Extremely high triglycerides all my life, normal/low cholesterol until age 45

[tonyclem]

OK, just some general information desired. I am current 49 and an in greatly failing health, though with no diagnoses. I have ZERO faith in doctors and have only have one successful treatment in my life.

Anyway on with my question: When I was maybe 19-20 I first heard on triglycerides during a routine office visit. I don't remember the reason for the visit, but most likely it was related to one of the many chronic sinus infections I had all my life.

To get to the point, I was . . . AGE: 20, WEIGHT: 185, HEIGHT: 5 11 1/2, BODY FAT ≤ 9%. I was very active in football, basketball and working out  , , , Cholesterol: 120-130, but my triglycerides: 950.

BTW: This was in the early 1980's and the doctors didn't seem to know or care much about triglycerides back then)

The doctor told me to come back in a day after fasting 12 hours so they could be 100% sure the results were correct. Re-test = 780

Over the 29 years since then I have seen no reading of under 600 on my triglycerides. My entire life my triglycerides or higher.

So now when people see a higher cholesterol or triglyceride number they are quick to blame it on me NOW being overweight and not very active.

So I guess I am wondering what hidden causes could there have been when I was a child (A child that at age 13 started drinking a product called weight-on because I was so skinny) to have had (and still do) such high numbers for my triglycerides.

Thank you in advance for any information or web links you may share

[erijon]

Your TGLs are high, but when people talk about high TGLs they are usually talking about numbers over 1,500 and I have seen people over 3,000 with otherwise normal cholesterol numbers. TGL is driven by your body's metabolism and how you process empty carbs like sugars, pasta, breads and alcohol. Basically anything that metabolizes as sugar. Have you had your thyroid checked out?

May be a good place to start.

Jon

[tonyclem]

Thank you. One thing that could support what you are saying (in my case) is the fact that my father passed away in 1964 at age 40 of a heart attack. He looked to be in fine health based on picture just prior to his death. He was not overweight, he had good muscle tone, etc. I guess that could be connected in some way.

Thanks again

[achillea]

In some people, high triglycerides are genetic,:  the condition runs in the family, and your history kind of points towards that. Until fairly recently,  there would have been no test for it.  As far as I know, there is still no way to prevent it.

You can read more about it here:  

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/familial-hypertriglyceridemia/overview.html

or by doing a google search for "familial hypertriglyceridemia."