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Got High Triglyceride Level. Taking Good Diet And Maintain Lifestyle. Possible Reason?
Question: My triglyceride level on a fasting blood tests was 208! I am a 49 year old woman. I work out 5 days a week. Three of those days are intensive. I have tried to change my diet lightly to include more salmon, and whole grains. I am taking fish oil supplements. I don't drink sodas ever. I have one cup of coffee in the morning, after that it's water or an occasional unsweetend iced tea, I eat yogurt in the morning, one time a week I have an egg, I have lots of fruit throughout the day. My doctor wanted to repeat the test in three months and see if the modifications helped. Help!
92Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic
High triglycerides can occur due to : (1) family history or predisposition to high triglycerides (2) high carbohydrate intake (3) high fat intake (4) excess alcohol use and smoking (5) kidney disease (6) associated with diabetes (7) low levels of thyroid hormones (8) associated side effect of some medications including corticosteroids, estrogens, some blood pressure medicatins
You are very physically active and this would help to achieve control.
Part of treatment involves (a) looking for any evidence of metabolic syndrome. This is a group of risk factors that, if present, mean that a person is at increased risk of heart disease. A person must have at least 3 of the factors to be said to have metabolic syndrome. The risk factors are: (1) increased waist circumference- in a women greater than 35 in (2) high blood pressure- greater than 130/80 (3) elevated blood sugar (4) low HDL- less than 50
(b) look for any conditions that may be causing the elevation such as kidney disease, diabetes, low thyroid hormone level or medication.Your doctor would have screened you for any of these
(c ) look for any acquired conditions that may also be contributing to the triglyceride level- excess weight, alcohol, high carbohydrate diet, smoking
You are already using fish oil, you would just need to ensure that the dose is enough to have an effect- it needs to be at least 2 g to 4g a day to work.
Reduce your carbohydrate (bread, biscuits, pasta, rice, some breakfast cereals) and fat intake
Continue with your other medication and exercise program.
It is likely that some improvement should be seen at your followup visit.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
High triglycerides can occur due to : (1) family history or predisposition to high triglycerides (2) high carbohydrate intake (3) high fat intake (4) excess alcohol use and smoking (5) kidney disease (6) associated with diabetes (7) low levels of thyroid hormones (8) associated side effect of some medications including corticosteroids, estrogens, some blood pressure medicatins
You are very physically active and this would help to achieve control.
Part of treatment involves (a) looking for any evidence of metabolic syndrome. This is a group of risk factors that, if present, mean that a person is at increased risk of heart disease. A person must have at least 3 of the factors to be said to have metabolic syndrome. The risk factors are: (1) increased waist circumference- in a women greater than 35 in (2) high blood pressure- greater than 130/80 (3) elevated blood sugar (4) low HDL- less than 50
(b) look for any conditions that may be causing the elevation such as kidney disease, diabetes, low thyroid hormone level or medication.Your doctor would have screened you for any of these
(c ) look for any acquired conditions that may also be contributing to the triglyceride level- excess weight, alcohol, high carbohydrate diet, smoking
You are already using fish oil, you would just need to ensure that the dose is enough to have an effect- it needs to be at least 2 g to 4g a day to work.
Reduce your carbohydrate (bread, biscuits, pasta, rice, some breakfast cereals) and fat intake
Continue with your other medication and exercise program.
It is likely that some improvement should be seen at your followup visit.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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