I Stopped Taking Bergamot And Here’s What Happened To My Cholesterol

Posted on December 14, 2015December 29, 2016 by BJJ Caveman

Brief Summary

I had normal cholesterol, went low carb, and then ketogenic, and saw that my cholesterol started to go crazy. I tried a host of things to bring it down including raising my carbs and taking various supplements to no effect. I finally saw a lipidologist, did some more research, and came up with a 12 point gameplan which surprisingly worked!

I’ve received some fair criticism for doing things in this manner because I essentially added so many variables at once which can make it hard to conclude anything at all. … Read More

Did My Anti-Cholesterol Gameplan Work? YES!

Posted on October 5, 2015December 29, 2016 by BJJ Caveman

Last week I introduced my 12 pronged gameplan to bringing down my stubbornly high cholesterol. I followed these 12 steps rigidly for 4 weeks and did a follow up NMR Lipoprofile. I was literally BLOWN AWAY by the results.

My LDL-P, which has been stratospherically off the charts for the past 3 years has finally come down to Earth.

Something I did worked.

Since I have readers that are just finding this site, I’m going to go into some of the background behind my journey up to this point.… Read More

My Anti-Cholesterol Gameplan

Posted on September 28, 2015May 9, 2017 by BJJ Caveman

In my last post I reviewed the results of all the labs my lipidologist ordered in which we learned:

I am somewhat insulin resistant
I have increased cholesterol synthesis which is possibly related to my insulin resistance
I also have increased cholesterol absorption which is possibly related to an underlying gut issue
I am ApoE 3/4
My Lp-PLA2 is still elevated and we’re not sure if this is due to actual vascular inflammation or other causes like exercise or my dental issues.

Before going straight for prescription medications, the lipidologist suggested a few things for me to try which I was all over… but since I’ve been dealing with these cholesterol issues for so long and eager to get it under control, I decided to do every possible thing I could think of to help bring it down.… Read More

Reviewing the Labs My Lipidologist Ordered

Posted on September 21, 2015September 28, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

In my last post I shared the notes I took from my consultation with the lipidologist. During that initial meeting she ordered all the labs we discussed and many that we didn’t.

After a week the results came back and we discussed them over the phone. Unfortunately there was a lab screw up and a bunch of the insulin resistance labs she ordered weren’t processed.

I of course took diligent notes that I’ll share below. As a warning, like the past couple of posts in this series, things do get a bit dense and technical, but I’d rather give you more information than less. … Read More

Consultation with the Lipidologist

Posted on September 14, 2015May 9, 2017 by BJJ Caveman

In my efforts to control my cholesterol I finally decided to seek help from an expert and scheduled a consultation with a board certified lipidologist. Last week I shared my prep work and the questions I wanted to ask when I met her.

This week I’ll share with you the items we discussed during our meeting and her answers to my questions.

A lot of this will be super technical, so if you’d like, you can skip ahead to the bottom of the post where I’ll put together a brief too-long-didn’t-read type of summary, but otherwise read ahead.… Read More

What A Doctor Asks His Lipidologist

Posted on September 8, 2015September 7, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

Despite 3 years of struggling with a markedly elevated LDL cholesterol particle count I’ve finally managed to make substantial progress in bringing it down over the past 4 weeks, but before I go into the results and the exact methods I used, I want to give you a detailed description of everything leading up to it.

After experimenting with different macronutrient ratios and various supplements without much success, I finally decided that I took things as far as I could take them on my own and needed help, so I arranged to meet with a lipidologist.… Read More