Blood test

[mogenblue]

My neighbour advised me some time ago to have a blood test. He said you can learn interesting things from that about the state of your health.

I was kind of sceptic about that. I feel very good and I know which supplements I need to get all the essentials I need.
And if you feel good, why visit the doctor?

I decided to do the test anyway. When I was there the doctor too was kind of reluctant to do the test. He said people who have a specific diet know all too well what they need in terms of food and supplements. They never have any deficiencies. But he agreed to let me have the test. And we made up a list of all the levels that would be examined.

So the next day I went to a clinic where they took some blood. The day after tomorrow I will have another talk with my doctor to discuss the results of the test.
I would be very surprised if something would be wrong with my B12 level. I feel quite confident about the outcome. I can hardly believe my cholesterol would be problematic.

Do you have your blood tested? Or did you have it done somewhere in the past? Did it have any surprises for you?

I will give you an update on the outcome once I know it.

[Debrah]

I had it done for the first time in May of this year. He tested protein levels, B12 levels, kidney and liver function and inflammation levels plus a couple others that I can't remember and everything turned out perfect. That was nice to hear. Especially the protein levels because as a vegan one always wonders. But I use lots of lentils, chickpeas and seeds and nuts so apparently it's working out just fine.

Good luck with your results, let's hope no surprises (except good ones).

[mogenblue]

Well, surprise, surprise.

It was good to do the test anyway.
My B12 turned out to be a little too high. The doctor said that happens more often with people on a specific diet: they tend to overdose what they need to look after.
I mix my tablets through the bread dough and cake batter. I eat bread once a day and cake 2-3 times a day. So if I skip it in the bread it would probably be ok.

Thyroïd is ok
Liver is ok
Kidney is ok
Prostate is ok.

Cholesterol is within range although the good one, HDL, is a bit on the low side. The reason for that is not enough exercise.
I walk 1-3 times a week for 5-15 km. I should change that to 3-5 times a week for 5-10 km. Experts advice at least 5 times a week at least 30 minutes. I did that in the past but I got a bit bored with that. Like you are thrown out on the street to go get yer exercise. Well, I suppose I will just have to do that.

While I was there he decided to measure my blood pressure too. That turned out a tad too high too. That's also because of lack of exercise.
We made an appointment for over a month to check the pressure again.
He thought of prescibing medicine to lower the pressure. I really don't want that. All the other indicators are ok. No diabetes, etcetera. I think I can do without that.

I will get up and move out a little more. I have to.

[Debrah]

All in all you sound like one healthy lady! Congrats!

I also had good results and periodically I give thanks that I somehow had the good sense a long time ago to start living healthy because I can only imagine how dreadful I might be feeling now if I'd stuck with some of the bad eating habits and poor exercise habits that I had pre-45. I'd be feeling awful.

So again, congratulations on the good results.

[Tobi]

Mogenblue, yes you must get out and walk!
There must be somewhere nice to go, not just streets. Are there some lovely green spaces where you live or nearby?
I wouldn't like it one bit if I couldn't go for a walk every day. Woods or green places. Even if I am ill I have to go out.

In late summer 2012 I had a complete blood test run.

All the values were 'normal' including B12, vitamin D etc.
Except for one thing. They found that there were a lot of immature large red blood cells. When everything else was eliminated which could cause that, the only conclusion was that I had suffered recent massive bleeding (which I hadn't).
At the time I was grieving for a loved one who had died of massive haemorrhage.
The doctor advised that we should re-run the test one month later, which we did. The results of that test were all normal.
Something other than only physical going on there....

[mogenblue]

Thank you Debrah.

There are enough places to go here, Tobi. There are also parks here where you can go, but no real woods. There is a manmade forest on the other side of town but it lies on the route of airplanes landing on the airport. Every 5 minutes you get overthundered by the roar of a plane coming over. So that's not really an option.

I like going downtown. The place overthere is flooding with tourists. Airbnb gave a big influx of tourists. Too much for a lot of locals here. But it's nice to see so many different people. I like that.
And like I said, there is some green here and there. We do have a lot of trees all over the city. I read Amsterdam has the most trees per square km of every city in the world.
With so many streets it's also quite easy to choose a different route every day.
I used to take long walks that would sometimes go down the Amstel river for 1 or 2 km. But you have to get back too. I suppose I could skip that. Those walks are a bit too long. You need more time to recuperate from long walks. Short walks are easier.

I will work on that. Plenty of diversity overhere.

I hate medicine. I just hate it.

[Debrah]

I just read a couple sites that suggested a folate deficiency could result in normal B12 levels but large red blood cells. If you had a folate deficiency, that would mean the serum test would show B12 in your system but would result in an inability to metabolize and absorb the B12. Better tests would be a MMA test and I think it's called a homocysteine test. If those two measures were elevated, that would confirm that you aren't absorbing the B12. Here's the link:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/44...ls-normal-b12/

'...Causes

A finding of large red blood cells and normal vitamin B-12 levels points to several possibilities. Alcoholism may create large red blood cells. Low folate levels and some drugs such as methotrexate, used to treat some cancers or rheumatic or immune conditions, interfere with folate metabolism and may cause the condition. Folate, another B vitamin, and vitamin B-12 are both involved in some of the same chemical reactions required to make normal sized red blood cells. Therefore, low levels of either of these B vitamins can lead to large red blood cells. In addition, low thyroid hormone levels, liver disease, bone marrow disorders and pregnancy are other causes of large red blood cells with normal B-12 levels.....'

[mogenblue]

My folate is ok. I just took too much B12.

I mixed a tablet of 1000 mcg through every cake batter and every bread dough. So with every lunch I had on average 200 mcg B12, and chewed it well. And with every two slices of cake about the same.

One time a day 200 mcg of B12 is enough. I do 5 days with a loaf of bread.
I think I will leave it in the bread dough and skip it for the cake batter. That way I can also cut down on cakes. If I manage to cut on that, hahaha. Hazelnutcake, chocolate cake, ginger cake, etc. etc.........

[Tobi]

Yum! Cake.....I like all of those you mentioned!

I don't know if you have mobility problems, but doing a short walk and each day building it into just a little longer will get your stamina up.

It is such a pity about the low flying aircraft in that forest. But Amsterdam sounds like a really interesting place!

[mogenblue]

Originally Posted by Tobi

Yum! Cake.....I like all of those you mentioned!

I don't know if you have mobility problems, but doing a short walk and each day building it into just a little longer will get your stamina up.

It is such a pity about the low flying aircraft in that forest. But Amsterdam sounds like a really interesting place!

I used to have mobility problems a few years ago. My bones had gotten very weak over the years. That's why I started back then with very short walks using a cane. In about 6 months I gradually increased the walks and my bones got stronger overtime. Eventually I could walk free without the cane. That was really a triumph. I had accepted to have walk with a cane for the rest of my life. That was real great.

So after that I increased the walks even more until early this year I could make a walk of about 20 km.
But it wears me out too much. I need at least a couple of days to recover from that.
Today I made a much shorter walk of a little less then 90 minutes. That is much shorter then I used to walk. That's very easy going now. I just needed a few short breaks and when I got home I didn't need much to eat or drink to replenish the body.
I don't need really much time to recover from that. I suppose I can do that 3-5 times a week. I have to learn to limit myself to such shorter ranges. It's better for my body.

I'm curious to see what it does to my HDL cholesterol and blood pressure. But I don't know if it's necessary to take another blood test to measure the HDL. Measuring the blood pressure is probably enough. I will see what the doctor has to say about that.
I don't think I will take medicine if it stays too high. He said the upper limit is 145 and mine was 149, in rest. He talked about hart and vasculair disease and the chances of getting old. Well, I just don't want that chemical stuff in my body. I don't think I need it.

I like to get old. But I rather live to 70 or 80 like I want then being kept alive until I'm 90 or 95. I don't want to be kept alive just to keep me from dying. That's nonsense.
It's a different story if I really have complaints, but I don't have them. I feel good. I feel great. I don't want medicine 'just to be on the safe side'.
I can walk in a t-shirt on the street when it's 10 degrees Celsius outside. I just did that. What are we talking about??
You should see how everybody else is tugged up.

Yes, the cakes are nice. The problem with cake is to preserve the flavor. During the baking in the oven a lot of the flavor disappears. I tried lemonade syrop for easy flavoring one time and it completely disappeard in the oven.
But if you bake your own stuff you know what goes in to it. No fancy stuff like modified this or rehydrated that as they do in the factory. And it's much cheaper too.
Tomorrow time for an almond cake. hehehehehe