very high triglycerides and interferon

[darcar]

hi again..
my boyfriedn who is on interferon and ribavirin was recently picked up in his blood chemistry that his tryglycerides were thru the roof.
the GI doc immediately put him on Tricor to lower it...because if it stays high that long (over 1000)
it can lead to pancreatitis!
he is due to have his first blood test since taking the tricor..and its one of those drugs not to use with liver disease but i guess it was the worse of two evils..
they had to lower his tryglycerides first and foremost.
has anyone else here had this experience with interferon ?
i have googled it and see it can happen .
if you did..how did they treat it?
thanks alot.
darcar

[darcar]

hi there Bill and Mark ! thanks mucho!
hey neighbor...lol...there is an actual bagel place named bagels and schmear in nyc!
im glad your trig went down and are doing better !
ill keep you guys posted on my friend too.
thanks !
darcar

[NYCMark]

Hi neighbor... I'm on the lower west side in Chelsea.

Yeah, have your BF fast overnight before his tests to keep that bagel with a shmear from interfering. But mine were high - fasting or not, and I'm glad to see they are are the way down. I have not developed any symptoms of pancreatitis, thank goodness!

Mark

[Bill1954]

Here is a brief article on triglycerides from labtestsonline:

http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/triglycerides/test.html

An excerpt from the article:

“Triglycerides change dramatically in response to meals, increasing as much as 5 to10 times higher than fasting levels just a few hours after eating. Even fasting levels vary considerably day to day. Therefore modest changes in fasting triglycerides measured on different days are not considered to be abnormal.”

If you haven’t already, bookmark the homepage of this site for future reference.

Good luck,

Bill

[darcar]

i think he had his blood drawn in the Am but im sure he ate before he went as he usually does.
Thanks for the info though..will pass this on to him...and remind him to fast before going in.

[jmjm530]

As Bill says, it's important that the blood is drawn for your triglicerides are after at least  12 hour fast (only water allowed). For that reason I generally have blood drawn in the morning before breakfast. If your triglicerides were taken after eating then the levels may be artificially high.

[darcar]

hi Bill and Mark !
thanks for your feedback!
Yes he is also taking omega 3 ..and is due this week for first follow up bloodwork since starting the tricor.
When we heard it was so high ..we panicked ..fearful something else was going on...or progressing.
Hey Mark..we are in nyc too..upper west side.
Hello Neighbor.!!
:-)
Darcar

[NYCMark]

Hi there...

My triglycerides jumped up over 1500 during this round of treatment, and my team was concerned about pancreatitis too. I started Tricor and Omega 3 and Zocor, and now it's down to 500. Still high, but not wildly high. It's very common.

Best luck,
Mark

[Bill1954]

Yeah, unfortunately interferon is known to cause elevated triglycerides. During my last treatment period, mine were bouncing around in the 300-400 range. My doctor was also concerned with the prospect of spontaneous pancreatitis; he had me modify my diet and begin with 1000 mg Omega 3 fish oil, OTC 3 times daily. That seemed to straighten things out for me, thank goodness. Make sure your BF was *fasting* before that test; tri’s are notorious for bouncing around after meals.

Take care,

Bill