Any Info On Triglycerides??

HubbleRules

AZBlonde,

I also posted a reply to you under Lipitor Bad Side Effects.

I'm repeating some of it here...

Stay on the Lopid - you need it to get your triglycerides down...

You should also (if you're not already) try the following dietary recommendations to get your trigs down...

Reduce your intake of sugars and processed carbs.
Reduce your intake of starchy foods (white breads, potatoes, white rice)
Avoid trans-fats (anything with 'hydrogenated' on the label)
Eat more green, leafy veggies and fruits (not too heavy on the fruits though)
Eat more whole grain products (oats, whole wheat)...
Easy on the saturated fats
Use Virgin Olive Oil instead of corn or coconut oil
Eat more salmon, swordfish, tuna - also supplement with Omega-3 Fish Oil tablets (ones that are high in EPA and DHA - I get mine at Puritan)...
Have no more than 1 alcholic drink (preferably a glass of red wine) a day

Also, I think your doctor is recommending a cardiologist to get your numbers under control to avoid future problems - and for that a specialist is best...

HubbleRules

ACE28

Azblonde,

I think he referred you to a cardiologist, because a cardio is more specialized in dealing with these issues. He can better interpret your test results, and has much more experience with treatment solutions. I also go to a cardiologist for my blood pressure/cholesterol. (And I don't have heart disease) He will probably prescribe another medication. Till your numbers are under control, you will have to listen to your MD. Perhaps later you can try more natural approaches. My sister was diagnosed wih very high trigs. about 4 years ago and she's been on a medication called "ZOCOR". Her numbers have greatly improved. She also takes an aspirin everyday (86mg) and a fish-oil supplement.

I hope this info. helps

azblonde

Thanks for the info I am a really picker eater, so I really do not eat alot bad stuff, I have notice that the back of my legs are very sore almost like a constince charlie horse. that just started, I also have no enegry, My Dr suggested to eat like a rabbit, that is very hard when you do not like anything, I mean anything lol. It is also very hard just having my teeth done and I am not use to my dentures yet, so I have to find foods that are very soft. In fact last Friday was the first time in 3 1/2 months I had pizza. Again thanks I feel like I am a walking heart attack,

Susie

Rick49

...You may want to consider trying the Low Glycemic Index Diet. Everyone that I know who has tried it (including myself) saw a big drop in blood pressure and triglycerides.

...Potatoes, rice, and white breads are usually the evil foods. Potatoes are mine but diets differ from region to region so it's best to find the list of the glycemic index for foods and see where your foods fall out. My triglycerides dropped from 350 to 97 and my BP dropped from 135/85 to 105/75.

...I went on the diet becasue I suffer from reactive hypoglycemia but this was a nice side effect. The underlying condition is called hyperinsulinemia caused by the overproduction of insulin due to these "bad" carbs. The general thinking is that our metabolisms react to carbs based on whether they are simple or complex and that's not the cae. Our metabolism reacts differently to different carbs and the glycemic index is just a list that was made by Testing each carb to see the metobolic reaction. Pretty stright forward, no big theories here. They took a randomised sampling of people, fed them 50 grams of a particular carb, and logged how they reacted.

...The big surprise was the white starches, potatoes, rice, and white breads. Those foods were highly reactive even more so than table sugar!!. I'm still dealing with my hdl and ldl but at least the tri's are under control now.

...Basically it's a prediabetic condition (type two) but the insulin still works but there's just too much and causes problems. A person gets the type two diabetes diagnoses when the insulin quits working and the blood sugar gets out of control. Also called insulin resistance. Have you ever feltthat you get hypoglycemia when you haven't eaten? That's usually the tell tale sign.
Rick

azblonde

Rick
No I have never felt that way, 3 years ago I worked in a casino as a cocktail waitress my weight got down to 103, that is because I was not eating and I was always on the run. I did not feel good at 103, I remember when I was working I would use a diet supplement with ephadra I was on that for about a year in a half but, because my hours were crazy it gave me enegry, the wrong kind but anyway, Now that I stay home I do not eat rice I do not like it, I do not eat bread, like I said I had surgery to remove all my upper teeth, and I can not wear my dentures on a regular basis, so my food intake is limited to very soft foods, I have had a major major craving for salt I seem like I can not get enough, my bp is fine I check it on a regular basis but my pulse today was running real high, I take my bp med's everyday. so I guess I just wait to see the cardio dr says. thanks for advice.

susie

Rick49

You may want to do a little searching on the Low GI diet as I tend to be a little confusing. It's not a weight loss diet or a low carb diet. It's just about the quality of carbs. My BP went from 135/85 with a pulse rate of 105 to 105 /75 with a pulse rate of 90. The biggest result however was my triglycerides 350 down to 97. In fact a person could gain weight on the diet if they wanted too as ice cream is a low to medium glycemic food!!
Rick

CobaltBlue

Susie,

I have been reading your thread for a couple of days now. Even though I am preparing to bolt out of here to spend some time in France, I wanted to give you a little information on what I think is going on with you, and what you can expect.

Let's go back to your first post. Your TG levels point you in the category of severe hypertriglyceridemia. The highest reported level I have seen is 21,300 mg/dL; however, you are in the top 5%. Having said that, you should console your son that it is not really as bad as he thinks. You said you were referred to a cardiologist. That is a good first step; however, my cardiologist sent me to an endocrinologist, and ultimately, that might be the better choice for someone to treat you. Lopid is normally the starting med for individuals with extremely high TG levels, and if that doesn't work, the next one to try (normally) is TriCor. If that does not work still, then a combination of the fibrate plus fish oil is tried--the omega 3 oils inhibit liver VLDL production and inhibit the movement of TG into HDL, which decreases liver catobolism of HDL. After this, niacin is sometimes added, perhaps even a statin, e.g. simvastin.

You mentioned blockage, but quite often, when you reach extremely high TG levels, the risk of CHD starts to decrease. There are various hypotheses out there about the size of the particles (and TG carried) being too large to be taken in such that there isn't a direct correlation between TG concentration and CHD incidence when people reach high levels.

Quite often, there are other reasons for such high TG levels, as you are experiencing. Sometimes it is heriditary... The thing that you need to watch out for is pancreatitis, not the heart attack at this point. Any chance that you have noticed xanthomas on your skin? (Diabetics are more susceptible, so perhaps you don't have any observable...)

I understand what you are saying about how you watch your diet. Poor diet and poor lifestyle will only take most normal people down so far towards a level of high TG (often in the 300-600 mg/dL range) but coupled moreso with impaired glucose tolerance/diabetes, low HDL particle numbers, and small dense LDL, HDL and VLDL particle sizes. This is what Rick was pointing out.

Going back to carbs. Reduction in carbs can take some individuals far, others down a bit, and some won't really benefit at all. I believe you are in the latter category. Telling you to reduce your carb intake is like telling someone that just cut off their hand to put a band-aid on it to stop blood flow. It just won't do enough to fix the problem.

As Rick mentioned his TG went from 350 to 97, I took mine from 648 mg/dL to 37 mg/dL based on weight loss and exercise. Unfortunately, you are not like me, and not like Rick, so what worked for us is not going to work for you. What will hold true for you, as it does for Rick and me is that as your TG levels decrease, your HDL (protective) will increase. However, it won't do so to the extent as a person who has metabolic syndrome.

If you want to start somewhere, try doing a search on severe hypertriglyceridemia and focus on type IV dyslipidemia. However, you actually go beyond that with your reported TG plasma levels.

Finally, since you have severe hypertriglyceridemia, there could be a liver condition resulting in your TG levels. If you have not already had this done, your cardiologist or endocrinologist will probably have your SPGT and SGOT (AST) measured to assess that possibility.

Good Luck

azblonde

I again want to thank everyone for there help, I just found out that genetics play a big part, Up to last week my family has always thought everyone on my mom"s side of the family died of natural causes, my grandmother went into surgery on the 25th of April to have stents placed in her legs, she never woke up, she had a massive stroke, she died 4 days later, we found out that my grandmother, my great grandmother, and my great great grandmother all had the same problem. my great uncle had stents put in his neck and the arties to his heart, My mother who has worked in the medical field for over 27 years keep telling me as a joke that I was a freak, no one in my family had this problem, she did not know her family history, until last week, So my point is you never know, you think you know and it takes a simple everyday performed surgery that results in a death to find out the real answers at least in my case. Again I want to thank everyone for your insight and knowledge,

Susie

mg_health

Your levels are high enough that it sounds to me like you have familial hypercholesterolemia. Do you have Xanthomas (lesions caused by cholesterol rich lipoprotein deposits) or xanthelasmas (cholesterol deposits in the eyelids)?

mg_health

On another note, at one time, my triglycerides were at 650. They're now at 131. All because of cutting back on the carbs (less beer, less potatoes, rice, bread, pasta, etc.).

CobaltBlue

MG,

Congrats on the reduction to 131 mg/dL; however, in time, I would bet that the bar is lowered to closer to 100 mg/dL as the optimal range.

During this reduction from 650 mg/dL down, did you change any other factors such as weight, or exercise intensity? Was the reduction accomplished in conjunction with any meds?

HubbleRules

MG,

I'm not on cholesterol meds now - had been on Lopid or Lipitor for 12 years or so, but stopped them 15 months ago due to muscle pains.

I've recently been eating a lot of brown-rice with corn mixed in... I was trying to get away from meats, and started switching to this. Over the past month, I've probably averaged about 3 cups (cooked) of brown rice, and 1/2 cup of corn a day. I've tried to avoid breads and potatoes, red-meat, sugars and trans fats - but I have had lots of brown rice.

My triglycerides were off the wall at my last test - like nothing I've ever experienced before. Do you think the rice could have been a big factor?

I also have a bowl of slow-cook oatmeal each day.

I had been a big coffee drinker also (got lots of caffeine from coffee plus diet coke). I've cut back on coffee and coke and have much less caffeine now than I did a month ago. I've heard caffeine can also affect LDL or triglycerides.

I'm curious what your diet is like - maybe I could benefit from the same sort of plan.

Regards,

HubbleRules

JJ

Hubble...I may be totally wrong, but I have heard that corn is a little high in carbs. & sugar. Maybe U would be better off eating a dark green veggie more then corn....

Brown rice is suppose to be better then white, but maybe U could cut back on that also and add another veggie with a smalller portion of rice. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, just telling U what I have been told. If I'm wrong, I can benefit from a correction also.

Have a good one.....

ARIZONA73

Hubble,


Rice and corn both have a high starch content, and these starches will convert to sugar. If you've been eating that much rice and corn each day, then it very well may have sent your triglycerides soaring. Incidentally, rice and corn are two commonly used adjuncts in the brewing of beer. Why? Because they are very high in starch, and during the mashing process the enzymes from the malt wlll convert the high starch content from the corn and rice into fermentable sugar, which then converts to alcohol. It is mainly done to reduce cost (less malt is required) and to produce a lighter bodied, less filling beer, but with the same alcohol content. I think that if you eliminate, or significantly reduce the amount of rice and corn in your diet, then I'll bet that your triglycerides will return to more normal levels.

__________________
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