In Dec. 2003 I had test results of:
Fasted for 8 hours before test
Cholesterol 186
Trigs 259
HDL 30
Chol/hdl ratio 6.2

Shortly afterwards, I started on a low carb diet, lost 13 lbs. Gave up white sugar, etc. I had been a really big sweet eater. Started additional fish oil supplements.

Different lab this time, if that matters.
Fated for 13 hours before test
Jan. 31, 2004 results:
Cholesterol 202
Trigs 362
HDL 32
Chol/hdl ratio 6.3

I can't exercise much because of an ADR to a drug (Levaquin) that happened in Nov. 2001. The reaction caused a lot of muscle and tendon damage, which I have never completely recovered from.
My question tho is, I thought low carbing would help my trigs, what could have made them so much higher?

Susan

Susan,
It happens.
Not everyone gets sood cholesterol numbers with low carbbing (I didn't), but low triglycerides are almost de rigeur... you're an anomaly. I'm surprised to see your HDL's remain miserable even with fish oil supplementation.

I'm sorry you had such an awful drug reaction with Levaquin...those antibiotics are rearing back and biting with ferocity. I had similar results this summer with clindamycin.

It looks like statin time for you BUT not with muscle pain...a dilemma because the statins are not exactly a soothing balm for the muscles and you'd never know if you were feeling the statin reaction or the Levaquin when you got muscle and joint pain.
Maybe a VERY low dose statin...even 5 mg Lipitor can yield pretty good results... or else take nothing at all til you're free of the ADR pain. In the meantime you can try Atkins at an almost INDUCTION level and see if THAT will drop your triglycerides...I guarantee it WILL, but it's not fun for everybody.


I'm loathe to mention niacin but others swear by it.

I'm loathe to mention niacin but others swear by it.


Niacin will have a good effect on the HDL if one can withstand the flushing from high doses. Not being able to exercise, niacin is probably the 2nd best option because of its ability to raise HDL. Not sure if niacin alone will be able to bring down the TG--it might though? Maybe a fenofibrate like Tricor would help if you can withstand that class of med? It would most likely take your TG down substantially and give you a little benefit to your HDL?

Niacin, at high doses will drop your LDL ~15% on average, Tricor will drop it about the same, maybe a bit less of a drop here for LDL. Niacin will up your HDL ~25% while Tricor will increase it ~15%. Finally, Tricor and niacin will drop your TG, on average ~33%. Just keep in mind that these are only averages, and there are actually average ranges associated with each of these drugs. Of course, everyone responds differently.

I have been on both Tricor and Niaspan (niacin). I tolerated the Tricor well. I enjoyed the benefits of Niaspan, and didn't mind the flushing, but my liver could not withstand the high dosage of it.

Susan,

What's rather interesting is the fact that you said you were really into eating a lot of sweets. Are you overweight? Any blood sugar abnormalities that you know of? One possibility here is that you may be producing too much insulin, a condition known as hyperinsulinism. It's actually a pre-diabetic stage which can ultimately lead to full blown diabetes. You may need a more sophisticated blood test to determine if in fact hyperinsulinism is a contributing problem. People who put out too much insulin often develop a condition known as Syndrome X, which is characteristic of abdominal obesity, hypertension, a variety of blood sugar abnormalities, high triglycerides, and low HDL cholesterol.

Don't forget, the two blood tests that you posted were only taken a month apart. It is true that a low carb diet should have a significant impact on triglycerides. Naturally, the fact that this hasn't yet happened (levels have actually gone up) leads me to believe that the problem may be due to hyperinsulinism. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. But it's something to take into consideration. Certainly you should refrain from eating sweets and limit your intake of carbohydrates. As zip2play said, perhaps it may take something closer to the induction phase of the Atkins diet to obtain a more desireable outcome.

Thanks so much for the info from all of you. Arizona73, I do fit all of the criteria for Syndrome X. I am approximately 89 pounds overweight, have abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high trigs and low hdl. The only good thing is that my fasting glucose in Dec. was 100 and on Jan. 31 was 98. I ordered the two Syndrome X diet books and have been trying to go by them. Syndrome X, the Silent Killer: The New Heart Disease Risk by Gerald M. Reaven, and Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance by Burton Berkson and Jack Callem. The book written by the doctor that discovered Syndrome X, Gerald Reaven, suggests some of the very foods a low carb diet does not allow. Example: some types of bread, white potatoes, raisin bran cereal. I tried very hard to follow the information in the two books. If I had even stayed the same on my trigs I would not be so upset. But for them to have gone up by 103 points, which is the highest they have ever been, amazes me! My Aunt is taking Pravochol 40 mg a day and Lopid 660 mg a day. She is not overweight, she walks briskly every morning, eats correctly, and with all the medication her trigs are 159. I know there is a hereditary facter in play here, but what to do? I am 62 yrs old.

Susan

How many grams of carbs are you allowing in your diet? If you are following the diets in the books and eating bread, potatoes and Raisin Bran cereal, it sounds like you might be getting too many. With my diet of about 80 grams of carbs a day, my trigs dropped by half.

Susan:

When I was 75 lbs overweight, I had all the symptoms of Syndrome X: elevated TG, diabetes, hypertension, low HDL. When I brought my weight back down, all of those problems disappeared. Perhaps you and I might be similar in that respect? I can tell you that I no longer watch my carbs now. I can eat all the sugar and carbs I want, provided I keep my weight where its at, and get away with my TG being at the low end of normal.

I deleted that out of my last post to you, since I did not want to recount too much of my personal experience in my post to you. I can tell you that I average 240 g or more of carbs daily, and my TG has not been higher than 48 mg/dL in the last 1.5 years. In my case, its due primarily to two factors: maintaining normal weight and exercise.

As I said above, perhaps you and I will be similar in our ability to remove the risks through weight loss? I encourage you to try it if you can. ;)

I think ubernier's advice is stellar. NOTHING works as well for blood pressure and lipid control as weight loss down to perfect weight or better yet, to a little LESS than perfect weight:D, no matter WHAT the route (I prefer calorie control with balanced components.)

If accompanied by excercise, all the better.