High triglycerides and blood test loss and going private

[luvin_life]

Hey all I've been referred by my GP to Leeds teaching hospital for my high triglycerides. They can't see what my hdl v ldl is at moment cos of this. Issue is I've done the blood tests at my GP and at the hospital and they keep going missing. So I've gone private through insurance but then I'm worried about if the prescribe something how do I get this back on the NHS??? It's very confusing. Anyone going through similar?

[sandybrown]

Hello,

You are asking a very interesting question, medication cost?

For lowering cholesterol, basic medication is statin from low dosage to high dosage.

A fasting blood test can give total cholesterol and all lipid components.

But now days only a few go for fasting cholesterol test, others blood is taken any time of the day.

what were the results when your GP did the referral please?

Man made formula,

Total cholesterol= LDL + HDL + triglyceride / x. The x depends on the unit of measurement.

As you are doing a private blood test you can get a lot of other blood parameters done. Please do check.

Loosing blood samples or processing error is now common in the NHS practice. I had to go twice for my blood collection, a complected process, for NHS blood testing, first time processing error the second time no data in blood test results.

As I am retired I am not sure what will happen next.

Human body produces 80 % of cholesterol for the body to function the other 20 % is from food and drinks intake.

" Lipoproteins

There are five lipoproteins – in order of size (largest to smallest) they are chylomicrons, Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL), Intermediate Density Lipoprotein (IDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL). (Ideally chylomicrons would be called Exceptionally Low Density Lipoproteins (ELDL’s) and then the density concept would be more consistent. However…). Confusingly, VLDL is also referred to as triglyceride. People will tell you their triglyceride levels after their blood test and are pleased when these are low. They don’t know that VLDL isn’t even measured, let alone triglyceride."

Please do give update on your blood testing.

[luvin_life in reply to sandybrown]

Thanks. Yeah I'm on a statin 80mg but it's doing nothing my overall cholesterol is 9.5 but I'm fit and health so pretty sure I can blame mummy and granddad. 😀 they can't give me a reading on my hdl and ldl as triglycerides are too high to get it. There are drugs available but due to cost can only be prescribed by gp once consultant has suggested. This may have to be a nhs consultant but as I say I have tried that route and seem to be lost in the system. I work full time so don't have time to constantly chase. So went private to get the referral. Bit wondering off this still won't be enough to get the needed drugs on nhs

[sandybrown in reply to luvin_life]

In my case 10 years ago total cholesterol came down from 7.6 to 2.8, in two months on 10 mg of statin. I was not happy with it, went to see a cardiologist, few tests were done and no statin required. since then my total cholesterol has been higher than the NHS normal number.

Using the formula to calculate LDL, triglyceride has to be below a specified number.

In case of high triglyceride a fasting blood test is necessary to find all lipid numbers, as you say.

If you or your GP consider you may have FH, you can be refereed to a FH clinic for further blood tests.

Take care.

[ashleyout]

I use health insurance in Spain as it is almost impossible to see a GP here as well. It might be different in the UK, but I can claim 80 - 90% of prescription costs back from the insurance company. You may need to take a photo of the prescription and get an invoice from the chemist.

Anyway, triglyceride/cholesterol medication is usually very cheap, and probably costs less that the NHS standing charge.

Hope this helps.