I actually think I’m going to try to write some non-fiction this year, and the first topic might be my interesting, brief brush with hospital life as an outpatient. So I won’t get DEEP into it here, but I wanted to give a quick update in case anyone else out there is frustratedly googling things like Ashkenazi + Jewish + Eastern European + bad cholesterol + don’t want to take statins.
As you may recall, I went to a cardiologist who recommended I go vegan for 6 months… and my cholesterol went UP. I was pretty upset.
Subsequently, I reached an impasse with that cardiologist because I told him that I don’t want to take statins until after I have kids, and he was… sort of weird about it.
My longtime gynecologist (and also my other, interim gyno… for insurance reasons) really wanted me to get to the bottom of the CHOLESTEROL MYSTERIES, and after hearing about my IMPASSE, she sent me to her guy, who she promised would be cool. (I found the other guy on my own during interim gyno’s reign.)
I stalled a while and then finally went over my holiday break, and I’m glad I did. This cardiologist was not really interested in putting me on meds or making me diet/exercise off the bat, and instead sent me over to Cedars-Sinai to get MY HEART RADIATED. Which sounds scary (and was kind of freaky) but is a way to test to see if the BAD CHOLESTEROL is actually contributing to plaque build-up, or is just… BAD CHOLESTEROL.
One really crazy thing I should mention is that my cholesterol was pretty bad post-wedding, when I was thin and in great shape, and has actually gone down since I’ve “let myself go.” So… who the F knows.
Well, my cardiologist knows! Because I found out today that I have ZERO PLAQUE, and that I shouldn’t even worry about it for 5-10 years. To quote my cardiologist, I’m in the “coveted 18-35” age group, when I shouldn’t have to do anything to get my cholesterol under control, really. Unless of course, there was plaque. Which there’s not.
So that’s six months of meat and cheese I’ll never get back.
I mean, just kidding, being vegan was fine. Vegetables are great. But… I wish I’d gone to this cardiologist first!
So basically, cholesterol is very crazy. What is it even measuring?? It’s Anti-Semitic, probably.
But I’m glad it’s not killing me, so we’ll call it even for now.