Q. I am feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Is it because of high BP and triglycerides levels?

Hello doctor,

I am a 31 year old male, and my query is related to high BP, light-headedness, and high lipids. Let me first share a background and then I will come to the problem. I am over 6 feet tall, and my weight presently is about 113 kg. I smoke cigarettes regularly, around 6 to 7 every day, for the past 12 years. I consume alcohol rarely, perhaps once every month or once in two months. I do not exercise as such, but I do walk few kilometers at a stretch sometimes, perhaps once in a week or once in two weeks. Apart from that, I walk a little less than a kilometer almost every day. I have a desk job, but I do move around at brief intervals. I barely need to go out in the sun and stay indoors in AC mostly. I normally have home cooked food for breakfast and dinner. However, I take lunch outside. Apart from this, I normally eat out about once a week, and the food is oily and spicy. I had been diagnosed with low vitamin D around six months ago, following which I had taken Uprise D3 60K once a week for three months on my doctor's prescription.

Now, coming to the problem, end of last month, I had a severe headache, which felt like a constant banging inside my head in the night. This headache disappeared when I woke up next morning. However, since then I had a feeling of light-headedness, particularly, while staring at the computer, walking, etc., but not while lying down. I did not feel any weakness. There was no fever, nausea, and dizziness. This feeling of light-headedness lasted for about 4 to 5 days, which subsided and gradually went away. I visited a doctor within a couple of days after this headache, and he asked me to get a lipid profile, creatinine, TSH, and a brain CT scan done.

All the results were normal, except LDL was 84, HDL was 37, and triglycerides were 292. It was also found that I have high blood pressure (140/100 mmHg). I was not prescribed any medication on that day for triglycerides but only Amlokind 5 for high BP. I was asked to totally avoid oily, spicy food for 10 days and then have another lipid profile test. I did so, and after 10 days my triglycerides level was found to have dropped to 192 with LDL and HDL having very negligible change. My BP had gone back to 130/80 mmHg.

What may have been the cause of such high triglycerides, BP, headaches, and light-headedness? Kindly share such causes also, which are relatively uncommon or rare. Could either of the high BP or high triglycerides have caused the feeling of light-headedness? Can triglycerides be elevated on their own or there must be some underlying cause? If so, what may be such underlying causes? Look forward to a clear and prompt response at the earliest, please.

Hi doctor,

Thank you so much for your reply.