Bloodwork / Triglycerides

[momrek06]

I was just reading up on cholesterol levels, mine is up.

Here is info from the Mayo Clinic:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol-levels/CL00001

Your triglycerides are borderline high according to them. If your doctor did not mention it, I would not get upset. You could call and discuss it with your doctor.

GREAT ARTICLE. Thanks.


By Mayo Clinic staff
It's important to keep your cholesterol levels within healthy limits. And if you have other risk factors for developing heart disease, you need to be even more careful — especially with your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol level.

Total cholesterol
U.S. and some other countries
Below 200 mg/dL Desirable
200-239 mg/dL Borderline high
240 mg/dL and above High


LDL cholesterol
U.S. and some other countries
Below 70 mg/dL Ideal for people at very high risk of heart disease
Below 100 mg/dL Ideal for people at risk of heart disease
100-129 mg/dL Near ideal
130-159 mg/dL Borderline high
160-189 mg/dL High
190 mg/dL and above Very high


HDL cholesterol
U.S. and some other countries
Below 40 mg/dL (men) Poor
Below 50 mg/dL (women) Poor
50-59 mg/dL Better
60 mg/dL and above Best


Triglycerides
U.S. and some other countries
Below 150 mg/dL Desirable
150-199 mg/dL Borderline high
200-499 mg/dL High
500 mg/dL and above Very high


While my cholesterol and LDL are ok. My HDL is now 48 (which is poor) and was 59 in Feb. My triglycerides is now 181 (which is borderline high) and was 145 in Feb. These numbers only changed (for the worst) in the last 3 months as I was actively watching every thing I ate. I did some things right as I lost weight and dropped my cholesterol huge. So confusing.

 

[daisax]

Women will have different results at different times in their cycle. I believe the optimal time is just after your period ends, but you can google it. So if your last test and this one were done at different times it may be a normal fluctuation for you.

 

[Poohforyou]

Triglycerides are an indicator of diabetes. If you're eating too many empty carbs (i.e. white flour and/or sugar) that will raise yours. Trying switching to whole grains like barley, quinoa, sprouted wheat etc and also have protein whenever you have carbs.

My cholesterol is borderline high because of genetics but my triglycerides are actually low (tested a year ago at 45) partly because I don't eat any white flour or sugar.

 

[Bilberry]

I'm not sure how they do it, but have seen some of this cardiologist's followers and patients lower their triglyceride levels into the 30s. I've only been able to take mine into the 40s and 50s.

Some ideas that might be helpful on lowering triglycerides. Good luck!

"Triglyceride traps"

http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/2008/01/triglyceride-traps.html

excerpt:

Triglycerides are a potent trigger for coronary plaque growth.

Triglycerides in and of themselves probably do not cause plaque growth. Instead, triglycerides contribute to the formation of abnormal lipoproteins in the blood that, in turn, trigger coronary plaque, like VLDL, intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL), and small LDL. Excess triglycerides also modify HDL structure and cause you to lose HDL in the urine.

I see plenty of people who begin with triglycerides of 200 mg/dl, 300, 700, even over 1000 mg/dl. It doesn’t take long before you learn what works, what doesn’t to reduce triglycerides. This is especially true in the Track Your Plaque approach, in which our target for triglycerides is 60 mg/dl or less.

Here’s a list of things to consider if you are trying to gain control of your triglycerides:

 

[snapppyd]

Of course anything is possible, but the vast majority of times these number are reliable predictors of various maladies. While we don't understand everything, and never will, we do need to hope that there is some firm ground to stand on, or we have no chance of making any reasonable decisions for ourselves.

I agree to a point. Of course we need guidelines. I was saying my doctor tried to tell me I needed medication because I was over "200". He is obsessed with the total number. Another doctor laughed when I told him and he saw how much of that number was GOOD cholesterol. Just saying "normal" is not exactly the same for everyone.

 

[Muushka]

OP, I didn't read what everyone wrote, but here is my opinion.

Cholesterol (and triglycerides, although not as much) has been given way too much attention. I think one way they could salvage the soaring medical costs is to eliminate the word cholesterol from the MD vocabulary. Never mind the fact that the chol lowering drugs can have more adverse affects than any elevated chol result. This is not a physician talking but someone who counseled patients on cholesterol (saying what the doc told me to say) and watching how things turned out for the patients. I remember once talking with a cancer patient, with wildly elevated tumor markers, worried about their cholesterol. Oye.

Anywhoo, I just watched a Netflix movie called Fat Head. http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fat-Head/70115017?trkid=438403#height2066

Watch it. It will explain why cutting out sugar lowered your cholesterol and a ton of myths that have been presented as fact in the medical community.

Heaven help the doc who wants me to take drugs to lower my cholesterol (which is a HEALTHY 210 mg/dl).

 

[Simba's Mom]

Does anyone know if there's a quick and easy test to just tell what your triglycerides are? My doctor told me that my cholestorol was OK, but my triglycerides need to come down. Someone told me that there's some blood test where you get the results in 5 minutes. Is there really such a test?

 

[momrek06]

Does anyone know if there's a quick and easy test to just tell what your triglycerides are? My doctor told me that my cholestorol was OK, but my triglycerides need to come down. Someone told me that there's some blood test where you get the results in 5 minutes. Is there really such a test?

Wait, I am confused, if your MD told you they are high, he must have the number from the lab work, right? Why do you need another test?

 

[Simba's Mom]

Wait, I am confused, if your MD told you they are high, he must have the number from the lab work, right? Why do you need another test?

To see if my triglycerides have come down (I have lost a few pounds, so he said they "probably" did).

 

[momrek06]

To see if my triglycerides have come down (I have lost a few pounds, so he said they "probably" did).

Oh, ok. Well my trig's were in a normal range (3 months ago) until I lost 6 pounds … they went from 145 to 181 …

 

[bicker]

I agree to a point. Of course we need guidelines. I was saying my doctor tried to tell me I needed medication because I was over "200". He is obsessed with the total number.

Any doctor can be behind-the-times and relatively unaware of the latest understanding of what is most important. That's merely anecdotal, though.

Another doctor laughed when I told him and he saw how much of that number was GOOD cholesterol. Just saying "normal" is not exactly the same for everyone.

No, that's not the case. Your first doctor was simply off-the-mark. The second doctor applied the most up-to-date understanding that refined the earlier understanding, and thereby applied "normal" (for basically everyone) to your numbers, and found you "normal" rather than "high". Big difference.

That's not the say that there aren't person-to-person differences. There are. But without a way of knowing for sure that you, specifically, are better off being "high" or "low" instead of "normal", as compared to other people (and indeed there is no way to do so), such assumptions end up being rationalizations for avoiding important issues. On various weight management forums I participated in, I recall seeing quite often people would disparage BMI metrics (as an extreme example) because it placed them in at-risk categories. Again, BMI isn't perfect, but it is a more reliable indicator than people just deciding, almost surely influenced by their own antipathy for watching what they eat and exercising, whether or not their body is better off heavier or less heavy. People are harmed by denial about their health (myself included, at times) as much as by than anything else.

 

[palavra]

I believe doctors are putting way too much emphasis in these numbers, JMHO. Sometimes it is just the way your body works.

My DH and I eat the same foods and we drink beer every day.

My tri's are 45 and his are 147 - and that is with him taking medication - lipitor, caduet and lovasa.

His HDL is 69, mine is 129. His LDL is 75 and mine is 79.

How do you explain that? As far as heredity, my mother's cholesterol was 385 while on lipitor!

My total is 217 and his is 179. The doctor tried to tell me I had high cholesterol - sorry not with that good of an HDL.

What I'm trying to say is that if you are already taking the fish oil and are otherwise healthy, these might just be YOUR numbers.

I so agree with you!

 

[John VN]

Oops, before you do, let me amend that to 2000-3000 MGS daily rather than GMS. That's usually 2-3 tabs.

A note of information...

The amount of fish oil you take is not the important factor, it is the amount of Omega-3 Fatty Acids comprising of EPA-DHA obtained from the fish oil that you are looking for.

We take between 8,400mgs/9,600mgs of fish oil totalling 2.6grams/2.9grams of EPA-DHA as per our Dr.'s instructions.

Look at the Supplement Facts to see how much EPA-DHA each pill has. 1gram
(1,000mgs) per day is a good daily amount.

 

[momrek06]

What I'm trying to say is that if you are already taking the fish oil and are otherwise healthy, these might just be YOUR numbers.

I agree with this as well … my issues are that 3 months ago (Feb) when I had my bloodwork done my TRIG's were all normal, 145.

3 months pass, I watch every thing I eat, I loose 6 lbs, and drop my cholesterol from 220 - 191 and my now normal trigs skyrockets to 181!
I am trying to read about Trig's and keep seeing the word FAT, yet I lost weight.
From Wiki:
Having a high level of triglycerides, a type of fat (lipid) in your blood, can increase your risk of heart disease.




It is something I did in these 3 months and I cannot for the life of me wrap my brain around it ……..