Saturday, May 2, 2015

Yearly Wellness Exam With Some Surprises- The good and the bad!

Every year my husband's insurance does a wellness program.   This year they offered some additional tests that I decided to take advantage of.  There were some good results and some surprises too.



My HDL is 10 points higher than it was in Jan. of this year.   My total cholesterol remains the same as in Jan at 221 even though my LDL is about the same as Jan and my triglycerides are lower at 110 now vs. 120 in January.  So the great news is that my LCHF diet continues to affect my lipids in a positive manner.

My A1c  (3 month indicator of average blood sugar) went from 5.3 in Jan to 5.1 at the end of April. That indicates an average blood sugar of  97  (5.4 mmol/l) per the ADA's ADAG formula of measuring and 101 (5.6 mmol/l) according to Dr. Bernsteins preferred DCCT formula.

Due to one of the "surprises" in my blood tests I discovered that my A1C runs high which I have always suspected.   I will explain more a bit further down on the page.

Another test result was for that of kidney function.  For as long as I can remember, going back to at least my pre-diabetic days,  my e-GFR (estimate of kidney function) has always been at the lowest level of normal.   I never knew why but my score was always right at 59 or 60.   e-GFR levels below 59 are indicative of a low kidney filtration rate and early stage renal malfunction.  I was never told that I had any kidney issue by my doctor but I was always concerned about my lower test numbers.

My new e-GFR test came in at 88!  That's great!   It means that I am no longer borderline and my kidneys are working better than they have in years!

Now for the not so happy surprises!   I had vitamin and mineral testing done.   I have been taking a B vitamin formulation with all of the B vitamins and folate for about 7 months.  Even so, the tests showed that I am still borderline deficient in both B-12 and Folate, more so in the B-12.  This probably explains my morning fatigue.   I have been taking the active forms of the vitamins so I was surprised at this result.  My B-12 formula contains 1667% of the active methylcobalamin B-12.  I actually was concerned that I was getting too much!  I guess I need more than I thought!

My magnesium level is borderline even though I take it daily so I need to up that too.  I didn't expect to see that after a few years of supplementation.    

The final surprise was that I have more red blood cells than most people and they are larger than normal in size.  This wasn't a big surprise to me as I have suspected this for a few years.  This could be due to the B-12 levels being low (anemia) or my ancestry as I have some Indian in my DNA.   These larger RBC's affect the A1c test because more total hemoglobin is in my body.    I have always known that my A1c test was higher than it should be based on my meter averages and my fasting numbers in the 70's (4 mmol/l)  I was correct in my suspicions.  I am going to try to learn more about this.

Read about A1c issues here and here.

The last important test was an RA Factor test for Rheumatoid Arthritis or other autoimmune conditions.   It did show a fairly high level of RA or autoimmune issues.  I guess that would account for my degenerative disk disease and my "bad" knees although it doesn't seem to slow me down at all.  I guess I will need to address this with some additional anti-inflammatory nutrition and supplements and also look into what else I can do for this.

Overall I am pleased.  Besides good lipid results and a reduced A1c, I learned more about my body and can address the deficiencies.  I never feel depressed by any negative test results.  Instead I always feel empowered!  You can't fix something if you don't know it's broken!

If it were not for the Wellness exam I would have never had these tests.  It was nice that they were done at no cost to me.   Now I think that it may be worth the cost in the future to be able to address any deficiencies.

I hope this blog post is helpful to you.  Feel free to comment!










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