How significant are high triglycerides? my doctor says that he's only concerned when they reach 1, 000. mine (taking 20mg lipitor) are 350+/ 15.

Hypertriglyceridemia: Although triglycerides play a rol in atherosclerosis the most important fat of the lipid profile is the LDL . Sometimes it is difficult to lower the triglycerides to normal levels but more important we have to lower the ldl. When triglycerides are in the thousands they cause acute pancreatitis. Medicines that lower triglycerides and LDL interact to dangerouse levels, so we prioritize to lower ldl.

1000?: 1000 is a really high level of triglycerides. If you have isolated high levels of triglycerides, meaning your LDL and HDL are ok then a statin is not the drug to use. A fibric acid such as tricor (fenofibrate) or Fibricor is more appropriate. Depending on whether you have other medical conditions, you should be less than 150.

Need Information: Cardiovascular (cvd) risk is related to the number of LDL particles (ldl-p) and HDL particles (hdl-p). When triglyceride (tg) is elevated (>150), cholesterol in LDL and HDL particles goes down causing LDL cholesterol (ldl-c) levels to disagree with ldl-p levels. When ldl-c and ldl-p disagree cvd risk tracks with ldl-p, not ldl-c. To know your cvd risk with high tg - check ldl-p and hdl-p levels.