Yep, absolutely this. I have ‘two lives’ when I consider things. Pre spine ops and post. I’m just glad to do anything these days but I always get inspired by running my our family friend in Somt, the guy is 73 now and still getting GFA for London Marathon. Total respect for him.
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51 is still relatively young for endurance sports. I didn’t start this endurance lark until I was 50 (1st marathon, 1st triathlon that year) but that was off the back of 30 years of rugby (front row), and a good few years of MTBing, ski touring and climbing.
I was 52 when I did my 1st IM, 58 when I did my last.
as I’ve said elsewhere - you only really notice a real decline when you get past 60 and then it becomes more of a mental challenge to keep going rather than a physical one.
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I’m in
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Happy birthday 
(whenever it was)
I moved up a click 10 days ago 
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Happy Birthday and welcome
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Congratulations 
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Happy Birthday grandad 
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HB!
It’s not so bad.
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Oh bloody hell, another young 'un 
.
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It’s the new 40. 
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Ffs
Had routine blood test last week and now my doctor wants to put me on cholesterol tablets - was surprised when he rang and told me so going to have to ask for the actual numbers from the surgery
6 feet tall, eat very little red meat, don’t and never have smoked, weight 71kg so not overweight by any stretch
He then tells me I will have to have liver function tests every 3 months due to the cholesterol pills
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a few years back when I had a test it was a bit high and was told to come back and do it fasted, which I did and all fine, so might be worth looking into
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A good point - I did tell them that I had eaten breakfast that morning (bloods at 11, breakfast at 6)
I have an annual medical with work and they have always found the cholesterol level a little higher than normal but not significantly so
Might ask for a repeat test on that basis
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Yeah, I would do that.
I have been just been put on Statins (I am 58) as I have always had high cholesterol; it seems to be a family trait. The first test I had gave a figure of 7.2. My wife ensures that I have a good diet and at the time was doing reasonable amount of exercise. Anyway after being on a 20mg daily dose for a couple of months I had another test and now it is 4.7 with pretty much all of the loss in the bad cholesterol. That test also was to confirm that there was no issue with my liver function.
A couple of points.
I don’t think that it has to be a fasted test.
My doctor didn’t mention having 3 monthly blood tests. I will check but I think that she would have said something to me
With something like statins you as the individual have the choice as to whether you want to take them. I have been on them for about three months now and I am not really sure whether that is a good thing or not. That said my father did have a bad heart attack at the same age as I am currently so that was one of the considerations that tipped me towards taking them. Any other questions just ask
One of the lads in the office had a stroke about 10 years ago. Sub 19 5K runner, about 5% body fat, hardly drinks, decent diet. Top stroke specialist at the hospital couldn’t work out why.
His cholesterol was high but not off the charts, I think it was around 7.
The statins weren’t good for him.
My dad had a heart attack about the same age I am now, but had a different life entirely.
When I got my cholesterol checked about 6 years ago it was something like 3.9, but I think he had high blood pressure. Mine isn’t high but I wouldn’t say it’s low either.
Not meant to be a scare story and hopefully another few tests might show it was bad timing. I’m guessing it fluctuates during the day? How high was it?
Thanks - that is useful
I think he said 8 on the phone but that’s what I need to check. If so then significantly higher than previous - have dug out my annual health assessment through work which had cholesterol at
Cholesterol 5.9 mmol/L 3.7 - 5.2
HDL Cholesterol 1.91 mmol/L 0.9 - 1.45
LDL Cholesterol 3.3 mmol/L 0 - 3.5
This was for December 2020 and was consistent with the previous results
Think will definitely ask for a retest if it was a score of 8
Thanks never hit sub 19 in my life so will be ok 
Previously the levels on previous reports were described as higher than usual but nothing to be worried about
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Ok I am not a doctor, which is the most important thing to say here 
However if your value has suddenly jumped to 8 then you should absolutely get another test. That just seems logical to me and in this case whatever they say I would do it as a fasted test. If you want to let us know how you get on 
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jumping from 5.9 to 8 in 6 months sounds a bit odd so getting a retest would be a good idea. fasting doesn’t make much difference to cholesterol levels as it’s a relatively stable marker over a day - it changes a bit but not much unlike glucose levels which can shoot up and down during a day.
I’m on the lowest dose of statin (20mg) due to a stroke 3+ years ago caused by atrial fibrillation. they put stroke patients on statins not so much for cholesterol reasons (mine was around 4 before the stroke, and is 3.7 on latest test) but to maintain better vascular health. I have no problems taking it.
during my work career I was closely involved with cholesterol testing regimes during the clinical trials of statins as the company I worked for had technology for near patient cholesterol testing (result in 3 mins) and I was the lead for the project in the UK. likewise I’m not medically qualified but I have a good inside knowledge on cholesterol tests and statins.
a key point with cholesterol levels - it’s not all dietary related and most cases of high/very high levels are down to genetics and something called familial hypercholesterolaemia where your liver can’t get rid of LDL cholesterol so well so blood levels remain high, causing cholesterol “plaques” in arteries which can lead to blocks and cardiac issues. statins block one of the key enzymes in cholesterol synthesis in the body so helps reduce levels and so your cholesterol then comes from dietary intake - balance the 2 and you can keep a healthy cholesterol level.
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