 1.03 1.52 >1.04
LDL ("bad") 2.2 < 2.59 3.5 < 2.6
Triglycerides 0.7 < 1.69 0.9 <1.7
Total/HDL ratio 3.6 < 5.0
Non-HDL 2.6 < 3.36 3.9 <3.4
LDL / HDL 1.31 < 2.0
Not pretty. Possible causes are
(1) I had salmon only 3 times during my month-long stay in Australia, compared to usual 2-3 times a week back home in Malaysia.
(2) Reduced intake of fenofibrate from 3x/week to 2x/week
The good news is that total cholesterol is only slightly elevated and the total/HDL ratio is good. So, from past experience with doctor's advice, I am going to try to control the cholesterol level by exercising and having appropriate diet.
What frustrates me is that normally, if anyone else adopts my eating and exercise habit, their cholesterol level would likely be ok, if not good. Heck, Ban's result is clean and he exercised less than I did, especially during our time in Australia. My condition is probably genetic: my dad too had high cholesterol despite healthy lifestyle. Coincidentally, both of us had/have arcus senilis and I was born with it.
So, if my cholesterol level worsens in 3 months time, I'll consult a doctor and would likely be prescribed medication for it. I would resign to taking it for life since there would be nothing else I could do.
As for my WBC, it dropped a tiny bit from 3.1 to 3.0 and neutrophil also dropped from 58.3% to 52.7% but with count of 1.58 i.e. above 1.5. Overall, it's still ok.
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