Genetic High Cholesterol – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Saturday, 16 November 2024 ~ A Morning at AA Pharmacy For A Blood Test

Today, I made my way to AA Pharmacy for a blood test. In collaboration with Accura Healthcare, AA Pharmacy offers monthly affordable blood tests, making it an excellent alternative to clinics or hospitals. Over the years, I’ve done my annual blood tests here. I like the convenience that Accura will Whatsapp the softcopy of the blood test report to me first and I can later collect the hardcopy from the pharmacy at my neighborhood.

This visit, however, wasn’t part of my routine yearly check-up. My cardiologist had advised me to check my cholesterol levels a few months after starting on statins, and today was the day to see if the medication is working.

I have Familial hypercholesterolemia, a disorder that is passed down through families. It causes LDL (bad) cholesterol levels to be very high. Even though I eat very little meat, and am stick thin, my cholesterol levels are still very high.

As I sat down at the registration table, the man from Accura managing the blood tests surprised me. He asked if I’d come for a blood test earlier this year in February. When I confirmed, he said he remembered me! Imagine my surprise—he’d only seen me once for about 10-15 minutes, nine months ago, yet he still recalled me. I couldn’t help but wonder what made me so memorable! Perhaps my friendly chatter or just good old serendipity? Either way, it was a small but pleasant moment that added a personal touch to the experience.

Thankfully, the medical assistant did a great job drawing my blood with minimal discomfort—something I always appreciate, as needles aren’t my favorite thing. With the test done, I rewarded myself by heading next door to a coffee shop for a comforting bowl of my favorite bitter gourd soup with minced pork.

Skipping the noodles, I opted for a hearty bowl filled with thinly sliced bitter gourd, a soft egg, minced pork, and crunchy pork lard, all swimming in a hot, flavorful pork soup. It was a bowl of keto pure comfort after fasting for 16 hours. Alongside, I indulged in a cup of milk tea—a treat I’ve avoided for over a year due to its tendency to cause heart palpitations and dizziness. But today, I couldn’t resist!

Now, the waiting begins. I’m hopeful that my cholesterol levels have dropped and that the statin is doing its job. I’d rather not have my cardiologist increase the dosage or add another medication. Fingers crossed that the changes I’ve made to my lifestyle and diet, coupled with the statin, are enough to keep things under control.

RM11 for a big bowl of bitter gourd, minced pork and an egg with lots of pork lard in a flavorful pork broth.

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Calcium-Score Screening Heart Test (Coronary Calcium Scan) & QRISK Score @ SJMC

Friday, 10 March 2023 ~ Today I did my scheduled Calcium-Score Screening Heart Test (Coronary Calcium CT Scan with ECG) followed by a quick QRISK Score at SJMC.

The entire procedure was pretty quick – about 20 minutes of waiting time for my turn at the Imaging Dept. and 15 minutes in the doughnut-shaped tunnel and I was back to the cardiologist’s office. After another 10 minutes of waiting time and in I went to see him for the review of the scan.

What a stark difference in waiting time at private hospitals vs. government hospitals (HKL). With all of Cass’ diagnostic scans and procedures at HKL, whether inpatient or outpatient, OT procedure or only a chat with the doctor(s), we had to wait for an entire day at the hospital, in a hospital packed like sardines. I kid you not. While in the lifts or at the waiting areas, my shoulders actually touch other patients’ shoulders. There are not enough chairs for everyone to sit and even not enough space for us to stand.

Going to HKL feels like going to a much dreaded boot camp – mentally and physically we are drained out after a day at HKL. But cost wise, I needn’t have to pay a single cent at HKL, most of the time.

With private hospitals, the ambience is like a 5-star hotel, comfortable, clean and waiting time is short. But the price is OH. MY. GOD. And all these diagnostic tests are not claimable from insurance. So is Cass’ medical bills as she has a congenital disorder.

See, in this case, money can make the world go round.🤑

Anyway, coming back to my CT Scan today.

Calcium score = 0

QRISK score = less than 1% of getting a major coronary event within the next 10 years.

And there’s no need to be on statin, yes!!

All is GOOD, praise the Lord 🙏

Cost of damage today is RM937.

My heart did very well in her test with all zeros. But if this were a school exam, I’d be doomed!

In the changing room. Again I wore a long bra dress from Uniqlo, so I needn’t undress completely. I only pulled it down mid way before donning on the gown.

The intimidating-looking doughnut machine. But I wasn’t nervous at all when I was inside the doughnut. It felt like being on an airplane in mid air. I was told to “Breathe in, breathe out, hold your breath, breathe normally” several times by a pre-recorded instruction from the machine. The entire procedure including the nurse strapping ECG electrodes onto my chest area is about 15 minutes.

Our dinner today – pumpkin + roast pork bones porridge. Very yummy comfort food after a cold day at the hospital.

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Appointment with Cardiologist

Today I met my cardiologist at Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) to let him review my high cholesterol reading related to Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) or genetic high cholesterol.

Before deciding if he should start me on statin, my doctor ordered for me to do a heart scan (coronary calcium scan) using computerized tomography (CT) imaging to take pictures of the heart’s arteries. It can detect calcium deposits in the coronary arteries. Calcium deposits can narrow the arteries and increase the risk of a heart attack. This scan is necessary because of my high cholesterol reading and incidences of random heart flutters for the last few years.

I will have to go back to SJMC this Friday to have the calcium-score screening heart test done.

If the scan shows high calcium deposits, I must start taking a high dose statin everyday.

Even with a healthy diet and regular exercise, things like this still happens. Darn the bad genes. With Familial hypercholesterolemia, no matter how hard I watch what I eat or even starve myself to the brink of death, my cholesterol level will still be high. This is caused by some mutated genes. It will go even higher if I eat as I please and binge on red meats, butter, ice cream and other high cholesterol foods.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) can be caused by inherited changes (mutations) in the LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9 genes, which affect how your body regulates and removes cholesterol from your blood. About 60-80% of people with FH have a mutation found in one of these three genes.

The CT scan is going to cost at least a thousand bucks. I pray that I don’t have calcium deposits in my heart arteries as I’m trying to avoid statins. My mum had aches and pains all over her body while taking statin and the same goes with the hubs. Mum recently stopped taking her statin and those aches and pains stopped too.

The accumulated costs spent on self-care tests and scans from February to March this year alone is at least RM2k. This amount includes an annual pap smear, ultrasound scans of my breasts and pelvic, a complete blood work, a 3D mammogram at Sunway Medical Centre and the upcoming CT scan at SJMC. I hope it will stop here with no further tests and medication required 🙏

Me waiting outside the consultant cardiologist’s office at SJMC today and it was freezing cold.

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Annual Health Screening

The month of February is always the most dreaded month for me as it’s that time of the year when I’m due to go through a battery of medical tests. I’ve not skipped any of my pap smears and ultrasound scans even during the strict lockdown years. I know how important it is to do a yearly screening coz if there’s any malignancy brewing inside of me, at least it’s detected early and survival rate is higher with early treatment.

For this year:

Annual pap smear ✅

Annual ultrasound scan of lower pelvic and breasts ✅

Annual blood work ✅

Mammogram 🔜

Appointment with cardiologist to review high cholesterol reading 🔜

I skipped a blood work last year, so this year, I took a package with 45 parameters checked (with one free parameter on colon cancer test) offered by AA Pharmacy at my neighborhood.

A large vial of blood was drawn out for 46 health parameter tests.

My first meal after more than 16 hours of fasting – fried mung bean noodles (less noodles, more bean sprouts) with only fish cakes and egg. The CKT seller knows exactly how I want my noodles fried, i.e. less burnt, less oil, no cockles and no prawns. And this plate costs RM10!

Blood work report was out yesterday and everything looks good with no red flags except for my cholesterol reading. As expected, it’s pretty high at 6.82 as I have Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH). FH is an inherited disorder that makes it harder for your body to remove low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the bad ones) from your blood.

My blood pressure – still a tad low. It has always been on the low side.

If you have FH, your cholesterol is going to build up in the bloodstream regardless of what you eat. And this is exactly what’s happening to me. I eat very little meat, avoid fatty foods and minimal dairy products and yet my cholesterol reading is high.

Because of my strict diet, I’ve lost quite a bit of weight. And some unkind people have been body shaming me, accusing me of wanting to be stick thin. I can’t believe that some people can be so shallow-minded and insensitive.

Would you body shame someone who is battling cancer or have a hormonal disorder?

Oh well, I’ve now shunned away from these people and have minimal interaction with them.

Anyway, back to my health issues.

I’ll be meeting up with my cardiologist when he returns from the UK end February. He’ll review my medical report and perhaps asks me several questions before deciding if I should be started on statin to control my cholesterol levels.

As I’ve not done a mammogram for more than 5 years, my gynae thinks that I should get one done. She recommended a 3D mammogram at Sunway Medical Centre, which is a relatively new procedure and more advanced than a 2D mammogram. This procedure costing RM450 is going to burn a hole in my wallet this month as I’ve already spent quite a bit at my gynae’s office and on the blood work.

But spending RM1k a year on health screening is something that cannot be scrimped or avoided because you’re going to be spending even more when something bigger and more malicious is detected later. So if you’re above 35 and have not done a blood work and health screening for years, I think it’s good to have one done for early prevention of diseases.

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Healthy Grub

This week is another NO REST WEEK for me!! I can’t believe it! I just got to know from Alycia that she still has to go to school this Saturday to wrap up a project that she and her team mates are working on though it’s a school off-day this Saturday. Guess who’s going to be the Grab driver? It’s not the hubs as this week is another full-house week for him. And on Sunday, Alycia has to leave the house at 6:30 a.m. for a marathon! For Sunday’s marathon, I am going to tai-chi the driver’s chore to him! I need my sleep!😴

Ok to be fair, these are my responsibilities as a mother. I shouldn’t complain too much. Before I know it, the girls will blow the coop and I will be longing to be their driver again. But I really need that 3-4 extra hours over the weekend to stack some Z’s before a new crazy week starts again. I just need to blow off steam here coz I feel so sleep deprived the past one week. I’ve been waking up with a nagging headache the past two days and feeling really zombified in the morning.

Not getting enough sleep is just as bad as eating junk and it’s impacting my cholesterol level that’s quite high as I have familial hypercholesterolaemia (genetic high cholesterol). Researches have found that sleep loss leads to changes in genes that are responsible for regulating cholesterol levels and sleep deprivation may have a negative impact on cholesterol levels. I’m already not getting enough sleep, so I should eat healthily to prevent my cholesterol level from skyrocketing.

Here’s what I’ve been eating lately..

Breakfast of low-fat sugar-free yoghurt with Brazil nuts, pistachios, organic goji berries, pomelo and seasoned Korean seaweed.

Dinner of blanched organic ferns with peanut sauce from hubby’s kitchen. His Indonesian cook makes the best peanut sauce!

Dinner of organic traditional rolled oats with beef bolognese sauce, while the girls had Penne pasta.

Sunday night dinner of organic red bell pepper with peanut sauce and sauteed assortment of organic shrooms.

Cooked organic rolled oats with low-fat sugar-free yoghurt and fresh pomegranate. Sherilyn made this for breakfast.

As a result of eating clean with an intensified workout session five times a week, all my pants and skirts have been dropping off my waist! 😬

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Thursday (28 February 2019) and Friday (1 March 2019)

Thursday, 28 February 2019

The heat wave is on and I’m back to my days of showering 4 to 5 times a day! Every activity that I do that involves moving vigorously from moping the floor to hanging the laundry, changing the bedsheet to cooking sends me to the bathroom for a quick 5-minute shower. Even my Drama Queen who is in the afternoon session in school, who is usually very tolerable to heat was torqued off when I told her that I was bringing her to the open air kopitiam to have lunch. She didn’t want to go to school feeling like she’s got a wet plastic cling wrap on her body and asked if she could have lunch in an air-conditioned place.

So here we were yesterday, enjoying our expensive lunch in the supermarket, just so we could enjoy the air-cond:

She had grilled Shishamo smelt bento while I had half a packet of economy meehoon and a cup of milk tea. See, the mother eats like a maid and the daughter eats luxuriously. I never had such luxury growing up. My girls are lucky!

I have not wiped the ceiling fan in my bedroom myself for years. Well, easily for the past 10 years as I’ve always had a live-in maid and part-time maid to help me with it. But since our part-time helper is now pregnant, I have to do this chore myself, with some extra large antibacterial wet wipes. And I ended up with a crick in my neck yesterday after trying to elongate my neck like a giraffe to reach the top most part of the ceiling fan. I can’t even turn my head properly now when I drive. Dang it!

Friday, 1 March 2019

This was my keto brunch today (chicken, steamed egg and vegetables) after 15 hours of fasting for my yearly blood test for cholesterol and blood sugar:

Hope the readings for my cholesterol will be better this year. If you don’t already know yet, I have Familial Hypercholesterolemia, which is genetic high cholesterol. No matter the diet and exercise regimen that I’ve tailored into my life, my cholesterol level is still slightly elevated. Thus, I can’t be the hardcore carnivore that I was many years ago. Wish me luck in my blood works results!

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Cassandra’s Blood Test Report

Today is Cass’ blood test report collection day at the hospital. Dr Eric’s comment as usual was “not too bad”.

On the 36 types of allergen test, Cass has no allergies, though the test shows that she has a slight allergy to dust mites. The units of antibodies shown (24) are so minimal that she is not even categorized under Class 1.

The blood lipid test shows that she’s got borderline high cholesterol at 5.3 mmol/L, which is expected as she’s inherited my bad DNA of Familial hypercholesterolmia (genetic high cholesterol). Even with a sustenance of plain water, fruits, vegetables and very little meat with exercise 5x a week (till I was severely anemic last year), my cholesterol reading is still hovering at 5.8 – 6.

But Dr Eric ain’t very concerned and commented that no further test is required until Cass reaches adulthood. He has seen younger kids with double digit total cholesterol readings as both parents have genetic high cholesterol.

Dr Eric is the only pediatrician whom I trust. He’s been treating Cass since she was a sickly 6 weeks old infant and knows Cass’ medical history. He does not prescribe drugs and antibiotics to Cass unless extremely necessary, like in the case of a chronic UTI attack.

Remedial actions will be a diet similar as mine, which is a diet that’s low on high fat foods, reduced food portions (what? She’s got a bottomless pit!) and Cass will have to engage in more sports activities. This gives my ‘tidak apa’ girl a New Year Resolution for 2019 to work on and hopefully she will have a steely discipline to stick to it. I’ll see…

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