I am suffering from very low HDL cholesterol as well as abnormally high L-Carnitine. I don't take L-Carnitine as supplement.

I am currently on T-20, Viread, 3tc, and Delavirdine and have been on this combination for over 18 months. Is my high L-Carnitine caused from this combination? Is my high L-Carnitine causing the low HDL?

I suffer from substantial resistance problems and have high resistance to Abacavir, AZT, D4T, DDI as well as severe nerve damage and partial paralysis in both of my feet.

I have never done Kaletra or Atazanavir and show no resistance on Geno and Phenotype tests. However, I had high level resistance to all proteases that were approved prior to February of 2003.

What do I do? How do i get the L-Carnitine to come down? How do I get the HDL to come up? I am currently taking Max DHA 500mg x 3/day, 500mg of Borage Oil x 2, and flax seed oil two teaspoons with each meal. I also use a flax oil based salad dressing in the evening and add flax seeds to my morning cereal every morning.

I am planning on starting an excercise program.

I am not sure how to lower L-carnitine levels (I rarely have seen them measured an more often hear of deficiencies). You don't mention what your othr lipids are (LDL, troglycerides). Exercise and modest doses of alcohol can raise the HDL. Effective use of a PI might raise the HDL so I would consider ritonavir boosted atazanavir or Kaletra. KH