I am a 36 year old male, weighing in at a little less than 285 (6ft 2in tall). About a month ago, I went to the doctor to talk about my anxiety and high blood pressure which seemed to be related to high stress levels.
To rule out several other potential causes of my anxiety symptoms, he did several blood tests and, long story short, it all came back good with the exception of my cholesterol (I had fasted for 12-15 hours before the visit just in case he did blood work).
At that time, my readings came back as Total=215, HDL=25, LDL=139, Trig="over 300". Due to my then sedentery lifestyle, high stress, high blood pressure and bad cholesterol readings, he immediately put me on a BP medication (Benicar HCT 20/12.5) and Simvastatin (20mg).
Now, a full 30 days later, my BP is down to a daily average of 116/77 (was 140/90) and the blood work came back as Total=140, HDL=23, LDL=75, Trig=209. With the doctor's ok, I started mild to moderate exercise 30 minutes as I began the medications and have been performing aerobic exercise at 60-70% max HR for 30 minutes EVERY DAY for the past 2-3 weeks. I've also slowly begun changing my diet to one of less red meat, more poultry, plants and fish, but have not cut out the nightly 1-2 scoops of ice cream with fresh fruit.
The nurse just called and said the good doctor is still concerned about the elevated Trig's and very low HDL, so would like to to add Trilipix to the mix, as well.
My concern is, am I at that great of a risk of heart disease that these numbers need immediate pharmaceutical intervention or would it be more prudent to continue exercising every day (I will continue that anyway...I really like it!) and improving my diet, or do I go along with yet another drug to add to my system?
Any input from those of you that have gone through all this before? I've thought about adding in approximately 3g of fish oil (1.8g EPA & 1.2G DHA) with aged garlic and CoQ10/L-Carnatine (to help prevent statin side effects - doctor suggested this), but I'm a bit overwhelmed.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or experience any of you can share.
Adding Triliptix or what use to be called Tricor, seens like overkill to me. If your Triglycerides are 209, that dont seem high enough to add another drug. Triliptix is a fibrate that works on lowering Tri's. 150 or lower is normal.
I take Simvastatin and Tricor. My tri's are about 210 with Tricor, and me and my doctor are happy about it.
Fish oil is gross.
Have you had a cholesterol test since starting exercising? Your HDL of 23 to 25 is considered a risk factor (because it is less than 40, and your total / HDL ratio is high as well), but exercise tends to increase HDL.
Your triglycerides are considered high; try reducing intake of sugars, simple carbohydrates, and alcohol.
Losing excess body fat should also help with reducing the LDL and triglycerides numbers.
Frequent ice cream intake is not good for your cholesterol levels. The dairy fat has a lot of LDL-raising saturated fat, and the sugar content is not good for your triglyceride levels. Plus, the calories may make it hard to lose excess body fat. Whole fruit, on the other hand, is generally good to eat.
I agree with everything the previous poster just mentioned.
Cut out the daily ice cream, sweets and any junk food you may be eating. Reduce or eliminate wheat, high carb foods, and fruits that don't contain fiber (white grapes, fruit juices, etc).
Ask your doctor for a VAP test, homocysteine, vitamin D levels, and c-reactive protein. A regular cholesterol test is close to useless.
You can ask your doctor about taking Lovaza (or OTC fish oil) instead of a fibrate. And fish oil isn't gross... if it is, you are buying the wrong brand (or a rancid bottle). Good fish oil basically has little to no taste, or contains lemon flavoring.
High dose niacin or prescription Niaspan may be a better option than a statin or a fibrate, as it will help raise HDL much better than any other drug. But only take niacin under a doctor's care.
I suggest anyone on a fibrate research the mortality rates on those drugs -- you may not like what you see.
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I've completely cut out alcohol, I am down to 2 slices of whole-wheat bread daily and the fruits I consume consist of mainly banana's and apples with the occasional mixture of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries every night in place of ice cream (yes, I gave that up a couple of evenings ago and I don't realy miss it with the fruit in its place).
My typical day's food intake is as follows (maybe this holds some clues?):
Morning
8oz fat free fruit yogurt
banana
1 slice toast with sugar-free orange marmalade or honey
Lunch
Salad with 2oz chicken, tomatoes, shredded cheese, ranch dressing (drizzled not drenched) shredded carrots...your typical side salad with chicken added, I guess.
Otherwise, 1 turkey-ham sandwich with a slice of fat free cheese, pickle slices and mustard plus a single serving bag of baked chips.
Dinner
2 to 4oz of meat (chicken, lean beef, lean pork, fish)
1 to 2 cups veggies (peas, green beans, broccoli, corn are most frequent)
1-1/2 cups rice or mashed potatoes with either lo-salt soy sauce or olive oil spread
Snacks
fat free yogurt with mixed berries in evening
granola bar(s) during day
very occasionally a small piece of candy/chocolate during afternoon, usually once per week
Drinks
water, water, water...I probably drink upwards of a gallon of water per day. I prefer it to anything else and have even cut off coffee other than 1/2 cup 1-2 days per week when my wife makes a pot of the stuff.
So...that diet along with 30 minutes daily of aerobic exercise plus a statin plus Trilipix (not a typical fibrate from what I'm reading) plus 2g fish oil with at least 2 meals a day. Shouldn't that be a little bit of an overkill for where I started?
However, the HDL has not improved despite 30 days of daily exercise. LDL cut in half and total Cholesterol is way down, but the low HDL/high Tri problem remains. One nice benefit of all this is that due to the diet changes and the daily exercise, I've lost nearly 25lbs in the past 6 weeks, which I'm sure can only help, as well! I'm guessing the journey to ideal blood lipids takes time if done right/naturally...
Last edited by starling72; 03-23-2009 at 03:34 PM.
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