Metformin & Cholesterol?

[Meta888]

Hey Ladies,

Another quick question for you -- does anybody have slightly elevated bad cholesterol but the good cholesterol is good? I did when I went for my first PCOS appointment, and my doc wanted to wait and see if the Met helped lower it so he wouldn't have to put me on cholesterol meds. I have an appointment next week and was wondering has Met helped anyone's bad cholesterol go down? I really don't want to be on Lipitor in addition to the meds I'm already taking! My diet and exercise is good, so hopefully that will help too.

Just wanted to see if anybody had this experience...



Thanks

- Meta888

[Tiffy-Taffy]

My total cholesterol (before going on Met) was 199. That is borderline high, but the doctors never mentioned anything about it because my good cholesterol was above average. I would like to see my total go down a bit. Good luck to you-- I'm curious to see what the Met will do also.

[sinnie]

I never heard of met lowering your cholesterol.
I've always had good cholesterol thankfully. I honestly don't know how because I've eaten a lot of fast food in my time. I only use olive oil to fry with and avoid pork and don't eat much red meat. The only issue was my good cholesterol was too low, but my bad was around 150.
I think most PCOS'ers have bad cholesterol though, it's another symptom, but we're all different. Good luck!

[wants a baby]

Met can definitely lower cholesterol, I don't remember what my numbers were but before met I had borderline high cholesterol and high testosterone. After 6-8 months on met both were well within the normal range.

[friedpasta]

Mine went down. Both my total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol dropped more than 30 points after about 2-3 months on met. Neither was actually high to begin with, but were getting very close to borderline. My HDL ("good") did not go up but stayed about the same, which was average.

I have had thyroid issues for years and that can affect cholesterol, so adjustments in those meds may have contributed, but the timing makes it pretty obvious that the lowering is mainly from the met.

I'd never heard of metformin lowering cholesterol and I haven't lost any weight so I'm not sure why this effect happened, but I like it! I figured the lower cholesterol might be due to the met side effects with everything "zooming" through me with no time for my body to absorb any cholesterol, so as the gastrointestinal effects have worn off a bit I will be curious to see if there is any increase in cholesterol. Even though I haven't had the desired weight loss, I would be willing to stay on met just for the cholesterol effects. Cholesterol-lowering drugs can often have some bad side effects, whereas met's are generally just "annoying". I would see if met has an effect before going to something else - you might be surprised at the result!

[Meta888]

Ah ladies, I cannot thank you enough for your responses! I have hope!!!
Hopefully, the Met will have helped to lower the bad cholesterol (which wasn't all that above what it should be to start with) and I can avoid having to go on Lipitor!

I love this place. Everyone here is just amazing.

THANK YOU!

- Meta888

[cindyw41]

Ok,,, My cholesterol was very high before met, and I had really high Blood pressure, so much that I was on meds for chols and 2 meds for hbp. 3 months of met, my cholesterol went down, (its only slightly high now, and I no longer have problems with my blood pressure! She took me off everything but metformin!

[Meta888]

I am happy to report that after my doc appt yesterday - I do not have to go on cholesterol meds!!! The bad cholesterol was significantly lower - enough so that the doc said we can leave everything as is. I'm so delighted. The Met really is working - and I only started in February -- and am now up to 2000 mg, but only since April.

What a relief!

Thx for all of your input, ladies.
You're a splendid bunch of humans.

- Meta888