Yesterday morning I had a lab follow-up to my annual physical, and it was pretty eye-opening. When the doctor pulled up the results he asked if I wanted to hear the good news or the bad news, and I simply requested he started at the top of the pile and work his way down.
He started with the good news, which included that I do not have diabetes, am HIV-negative, my liver works great, no kidney problems, and I do not have syphilis (which, by the way, who gets syphilis nowadays?). Then he dropped this bombshell:
My triglycerides came in at 457.
To put this number into perspective, below 150 is healthy, up to 200 is slightly above normal, and 500 or greater is considered a very high risk of heart attack and stroke. This number is so high that they couldn't get an accurate reading of my LDL (bad cholesterol), and my HDL (good cholesterol, which is believed to keep LDL in check) is only 37 (this should be 40 or higher). This number puts me at a statistical likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke between the ages of 40 and 45 (in less than seven years!).
While he complimented me on making the right behavioral choices and instructed me to keep up the good work (including losing weight, eating right, and exercising), he did explain my number is genetic. Basically my body does not process fat like a "normal" person's body would, and that I can blame the paternal side of my family for it (although my maternal grandfather did have his first heart attack in his early-30's).
The good news is this is a treatable disease. There are a couple minor lifestyle tweaks I need to make (eat fish oil pills, back off a little more on the salt, and trade a little bit of my meat for more vegetables), and I now on a medication that will help me process these fats. I go back in two months for another round of tests, and the best news is that I have plenty of time to straighten this out. I am extremely grateful to have gone to my annual physical.
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