Help to understand blood test results...

Thanks for your input, Psyche.

Yeah, I forgot to mention a couple of things you touched on. I'm exposed (but not at close range) to two cell phones in the house for the last 8 months or so as there's no land line as of yet. Plus I'm on Wi-Fi internet (a USB modem on a 3 meter extension cable) so I'm being exposed to more EMF than I'd been before buying a house and moving (as it's the first time I've had cell phones -- and Wi-Fi -- but minimizing exposure to the max possible). The fiber optic internet provider I was using is supposed to get to this area around September, so when that happens I'll be using that instead of the Wi-Fi. The only good thing about the Wi-Fi is it's almost free because I there's no charge from 1AM to 9AM and I do the most intensive net browsing between 5AM and 9AM and my brother between 1AM and 3 or 4AM.

I also still have six mercury amalgam fillings, so the EDTA is good for that too. And finally, I rarely take vitamin C anymore because I rarely eat more than 15 grams of net carbs a day -- usually around 5 grams. But after a couple of courses of EDTA, I'll start again or maybe on the 4 off days during each course. I plan on continuing EDTA for a while....

Another thing I forgot to mention was that I also started taking 3 grams of fish oil again yesterday. I hadn't been taking any supplements at all for a couple of months. I'll be doing a couple of blood donations in the next couple of months and see what happens. By the way I added the multi-vitamin/multi-mineral with dinner today. Thanks again. :)

Actually, this might be a better place to post than the KD thread.

These are recent lab results (VAP Cholesterol)

total chol 368 mg/dL
hdl-c 65
ldl-c 275 (direct measurement, not calculated)
vldl-c 29
triglycerides 87 (fasting)
ldl size pattern A
remnant lipo 52 (<30)

Total Cholesterol is pretty high increasing over the past 6 months from 312 to 368.
hdl-c is good and actually increased from 55 to 65 which the doctor said is not seen very often, especially in men. Pattern A is a positive, but the last value, remnant lipo, is a concern to the doctor as these are small and might cause problems. However, some medical people sound like they are still deciding how to interpret and act on this value.

From past history, I'm pretty sure loss of weight doesn't impact the numbers, and I'm not seeing a lot of difference between calculated and direct measure of ldl-c.
We believe there is inflammation, just not sure of the source. My diet is pretty simple, but there has been significant stress over the past year or so from work and home. Fortunately, the situation at work is changing and there should be a chance to determine that influence when labs are done again in 6 months.

I've been fortunate to find a paleo doctor and they aren't pushing hard for statins yet, letting me try different things to handle this.

Just did a blood and the results below.

Serum12 = 394 pmol/L
Serum Folate = 14.0 nmol/L
PSA = 1.7 ug/L
HbA1c = 47 mmol/mol

Ferritin = 186 ug/L

Total Cholesterol = 6.0 mmol/L
Triglycerides = 1.3 mmol/L
HDL = 1.61 mmol/L
LDL = 3.8 mmol/L
Chol/HDL ratio = 3.7

TSH = 1.5 mIU/L

For the blood count, one item was outside the normal range;

Eosinophils = 0.79 x109/L

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

l_autre_d said:

From past history, I'm pretty sure loss of weight doesn't impact the numbers, and I'm not seeing a lot of difference between calculated and direct measure of ldl-c.

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Have you lost some weight? That is the other thing to keep in mind, if you did the tests while losing weight, the cholesterol panel might look worse than it is. Once weight is stabilized, things begin to settle down so to speak.

Vulcan59 said:

Just did a blood and the results below.

Serum12 = 394 pmol/L
Serum Folate = 14.0 nmol/L
PSA = 1.7 ug/L
HbA1c = 47 mmol/mol

Ferritin = 186 ug/L

Total Cholesterol = 6.0 mmol/L
Triglycerides = 1.3 mmol/L
HDL = 1.61 mmol/L
LDL = 3.8 mmol/L
Chol/HDL ratio = 3.7

TSH = 1.5 mIU/L

For the blood count, one item was outside the normal range;

Eosinophils = 0.79 x109/L

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

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Converting everything...

HbA1c = 47 mmol/mol

_http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Professionals/Publications-reports-and-resources/Tools/Changes-to-HbA1c-values/
Guide to the new values expressed as mmol/mol
DCCT- HbA1c IFCC-HbA1c
(%) (mmol/mol)
6.0 42
6.5 48
7.0 53
7.5 58
8.0 64
9.0 75

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Total cholesterol: 6 mmol/l = 232.01856 mg/dl
Triglycerides 1.3 mmol/l = 115.14615 mg/dl
HDL 1.61 mmol/l = 62.25831 mg/dl
LDL 3.8 mmol/l = 146.94509 mg/dl

Eosinophils Adults:

Relative: 0%-8%
Absolute: 0-0.45 cells X 109/L

The eosinophils go up when there are allergies/inflammation going on. It could be also parasites, which is less likely depending on which country you live and your lifestyle. If you avoid foods that you are allergic to, it should calm down.

The cholesterol panel doesn't look that bad, but HbA1c looks a bit high. This later one is "caramelization" levels, or at least a general idea. Perhaps it will improve when you unload iron or calm down the inflammation.

Ferritin looks high, it might be worth checking iron deposits (iron levels, TIBC, transferrin, ferritin), or if you are a blood donor candidate, then, I would give some blood. You can also consider doing some oral chelation with EDTA to see if it helps :)

Okay thanks for the input Psyche. I'll do a blood donation and oral chelation and see how it goes.

If the thyroid results show normal levels of these hormones then the thyroid gland is functioning properly.Hence, a blood test is a useful diagnostic test that can help in diagnosing a number of health problems.

ridhithomas said:

If the thyroid results show normal levels of these hormones then the thyroid gland is functioning properly.Hence, a blood test is a useful diagnostic test that can help in diagnosing a number of health problems.

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Actually, that is precisely not the case for a lot of folks. Thyroid results can be normal even when the thyroid metabolism is clearly not.

TSH: Thyroid Stimulating Hooey & The Loss of Wisdom
http://www.sott.net/article/175466-TSH-Thyroid-Stimulating-Hooey-The-Loss-of-Wisdom

I just got back from the doctor's office where I got the results of my blood and urine analysis. Last time I had this done was in 2008. Back then I was a vegan. Luckily I saved my results from 2008 so I can compare after more than 2 years on ultra low carb paleo.

The doctor was very impressed. My blood pressure is way down. Last time I saw him it was around 160/95, today it was 130/72 and it's been lower than that recently. Last time he wanted me to start medicating it, but I turned it down. I said I wanted to lower it naturally. He said I would have to run 10 miles a day and lose lots of weight. Well I definitely don't run 10 miles a day but I have lost over 35 pounds on the diet.

Of course, my cholesterol is up and he wanted to medicate that, but I told him I wasn't worried, that it was because of what I eat, and he was fine with that but told me I'm increasing my risk of heart disease. In 2008 it was total 184 and now it's 239, which to me isn't scary high, but it is high enough for the pharma companies to make money on me. In 2008 HDL was 53 mg/dL and now its 73 mg/dL. LDL was 124 and now is 154.

What I was interested in, though was Triglycerides and that went way down on the diet, from 118 mg/dL to 60 mg/dL. The doctor was very impressed with that.

Other good news is my hematocrit levels are fine, 46.5% the same as they were in 2008, despite all the iron rich foods I eat. I guess I don't have the hemochromatosis mutation.

He was also impressed with my sufficient vitamin D levels.

The funny thing was in 2008 I had no ketones but now I tested at 15mg/dL. The doctor saw that as a negative but chalked it up to me having fasted before the blood test.

Glucose levels went up, actually, from 89mg/dL to 95 mg/dL. Not sure what to make of that or what that means. But it's within normal range.

Luckily he didn't ask me about smoking. In 2008 I didn't smoke, so he just carried that over. I was dreading the lecture.

Conclusion: The diet rocks! Many thanks to all the researchers here who saved me from veganism.

By the way, I'm 56 years old, so that's one reason the doctor was so impressed. Most people my age have chronic conditions and are already on various medications. We talked a bit about low carb paleo, he said that it makes sense and he is trying but that he gets carb cravings and asked me if they go away, and I told him they did. Unfortunately he subscribes to the lipid hypothesis, so if he goes low carb I'm sure he's not getting enough saturated fat.

Mr. Premise said:

By the way, I'm 56 years old, so that's one reason the doctor was so impressed. Most people my age have chronic conditions and are already on various medications. We talked a bit about low carb paleo, he said that it makes sense and he is trying but that he gets carb cravings and asked me if they go away, and I told him they did. Unfortunately he subscribes to the lipid hypothesis, so if he goes low carb I'm sure he's not getting enough saturated fat.

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Thank you for sharing

BTW, your cholesterol levels look perfect to me ;D

Congratulations on your blood analysis, Mr. Premise.

Mr. Premise said:

Luckily he didn't ask me about smoking. In 2008 I didn't smoke, so he just carried that over. I was dreading the lecture.

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Why would you have to tell him that you smoke even if he had asked? You could have just said no. ;)

Way to go, Mr. Premise... To your continued good health!!!!

Nienna said:

Congratulations on your blood analysis, Mr. Premise.

Mr. Premise said:

Luckily he didn't ask me about smoking. In 2008 I didn't smoke, so he just carried that over. I was dreading the lecture.

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Why would you have to tell him that you smoke even if he had asked? You could have just said no. ;)

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Not sure. I probably would have told him. I already told my dentist, you can't hide smoking from your dentist! I'm of two minds about this. One the one hand, they will pay more attention to my lungs if I tell them, which could be a good thing for diagnosis, etc. On the other hand, you have to listen to the lecture and they can soon charge more for insurance. And I already told my company that I did to get company-sponsored life insurance. They can not pay your survivors if you lie on the application. Of course the life insurance then cost a whole lot more. I think I should get a Triglyceride discount! And an EE discount!

Thanks for sharing your positive results, Mr. Premise.

I agree that you should definitely get a triglyceride and EE discount. The whole lipid hypothesis, as we know, is bunk. And since there are no highly profitable triglyceride lowering drugs on the market, this very important factor is NOT given much attention. On the whole lipid panel, it's actually much more telling than the other things that they make such a big deal about. And it's been proven for a long time that the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet doesn't have much effect on the blood lipids, i.e. blood cholesterol figures (besides actually being very healthy). What your body doesn't get from the diet, it has to synthesize because cholesterol is such a vital substance for all living cells and has MANY functions in biology.

Psalehesost said:

Psyche said:

Psalehesost said:

So, I'm looking for general suggestions, including if I've missed something.

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Oh boy, what an adventure! Even though other iron load markers are missing, with that ferritin level and the context of your symptoms plus the cholesterol levels, it would be wise to decant ASAP. I hope your cholesterol levels/ratio improve as you get a hold of the iron business. For a very low carb diet, triglycerides look too high.

Have you ever tried B vitamins? Overall, donating blood and the EDTA sound like good priorities.

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Here, people can donate at most four times a year, spread out fairly evenly. So, having previously applied and then given a blood sample, I may get called to donate once in the next few months. (Have just changed the place I'd go to, to one with times more closely scheduled, so that I may get called sooner.) Beyond that, I would be on my own. So it looks like EDTA, which I'm waiting for to arrive, is the viable option. Thankfully, as Laura noted in the hemochromatosis thread, it seems to be very effective by itself.

B vitamins were suggested, and I now take them. Remains to see if there is a difference, but worth a try.

Thanks for the feedback.

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Since I previously wrote, I've done a bunch of EDTA cycles - and they seem to help. There's been more cholesterol tests, though only LDL and total cholesterol were measured. I've thankfully avoided any dietary insanity.

So, from then to now, values have been...

In July:

Total cholesterol: 12.4 mmol/l (479.5 mg/dl)
HDL-cholesterol: 1.0 mmol/l (38.7 mg/dl)
LDL-cholesterol: 9.6 mmol/l (371.2 mg/dl)
Triglycerides: 3.8 mmol/l (336.6 mg/dl)

In August:

Total cholesterol: 9.0 mmol/l (348.0 mg/dl)
HDL-cholesterol: ???
LDL-cholesterol: 7.3 mmol/l (282.3 mg/dl)
Triglycerides: ???

In September:

Total cholesterol: 7.7 mmol/l (297.8 mg/dl)
HDL-cholesterol: ???
LDL-cholesterol: 6.2 mmol/l (239.8 mg/dl)
Triglycerides: ???


There's been no decanting. I was approved as a blood donor earlier this fall, but when I went today, and was asked whether I'd consulted any doctor for anything, I mentioned that I had and was to have (another) cholesterol test in a month. That put an end to the opportunity - since a blood donation can affect tests. (In this case, yeah, it probably would - due to improving health.)

So I have to keep relying on EDTA. Which seems to work, albeit slowly, in improving things.