AP's that increase cholesterol

I'm on Seroquel, and every year now, my cholesterol is creeping up. The pdoc and PCP both seem to think the likely culprit is Seroquel. I don't eat a perfect diet, but I don't eat a horrible one either, and after my ulcer adventure greasy fried foods are off my list unless I want to suffer in the bathroom later. I exercise regularly and have pretty much my entire adult life, and still my bad cholesterol keeps going up, as does total cholesterol, this year both just high enough out of range to be flagged. I do have quite high levels of good cholesterol, and so far, my triglycerides are OK, but this is starting a trend I don't like to see since heart disease does run in my family, and my grandfather who had a major heart attack wasn't overweight ever in his life. In addition, my fasting glucose levels are starting to be near the flag zone for high. It is highly likely Seroquel is also causing me non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Just a host of issues.

Is there any option, or am I stuck with Seroquel or meds in a similar category, likely to do the same thing? Can your cholesterol be lowered without medication? Are the options other than Seroquel even worse for cholesterol and blood glucose? In addition, I am mostly am always mixed, and that makes it trickier with some of the bipolar meds, I've heard. I don't see my pdoc until July 10, 11 something like that, but I definitely want to bring it up to him, and I had my PCP's PA fax those labs to my psych clinic, so he will have them at my visit (signed medical releases for both those doctors on each end).

I will also be seeing my PCP later in July, around mid-month and wonder if there is anything I should ask about the cholesterol/high fasting glucose/NAFLD?

Zyprexa caused mine to skyrocket

Did your cholesterol go down after stopping Zyprexa, or was the damage done?

I've had high cholesterol for a while. Notably beyond "just high enough to be flagged", but I am a bit overweight and certainly diet has played a part. [I like cakes and donuts, etc .] I won't say that my Seroquel XR doesn't play a part, too.

I am not on a statin because my doctors believe that if I do adjust my diet (and exercise), that my cholesterol will go down. My GP hasn't put me on the statin also because he calls me low risk. He said "You're under 50, have normal blood pressure, and other results are often normal or not that high".

I actually have finally started a serious diet. When I reach my normal BMI (or lower) I'll be curious to see how my blood work is then. That'll be in February.

About 9 years ago, on Depakote and Invega, I had reached my highest weight ever. All of my blood work was bad. I was pre diabetic. I went on a serious dietitian prescribed diet and lost 40 lbs in six months. When tested then, all of my blood work was perfect. I had switched to Lithium, Tegretol XR, and Geodon, but I think the diet was the hero. I maintained much of the weight loss, but my blood work worsened a bit over time. Yes, Seroquel XR was added, but I know my diet contributed.

I wouldn't panic having slightly high cholesterol. You may just want to analyze what you eat. Perhaps it need not be fewer calories overall.

Do you have a lot of stress? I've read that that can increase bad cholesterol in some cases. See Does Stress Affect Your Cholesterol?

Oh, yes, stress beyond stress, and I have had significant anxiety as long as I remember, even 4 or 5 years old. Add that to traumatic life events, and my tendency is to be anxious about a lot of things, and to have a lot of bad panic attacks.

On the other hand, I have a surprisingly high level of good cholesterol. They crunched some numbers, put my cardiac risk at 0.23% despite the bad cholesterol. I do eat sweets and junk food, but I try to outdo the amounts of those foods with healthy foods, and fried foods are just out for me. In fact, since I finished these iron infusions, I am craving healthy food a lot, foods that are less processed, apples, oranges,strawberries, raisins, avocados, wheat crackers with cheese, salads, water instead of soda, and strangely for me, tea instead of coffee. H says it’s almost like I’m pregnant even though the only pregnancy food craving I had was cheese. It’s a not the norm for me, but it would be nice if it stuck around.

There is also some research out there regarding the NAFLD suggesting that thin or underweight people may tend to store more fat in the liver, so maybe that plays a role. Goodness knows for 2 or 3 years straight, I was really teetering. I have had ED relapses, but I seem to turn things around within a few months and mostly less than a year. It’s never as bad as it was my first go-round, but I have to imagine all these episodes could have left there mark.

So now being THIN makes NAFLD worse?! My liver doctor told me losing weight would help. Maybe there's a happy medium bmi?

One glass of wine a day to the rescue?

Mine has increased on Abilify.....I don’t know if it’s from weight gain though....it could be that the ones that are more weight neutral cause less increase in cholesterol as well, in which case switching to geodon or latuda might be an option.

I have always had high cholesterol, but it's genetic in my case.

I’ve had high cholesterol since I started APs in 2010. And I’ve been on zyprexa, Seroquel, Geodon, abilify, risperdal and Latuda so far.

I’m currently on Lipitor for the cholesterol. It seems to be doing okay but it is giving me insomnia, so I may change to Crestor. I also need to exercise more.

I have familial hypocholesterolemia, but Seroquel XR exacerbated it. My GP warned me that Seroquel was dangerous for me, even though my pdoc didn't seem to believe that Seroquel was. (It was. I was getting labs every 2 months, and the cholesterol kept climbing. I've never weighed more than roughly 105 lb and I'm 5'4"/5'5" ish.) It was a sh_tty situation, and Seroquel makes me depressed at high enough doses anyways, so needless to say, Seroquel was tossed out.

I think latuda did the same thing to my cholesterol, but nowhere near as bad as what Seroquel did.

It went down!!

I hope my PCP and pdoc can get on the same page about this. I’d rather stop it before it starts. My PCP does know my pdoc personally and has a good opinion of him, so hopefully they can come up with something that might help. I really don’t want to have to go on cholesterol medication too. H takes atorvastatin (generic Lipitor, I think) for high cholesterol. He has always been thin, but his is genetic too. He went on cholesterol medication in his late 20s. H hasn’t had side effects and he tends to be super sensitive to medication. But the last thing I need is another pill to take.

I think it may be significantly underweight or close to it, but I am not sure. I don’t remember the study I read that well.

Mostly my set point weight in adulthood has been 104 lb. (5’4”), sometimes less if it’s a bad spell with the ED. If I weight train and consume tons of protein, I get around 110 lb. It’s harder to weight train now as I don’t belong to a gym, so I walk and jog a lot for exercise. I am actually eating healthier (have gotten my weight up around 5 lb,, and don’t eat any greasy fried foods since ulcer surgery.