triglycerides

May 23, 2002

Doctor I am 42,on combivir/viramune/viread,VL <50,Ts950. Three months ago my total fasting cholesterol was 196,LDL 121,HDL 46 tris 144.

To even lower my LDL I cut a lot of fats,I eat a cup of oatmeal a day, a drink a glass of wine a day. I exercise and I am very lean with no BL, and I am diabetic on pills.

Today,fasting total cholesterol 200,LDL 87,HDL 38 and Tris 377. I never had tris this high since I was norvir 6 years ago. I am doing everything I can to avoid more medication. Do you think the wine has an effect on tris? What I am doing wrong? What would you suggest for my case?

One more guestion, my Bun/creatinine ration was 26.7, it should have been bwt 6-25. What is that test for and what the results means. thanks for taking the time to answer the stupid questions our doctors take for granted,

Response from Dr. Henry

Your lipids are not too bad but are still modestly elevated. You may want to ask a nutritionist about further diet interventions. Alcohol may increase the good cholesterol (HDL)but may increase the triglycerides. Fish oil might help. The regimen you are on has not been noted to be particularly linked to severe lipid problems thought there is not alot of published data on your specific regimen. Diabetes can also aggravate the lipid picture. Hopefuly you don't smoke. If your risk for cardiac disease is elevated (family history, hypertension, etc) then consideration of lipid lowering meds like niacin or a statin or a fibrate might be warranted. KH