Triglyceride Question

[Sondra Elmore]

Thank you for taking my question.  My husband is 42, in relatively good health and not overweight.  He doesn't get much exercise and he doesn't eat very healthy.  He went for his yearly phyical and had blood drawn for cholesterol testing after fasting for 12 hours.  He was told his cholesterol itself was fine, but his triglycerides were over 350.  He actually saw a PA, and was told since his other numbers were fine not to worry about it.  Both of his parents have high cholesterol, but don't take medication for it, they're in their late 60's.  I'm wondering if it would be too much to request a stress test for him or what other tests you would recommend if any?  I just don't want to do nothing and wait for this to get worse.  Thank you.

[CCF-M.D.-MJM]

Hello,

Good question.

If your husband has elevated triglycerides and doesn't exercise or eat right, I would try to alter his diet and exercise.  I bet this would be pretty effective at lowering his triglycerides.  Simple things like eating food high in fiber, low in simple carbohydrates and avoiding saturated and transfatty acids would likely improve the triglycerides and improve his overall health.

If he is asymptomatic I would not do a stress test.  I would try the diet and exercise first and recheck  his labs in 3-6 months.  Triglycerides of 350 should not be ignored.  If diet and exercise are not effective, medications should be considered.

Doing a stress test on an asymptomatic  person may lead to a false positive test and an unnecessary left heart cath and possible complications.

I hope this helps and thanks for posting.

[Paule]

Same condition I have.  I have low total choles. 140, low ldl's (around 60) and hdl in the 32 range.  My trigs are sometimes 250 and not fasting can go to 350.

When they get high I diet, take lots of Omega III supplements (fish oil type of supplements) and my trigs go back down to 80 or so.  I have to stay on top of this esp keeping my weight low (strive for a BMI of 23-24, when my trigs go up my BMI is usually at 25-26 which is slightly overweight for me).

Fatty liver or abdominal fat can raise trigs (syndrome x).  Lowering my trigs elevates my hdls--although not that much as I don't have much total cholesterol to work with...my brother has a 100 total cholesterol.

Family history is key to most cardiac (MI, stroke)events.