What do some of our esteemed medical folks think of this article?
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Blood tests
Collapse
X
-
Interesting article. This will be an individual choice that each of us needs to think about before making a decision.
I personally believe that we should get some testing done, but remember that the tests will show that particular point in time (some will show longer like HbgA1C). So many of my friends have come to me and were upset because something was abnormal. I asked questions and determined the potential reason was they were at a New Years Eve party 3 days before tests and drank heavily, or was on steroids for a orthopedic sprain/strain, or the list can go on. Now certain tests are more important than others, like HgbA1C as that can show you that your sugar level is getting into the abnormal range and you can change your lifestyle. Or maybe your PSA is elevated but not abnormal and you can watch what it does in 6 months. I have been going to a wellness doc (phone visits now) every six months for the last 8 years. She has monitored many tests that my PCP does not even test for, in fact most blood draws for me requires 12-16 tubes being drawn. A doc will also look at ratios, so when something is high they can say, yes that is elevated but the ratio between that and this is fine and that is what I want to see.
Some tests can alert you to a potential problem that you may not be having symptoms for yet, such as diabetes, thyroid or prostate issues to name a few.
So, can it help? Yes, I believe it can, however what part of that info is 'in your record'? Do you know what to get based on age? Do you know what questions to ask yourself if an abnormal shows up...what is important and what can be monitored? There are tons of info in the interwebs, but some of that is BS, so use a few sources to 'study your data' when you find an abnormal value. Can you use an alias as if you pay cash to keep it from being linked to you? I would say this is more important as we age, but if you are overweight or having symptoms that you cannot put a finger on the cause, it would be important., If I was 35 years old and my A1C came back elevated and I could change my lifestyle at that age, it would be better than waiting another 5-10-20 years to find out.
Side note...we started seeing a wellness doc about 10 years ago when my wife started into menopause and her GYN doc was 'trying' to help but changing her meds every month was NOT working..."oh, your T is low so lets bump that up, and your estrogen is high so we will bump that down." She was worse off as symptoms were changing every month...kinda sucked. The wellness doc had her feeling much better within 3 months and then started tweaking it as she progressed thru the years. After I saw what was happening to my wife and how this doc was helping her I started seeing her as well even though I had no problems. She found that I was pushing the upper limit of high on my A1C, despite being normal weight and working out hard 5 days a week, so thats down low now. She has helped me with a lot of other minor issues, like inflammatory markers, and when CV hit we were already taking the Vit D, Vit C, Magnesium and Zinc and other vitamins and minerals she had us start years before. Now she is not inexpensive and the blood work is out of our pocket, but getting on the right track earlier then later in life is helpful.
Hope that helps...Protecting the sheep from the wolves that want them, their family, their money and full control of our Country!
Guns and gear are cool, but bandages stop the bleeding!
ATTENTION: No trees or animals were harmed in any way in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were really ticked off!
NO 10-289!
Comment