I Have Now Is My Cholesterol Was 225 High, LDL Was 147 High

Posted on Wed, 29 Jan 2025

Question: Hi, I have been experiencing tingling in all my fingertips bilaterally. It truly feels like I have paper cuts on each fingertip so my Dr decided to start me on a dose of prednisone (Deltasone EQ 10mg) to take twice a day for 3 days. I finished my prednisone on March 23rd, 2021 and had blood drawn on March 24th, 2021 and My Glucose was 124 which is High, keeping in mind that on March 15, 2021 when I had a blood test Glucose was 108 - and my A1C was 6.3 still a little elevated she said but no medicine required at that time. My A1C actually had come down from being 7.1 in October because I'm dieting and exercising now. The real big concern I have now is my cholesterol on March 15, 2021 was 225 high, LDL was 147 High, Now on 3/24/2021 my cholesterol is 253 High, LDL is 176 High. My RBC on 5/19/2021 was 5.50 high, and on 3/24/2021 the lowest was 5.18. All my other blood work was perfect.

My issue that I'm having now is since being on the prednisone I feel it has raised my sugar and my cholesterol especially my cholesterol in dangerous ranges that they want to place me on a statin drug. Should I take a statin drug or should I WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENES WHEN THE PREDNISONE finally gets out of my system. Also, once you start a statin drug or something for sugar , will I have to be on this drug for the rest of my life especially if I'm losing weight. I don't know what to do. Of course, I don't want to have a heart attack or stroke but I don't want to be taken all this medicine if its not necessary. I tried to upload my lab reports but the system would not allow me to do so.. I hope to not be waiting long for a RESPONSE.

Please get back to me as soon as possible on how I should move forward. Thanks!

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend taking statins.

Detailed Answer:
Dear,

I passed carefully through your question and would explain that increased cholesterol levels are not only related to prednisone, but also to high glucose levels and diabetes.

From the other hand, in patients with diabetes, even borderline cholesterol levels are considered atherogenic (with a high cardio-vascular risk). For this reason, we recommend to have lower levels of cholesterol in diabetic patients, in order to lower their cardio-vascular risk.

Coming to this point, I would strongly recommend taking statins in your clinical situation, in order to reduce your cardio-vascular risk. In my opinion they are really necessary in this situation.

If your cholesterol levels will drop too much after discontinuing prednisone, then you may decide to stop the statins.

Hope to have been helpful!

I remain at your disposal in case of further questions whenever you need!

Kind regards,
Dr. Ilir Sharka, Cardiologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)

So, I have done some researched and I think I would like to have a CAS testing done and see if there is any signs of heart damage etc before getting on a statin. Do you think this makes sense or should I immediately just go ahead and start the Lipitor 40 mg now because from what I have read one I start the Lipitor I will not be able to come off of it until I'm at least 70 something years old.....by the XXXXXXX Heart Association. So, are you saying I'm in risk of a heart attack or stroke right now. Lipitor takes from my understanding about 2 weeks before it gets in my system so would it make sense to find out all the other necessary things first or no just automatically assume I need the medicine right now?

Not trying to be difficult but I really need to know all my options...

Thanks

Follow up: Dr. Ilir Sharka (6 hours later)

My doctor called me back and said that I should not take the 40 mg of lipitor now because he was not aware that I was on 20 mg of prednisone for 3 days right before taking the blood. I'm very confused on what should I do because he said it is normal that was test numbers were inflated. Now, I'm wondering should I be worrying or what??? He said on 3/15/2021 my sugar was 108 and cholesterol was 225 and LDL WAS 147 and then I started prednisone on 3/19/2021 and finished on 3/23/2021 and took blood work on 3/24/2021 so he thinks the prednisone was the culprit. What do you think? I have been sweating so much and my fingertips hurt so badly.... should I have the coronary artery calcium score test done and if so, do you think it will matter??????

Please get back to me soon because I hate waiting for so long for a response.

Thanks

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (19 hours later)

Brief Answer:
My opinion as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXXXXX

I don't think that you need to perform a coronary artery calcium score test as long as you don't have any symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease (chest pain, shortness of breath, etc.). Besides, this test imposes you to the risk of radiation.

I agree with your doctor that prednisone could be the culprit of your increased cholesterol levels.

From the other hand, there is no reason to panic, because increased cholesterol levels do not immediately damage your blood vessels. You should know that coronary artery disease is caused by prolonged (for years) presence of cardio-vascular risk factors (diabetes, dyslipidemia, arterial hypertension, obesity, etc..) which cause a gradual damage (accumulation of fat ) in blood vessels, causing their narrowing.

So, there is no reason to panic if your body is exposed to dyslipidemia for a short period of time, as nothing serious is going to happen.

Coming to this point, I agree with your doctor that you may decide to wait and see your blood lipid profile after the discontinuation of prednisone, in order to judge better to start atorvastatine or not.

In the meantime, I would recommend a low fat and sugar diet and regular physical activity (aerobics can help lower LDL levels naturally).

To conclude, there no reason to think that you can not stop statins, once you start them. I would like to inform you that you can stop taking statins at any time! Doctors usually recommend stopping them for short periods of time and restart them, in order to reduce their adverse effects.

Hope you will find this information helpful!

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask me again!

Wishing all the best,

Dr. Iliri

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar