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It's been quite a while since I've written; far too long in fact. I apologize and hope to be more diligent in my journaling. But if you know meyou know I get busy and easily distracted. Therefore, I won't promise to be back regularly, but will I promise to make the effort. How's that for a wimpy commitment?

Speaking of commitment, I have to get much better at it. I'm not talking about a fear of relationship commitmentI've already overcome that (refer to wife and two kids). What I'm referring to is the commitment to better health. I have a very high triglyceride count, along with high bad cholesterol (LDL) and low good cholesterol (HDL).

While many of you have probably heard of cholesterol, you may not be as familiar with triglycerides. Triglycerides (or TGs, as I'll call them) are cholesterol's secret and mysterious cousin. There's not a lot of actual medical evidence that states that high triglycerides alone are bad for you, but there's an awful lot of suggested and statistical evidence. For instance, a whole bunch of people who've had strokes also happened to have high TGs. High TG counts are also associated with low "good" cholesterol. HDL, or the good cholesterol helps to improve blood flow in arteries. The best way to improve HDL is to increase exercise. Therefore, it goes to reason that trigs could be reduced with exercise.

The challenge my doctors have been faced with over the years is how to keep my LDL and TGs down while my raising my HDL. Many years ago, I took a medicine that lowered my TGs vastly and well within the goal levels. However, both the good and bad cholesterol's were minimally affected. This seemed fine for a while until the medical world decided that even higher HDLs and lower LDLs were to be maintained. It was then, about 4 years ago, that the musical-medicine game began.

Previously I was prescribed Lopida drug for TGs only. Later, I was prescribed Lipitor, which worked well for the LDL, but my HDLs remained low and my TGs started to rise. I moved on to Zocor, which has similar results, and to Advicor, which contains Niacin. The Niacin is intended to lower the TGs while the rest of the med is to attack the cholesterols. One side effect of the Niacin is that I experience pretty intense flushing, which is very similar to having hot flashes. My doctor assured me that there was no harm to come from these hot spells, only extreme annoyance.

After trying this latest med, my levels were measured as follows:

Triglycerides 667, Ideal: Less than 150
Total

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