TODAY'S TMJ4

Lifesaving Test

One small blood test could change or even save your life.

It's called the NMR Lipoprofile, and we profiled several different people who all benefited from the knowledge gleaned by taking the test.

Muskego's Sharon and Chloe Schneider like making lunch together. The mother-daughter duo have a lot to celebrate. Just two years ago, then 11-year-old Chloe was nearly 200 pounds, and suffering because of that excess weight.

"It was hard, there was a lot of name-calling, couldn't do the things I wanted to do, my family would go on hikes and go camping and I couldn't go," she told us.

No matter what Chloe and her mother Sharon tried, it didn't work. They were always hungry, always tired.

Finally, they were referred to Dr. Tara Dall, a lipidology specialist in Delafield. Dr. Dall diagnoses early signs of heart disease and diabetes, and also works with obesity patients.

The first thing she did with the Schneiders: the NMR Lipoprofile, a simple blood test that costs less than $100.

"We can actually identify genetic risk that puts you on a path towards heart attack or stroke, and we can stop it. We can completely stop the disease process," Dr. Dall extolled the virtues of the test.

Here's how it works. Unlike a cholesterol screen, the Lipoprofile counts the number of particles in the blood that lead to arterial buildup. They're like fat packets floating around, and can also be used to identify metabolic issues.

That's what turned up in the Schneiders' tests. Both mom and daughter were insulin-resistant, making it extraordinarily hard to keep their blood sugar manageable, and making it hard to lose weight.

That was actually welcome news to Chloe and Sharon.

"I felt great, there's something we can do to help me, and it's not my fault, you know. I can work with this and I can get better," Chloe said.

She did. She and her mom started taking diabetes medication, exercising and eating better. Two years later, they've lost nearly 100 pounds between the two of them.

But it's not just obese patients who benefit from the Lipoprofile. You could be doing everything right and still be at risk.

That's what happened to Barb Hankwitz. "I did Body for Life and came in the top 1% of my age group. I ran an eight minute mile," she remembered.

Then... a heart attack out of the blue.

Barb never saw in coming. "I was very very physically active; therefore I was never screened for heart disease."

The cardiac arrest left her pulseless. She was resuscitated, but it was a long, hard road to recovery.

In an effort to get answers, she turned to Dr. Dall for the Lipoprofile. Her results: sky high.

Barb had to make changes fast, Dr. Dall told her. "She was very emphatic, if you don't turn this around you'll never survive," Barb recalled.

Dr. Dall said that's common. "You'll say wait a minute, I was doing the screening, I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing," she told us. But just because you look ok and your cholesterol tests are coming back fine, doesn't mean you're not at risk.

Now Barb is using her newfound energy to spread the word about the test, and Dr. Dall's Advanced Lipidology clinic.

"You don't need to go through a heart attack, you don't need to go through bypass, you don't need to go through four years of hard hard effort to rebuild your life."

Getting the test done won't cure you. Dr. Dall says her patients need to make permanent lifestyle changes. But she says those changes can add years, even decades, to your life.