Blood Draw Yields Fatty Deposit??

While in nursing school, I'm working as a phlebotomist. It is a fairly often occurrence for folks to come in and have blood/serum samples just as the original poster described. When spun, the serum is milky (lipemic) and once in awhile, the analyzer can't even get a reading on the cholesterol levels - they are that high! Scary, isn't it.

I have seen this happen with a friend of mine who went to the hosp with BS>1300 and DKA. I couldnt believe what it looked like.

I have a cousin that has some sort of liver disease that makes here cholesterol level reallllly high.......can't remember for the life of me what it is. At times, her level was 2000+. Never seen it for myself, but her mom says her blood doesn't even look like blood, it has so much fat in it. It looks milky yellow, with a pink tinge to it. Now I find that hard to believe, but with all the problems this girl has had most of her life from this disease, I wouldn't be surprised.

Propofol at high doses, especially with liver failure, will yield a nice yellowish cream atop a sample left still for a short while.

And don't be afraid to show the blood to the patient.
My sister's best friend refused to treat her hypercholesterolemia/hyperglycemia, even after her TIA, so Kris got a clear water bottle, put red Kool-Aid, Karo syrup, and Crisco shortening in it and sat the thing down on her friend's bedside table.
Some people just learn visually.

Seen it often.

Usually w/ pt on TPN/lipids - but sometimes not.