medical advice re cholestral

[themilkybarkid]

well good news is that the doc rang and told us we are 'normal' in all our medical results the only thing he'll highlight will be my high cholestral over 6.94, my LDL 4.49 and HDL 1..62 which puts my ratio as okay. However given my dad died of a heart attack at 46 he thinks it may be an idea to consider going on statins.

I have had my cholestral checked regulary and been told that my good cholestral is high so my ratio is fine so no worry ... I'm 52 and happy as I run 12-20 miles a week and eat carefully and keep my weight down, but do you think immigration will see this a problem? Anyone else had or know of similar issues??

My wife was all clear apart from old minor scars from early exposure to TB which he said are nothing to worry about.

Given I've 210 points and a job offer (for Jan 2011) in a long term skill shortage area do you think I'll get through the immigration process? Work are offerring a voluntary severance and if I felt almost 100% sure I'll take vol. severance. But I need to be sure about immigration. This is a gamble I know but your opinions would be welcome good people.
cheers

[redsheesha]

One of the three parts of the cholesterol ratio was high in my OH, and they made her retest. She just quit eating eggs every day and switched to green tea, a couple months later it was within normal range. I don't know if it's standard to make people retest if there's one part high or only if the overall cholesterol is high.

[JandM]

You need to know if your doctor 'highlighted' the matter of the cholesterol by marking it as abnormal on the form, or if he just meant that he is drawing it to your attention as something he thinks you should have this treatment for.

If he signed the form with everything marked as normal, it should go through without delay, but if he said something was abnormal, it will be referred to the MA. Then of course, it would be up to them whether they asked for more tests after a delay, another opinion, or whatever. But I wouldn't think, after what the doctor said, that you're going to have any long-term problem on account of the medical in getting your visa, even if they make you jump through a few hoops.

[themilkybarkid]

thanks you two for reflections, info and advice

I think the doctor is going to declare my cholestral as abnormal - I'll see when I get the forms back next week.

So I'm wondering is it worth me going to my GP who knows about my cholestral levels and believes they are fine because the ratio is fine, and getting a supporting letter to submit with my ITA?

Am I allowed to do that - will it help?

[themilkybarkid]

just spotted the following which assesses risk according to ratio rather thjan simply overall levels:

Interpreting the risk for coronary disease When you have performed both tests and written down both cholesterol levels, you may determine your risk for coronary disease.Therefore, divide the total cholesterol level (in mmol/L) through the HDL cholesterol level (in mmol/L):
Divide the value of the total cholesterol by the value of the HDL cholesterol:
For example:
The level of your total cholesterol is 5,5 mmol/L.
The level of your HDL-Cholesterol is 1,8 mmol/L..
Your risk factor for coronary disease is 5,5 : 1,8 ≈ 3
In the risk chart below you can see that the risk for coronary disease is not elevated at the total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio of 3.
Total Cholesterol / HDL Cholesterol Ratio

MAN (♂) (the first reading below)

FEMALE (♀)(the second reading below)

No elevated risk

< 5,0

< 4,5

Slightly elevated risk

5,0 – 6,5

4,5 – 5,9

Elevated risk

6,5 – 8,0

5,9 – 7,3

Strong elevated risk

> 8,0

> 7,3

If you are concerned about the test results or if you have any questions regarding your cholesterol level, we advise you to contact your family doctor.

http://www.simplicityhealth.co.uk/po...structions.htm

So my overall cholesterol was 6.94 (which shows as an elevated risk) but when divided by the good cholesterol (HDL) which was 1.62 gives a ratio of 4.28 which in the table above shows no elevated risk.


So my difficulty is in getting the MA to see it that way?

[Buffy123]

Hi,

My Cholesterol was high (and marked abnormal) at 6.4, whereas NZ works on a level of 4.2 as the upper limit and we discussed that the Medical Assessor may want to re-test on this, so decided to pre-empt this and retest anyway and hold onto the documents for a month before applying.

I worked with my Doctor on looking at reducing this naturally and cut out eggs, chocolate, caffiene etc as well as changing to Flora Pro-activ, drinking more water as well as taking more cardio in my exercize and although not oficially a diet, this lost me some weight.

A month later, the re-test came out at 5.1 with considerable changes in good / bad Cholesterol and the ratio, and my Doctor wrote a letter of support indicating a change in lifestyle and determination in reaching a level of acceptable Cholesterol.

This obviously worked as my Residence Visa was then issued without any problems or further requests from the Medical Assessor and I had several glasses of wine and a bar of chocolate to celebrate!

Rebecca

[themilkybarkid]

well done Rebecca!

time is on my side but I just want to be sure I'll be able to arrive in Jan no problem