9 Year Old Triglycerides 500-Need Advice

[PowertothePeatple]

My son had a strange dark pigment on his arms and so we went to Dr. and did blood work. Everything came back "normal" except his triglycerides were 500. His total cholesterol was not particularly out of range although, I am not sure how they calculate it when the triglycerides are so out of range. He has had some issues with asthma and can be emotionally fragile but otherwise seems pretty healthy. He is extremely active but has put on some weight in the last couple years. The only other thing noteworthy on bloodwork was his TSH was 2.48 which of course the Dr. said was normal. Not sure what to do since he is a kid and I am inclined to be cautious with supplements. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mittir]

Was that a fasting or non-fasting blood test?
After meal triglycerides are normally high.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

Yes, it was fasting.

 

[Mittir]

If i do not fast at least 10 hours my trig number is high.
RP has mentioned that estrogen is the main cause for
high triglyceride. People on high fat diet also have
high triglyceride, which is normal. Cortisol and insulin
are also associated with high triglyceride. Poor sleep can
cause to have high cortisol in the morning. I think a second test
can be helpful.

Young people can quickly improve
thyroid function just by following a healthy diet.
If he was eating a lot of PUFA in past then it may take
some time to deplete PUFA. Asthma is associated
with gut irritation and serotonin. A gut friendly diet
with anitbiotic fibers like raw carrot, cooked bamboo shoots
or cooked mushroom can be very helpful.
You can measure his temperature and pulse
half to 1 hour after breakfast to get a good idea
about his metabolism. Is he taking steroid
inhaler for asthma? I am wondering if that
can raise cortisol to cause high triglyceride.
Starch and hard to digest foods cause all sorts
of health issues, especially asthma.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

I have really tried to avoid steroid use but he was on albuterol nebulizer treatments several times in the last year or so. He has cough variant asthma and so at first we weren't aware he was having asthma so it kind of got out of control and we had to use albuterol. I suppose that could cause the body to produce triglycerides. Any ideas on how to lower triglycerides or is that even necessary?

 

[tara]

I'm not up with triglycerides, but if you haven't checked out Buteyko method for asthma, you might find something you want to try. I have a child with occasional asthma, coughing kind. Sometimes we can interrupt an attack early with a simple breathing exercise. Chinstrap or tape at night may help too, if he's a mouth-breather (which mine is), and if he'd accept it.

 

[Blossom]

You could ask the doctor about singulair. It's a leukotriene inhibitor and IIUC leukotrienes are made from pufa so it might be helpful while you work on getting him pufa depleted.
Montelukast: its role in the treatment of childhood asthma
If it could help him reduce his need for bronchodilators or corticosteroids it might be worth considering.

 

[tara]

Buteyko method for asthma

Just to add, there have been some clinical trials of Buteyko method techniques for children with asthma showing on average a significant reduction in the need for medication.
Patrick McKeown has written about a steps method that can apparently be helpful in reducing or, if persistent enough, eliminating symptoms. We've not persisted that much.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

@tara I have tried bag breathing when he is having issues. Does that have similar effects to Buteyko? I know nothing of Buteyko and so have been a bit intimidated. Is it simple enough for a kid? And yes he tends to breath through his mouth. When he is awake I remind him but when he is sleeping who knows.

@Blossom I never considered Singulair assuming it was a steroid. I will look into it.

 

[Blossom]

Haidut posted some good stuff about singulair and I believe @Peata has used it for lung issues.
Blocking Inflammation From PUFA Reverses Brain Aging

 

[tara]

@tara I have tried bag breathing when he is having issues. Does that have similar effects to Buteyko? I know nothing of Buteyko and so have been a bit intimidated. Is it simple enough for a kid? And yes he tends to breath through his mouth. When he is awake I remind him but when he is sleeping who knows.

Did the bag breathing work for yours? I was thinking of trying that too. Should raise CO2 levels at least in the short term, and maybe also in the longer term if practised often enough.

Sometimes we can stop a mild attack with a series of short breath holds. Hold breath and count to 5 or 10 - enough to want to breath, but not too stressful - then breathing through nose. Repeat several times. Sometimes that's been enough to get mine to sleep for the night when the coughing was keeping him awake. Sometimes not enough, and used the drugs anyway.

Sometimes we've done practice holding breath under water in the bath.

Anti-snoring chin straps work for some people to keep the mouth closed at night. Look on amazon or similar. Personally I used a little tape, and loved the effect. My child has occasionally used the tape, probably to good effect (not rigorous enough trial to eliminate chance). I offer it but don't require it - I don't want to add to the stress.

The full Buteyko method is quite involved and requires persistence. I learned about it from normalbreathing.

There are some techniques that one could experiment with.

You could look up Patrick McKeown. He recommended daily practice of brisk walking while holding breath, brief rest in between, repeat several times. He says 80 steps corresponds to no symptoms. Some people with severe asthma report eliminating or much reducing symptoms by really going for it. We only practiced this a few times, not enough to make much difference.

 

[Richiebogie]

Everything came back "normal" except his triglycerides were 500.

What does your son tend to eat in a day?

Also, can you remember what he ate in the 24 hours before his blood test?

 

[PowertothePeatple]

Hard to pin down a typical day but he on a regular basis has 2-3 glasses of milk, yogurt, fruit(watermelon, pears and apples at the moment), juice, rice or potatoes, bread and meat(usually beef or pork and usually with gelatin added), occasional fish(ie sushi), nightly vegetable with dinner and liver a couple times a month. For treats we do gummi bears, chocolate, or ice cream.
I have always been cautious of PUFA but didn't get serious about eliminating it till about a year ago so he may have some built up in fat cells. I do give him magnesium and b vitamins as supplements. I don't remember what he ate before test. And actually we did repeat the test right away just to make sure it wasn't a fluke and the result was really similar.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

Did the bag breathing work for yours? I was thinking of trying that too. Should raise CO2 levels at least in the short term, and maybe also in the longer term if practised often enough.QUOTE]

I do think bag breathing has helped but when he is having problems I do a whole host of things. So how much bag breathing is helping is hard to say. I was so desperate to avoid steroids that if I think he is starting to get asthma we immediately engage protocol:) Magnesium, gelatin, bag breathing and apples or apple juice and vaporizer or saline in nebulizer.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

@tara Sorry my response to you above came out weird. I clearly haven't figured out how quoting works:) Here is my response:

I do think bag breathing has helped but when he is having problems I do a whole host of things. So how much bag breathing is helping is hard to say. I was so desperate to avoid steroids that if I think he is starting to get asthma we immediately engage protocol:) Magnesium, gelatin, bag breathing and apples or apple juice and vaporizer or saline in nebulizer.

 

[tara]

Magnesium, gelatin, bag breathing and apples or apple juice and vaporizer or saline in nebulizer.

This protocol usual allows him to interrupt a beginning attack? Great. Which form of Mg do you give him?

 

[paymanz]

Give him some vitamin A,either from liver or supplement.liver is superior.

 

[Mittir]

I know several people whose asthma improved a lot after
cutting dairy. Is milk a recent addition to his diet?
Was there a change in diet before the onset of asthma?
Gelatin is problematic for a lot of people.

Since gut irritation is a major source of serotonin
and asthma attack, i assume that asthmatics
usually have weak digestion. I would pay a lot of
attention to gut irritant factors of all the foods.

Recently someone was having bad asthma problem
and after some sleuthing i figure out that it was
the sulfur in grape. I can almost always figure out
the cause of cold and allergy for my nieces and nephews.
It is always related to some food. French fries is the common
source. It is better to eat the hard to digest foods in the day time
and night time is for easily digestible foods.
Supplements often have declared and undeclared allergens.

ETA:Any of the antibiotic fiber ( Coooked mushroom, cooked bamboo shoots,
raw carrot salad) RP recommends should improve over all health and asthma.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

This protocol usual allows him to interrupt a beginning attack? Great. Which form of Mg do you give him?

What happens with my son is not the kind of asthma where he feels like he can't breathe. In fact that is why we didn't realize he was having asthma at first. What happens to him is he starts waking up with a cough and it will get progressively worse over several days till he develops a wheezing cough so I am not trying to stop an acute type of attack like this.
Is your child's asthma similar to this or is the asthma more acute coughing fits?
I use either epsom salts or magnesium oil.

 

[PowertothePeatple]

I know several people whose asthma improved a lot after
cutting dairy. Is milk a recent addition to his diet?
Was there a change in diet before the onset of asthma?
Gelatin is problematic for a lot of people.

Since gut irritation is a major source of serotonin
and asthma attack, i assume that asthmatics
usually have weak digestion. I would pay a lot of
attention to gut irritant factors of all the foods.

Recently someone was having bad asthma problem
and after some sleuthing i figure out that it was
the sulfur in grape. I can almost always figure out
the cause of cold and allergy for my nieces and nephews.
It is always related to some food. French fries is the common
source. It is better to eat the hard to digest foods in the day time
and night time is for easily digestible foods.
Supplements often have declared and undeclared allergens.

ETA:Any of the antibiotic fiber ( Coooked mushroom, cooked bamboo shoots,
raw carrot salad) RP recommends should improve over all health and asthma.

I am so nervous to cut out dairy. I really trust Ray Peat and he so strongly emphasizes milk and calcium. What would you suggest to make up for the loss of calcium if we removed dairy?

I do think gut irritation could really be an issue. I have not made him do a daily carrot but I should try that. This really makes me think we need to work on digestion for sure.

Interesting that you mention grapes because when I first starting eating more fruit because of Ray Peat, I found if I ate too many grapes I would feel like I could not breathe. I figured it was sulfites which tend to bother me.