Concept2 Forum

Any interest in me posting blood work here and opening up dialog that is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE?

Sure, why not
Always interested in such stuff!

It is a very important subject, knowing about it probably saved my life back in 2007.

Yeah I am interested

Sounds good! I have some thoughts I will share but will post them first. The patient portal I pull them from only allows an export of an .xml file so I have moved all to a spreadsheet and am copying/pasting below.

Some additional metrics the morning of that I've added that I measure regularly -

Blood pressure - 112/72
Resting HR - 48

Marker Range 10/16/2023

Testosterone (Total) 264 - 916 281
Estradiol 7.6 - 42.6 15.5
DHEA-Sulfate 102.6 -416.3 147

TSH .45 - 4.5 1.7
T3 71 - 100 88
T4 Free, Direct .82 - 1.77 1.36

Glucose 70 - 99 90
Hemo A1C 4.8 - 5.6 5.4

Cholesterol (Total) 100 - 199 225
HDL >39 60
LDL 0 - 99 159
VLDL 5 - 40 6
Triglycerides 0 - 149 43

BUN 6 - 20 24
A/G Ratio 1.2 - 2.2 2.9
Albumin 4.1 - 5.1 4.6
Alkaline Phosphatase 44 - 121 42
ALT 0 - 44 27
AST 0 - 40 35
Bilirubin 0.0 - 1.2 0.6
BUN / Creatinine 9 - 20 20
Calcium 8.7 - 10.2 9.8
Carbon Dioxide 20 - 29 25
Chloride 96 - 106 100
Creatinine .76 - 1.27 1.23
eGFR >59 77
Globulin 1.5 - 4.5 1.6
Potassium 3.5 - 5.2 4.6
Protein 6.0 - 8.5 6.2
Sodium 134 - 144 137
Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy 30.0 - 100 38.1

BASO (Absolute) 0.0 - 0.2 0.1
BASOS NA 1
EOS NA 1
EOS (Absolute) 0.0 - 0.4 0
Hemocrit 37.5 - 51.0 45.1
Hemoglobin 13.0 - 17.7 14.9
Immature Granulocytes NA 0
Immature Granuloyutes (Absolute) 0 0
Lymphs NA 43
Lymphs (Absolute) .7 - 3.1 1.8
MCH 26.6 - 33.0 29.3
MCHC 31.5 - 35.7 33
MCV 79 - 97 89
Monocytes NA 10
Monocytes (Absolute) .1 - .9 0.4
Neutrophils NA 45
Neutrophils (Absolute) 1.4 - 7.0 1.9
Platelets 150 - 450 233
RDW 11.6 - 15.4 11.9
RBC 4.14 - 5.80 5.08
WBC 3.4 - 10.8 3.4

Apologies for the formatting; I thought I made it more easily readable.

Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing a bit more, why was the testing performed in the first place?

Were they/you looking for something specific?

Ombrax wrote: ↑

October 18th, 2023, 7:13 pm

Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing a bit more, why was the testing performed in the first place?

Were they/you looking for something specific?

Both my maternal grandfather and my father were double amputees from diabetes before they passed from other complications.

Over time, I've noticed some things with myself that I have attributed to age but started getting blood work done a few years ago to keep an eye on some things, see how they trend, etc.

The tests I had done on Monday were just the normal I have had done over the years to keep an eye on certain markers. I will say that these results are leading me to ask more questions and want a bit more looked at than what I have previously seen; I'll expand at another time after some others have a chance to see.

Not sure how to read this, but since "below 5.7" is "normal" where I come from, and your concern is blood sugar, what's your concern?

Hemo A1C 4.8 - 5.6 5.4

gvcormac wrote: ↑

October 18th, 2023, 9:49 pm

Not sure how to read this, but since "below 5.7" is "normal" where I come from, and your concern is blood sugar, what's your concern?

Hemo A1C 4.8 - 5.6 5.4

This is one thing I was a bit surprised with. It's not out of range but with my diet and activity level, I would have thought it would be lower.

I had some other things on there that were more surprising (IMO).

jcross485 wrote: ↑

October 19th, 2023, 5:38 pm

gvcormac wrote: ↑

October 18th, 2023, 9:49 pm

Not sure how to read this, but since "below 5.7" is "normal" where I come from, and your concern is blood sugar, what's your concern?

Hemo A1C 4.8 - 5.6 5.4

This is one thing I was a bit surprised with. It's not out of range but with my diet and activity level, I would have thought it would be lower.

I had some other things on there that were more surprising (IMO).

To get an idea of ranges and "normal" it would be helpful to know more details about your diet (mainly about macros and where they come from).
Your physical activities can be seen in the training thread, so there is info about it.
To put the values into perspective in a better way, it would also help to measure insulin, as this is one of the main marker of insulin resistance (aka T2D) and needed for HOMA IR.

jcross485 wrote: ↑

October 19th, 2023, 5:38 pm

gvcormac wrote: ↑

October 18th, 2023, 9:49 pm

Not sure how to read this, but since "below 5.7" is "normal" where I come from, and your concern is blood sugar, what's your concern?

Hemo A1C 4.8 - 5.6 5.4

This is one thing I was a bit surprised with. It's not out of range but with my diet and activity level, I would have thought it would be lower.

I had some other things on there that were more surprising (IMO).

I think the format is: name of test; normal range lo - hi; your score

You really need to get a medical consult. Somebody who will look into your family history and determine, for example, whether your ancestors were type 1 or type 2, their weight, diet, and activity levels. As far as I can see your numbers are in the normal ranges with few exceptions. Your BP is good. Some people look at non-HDL cholesterol (i.e. Cholesterol - HDL) as a better predictor than LDL alone, which appears higher than the normal range. I think the consensus is that ApoB is an even better indicator, but I don't see that on scanning the results. Many insurance/jurisdictions don't do ApoB testing, but it is not particularly expensive.

You'll find a whole lot of garbage on YouTube about causes and remedies for type 2 diabetes. Cutting carbs, particularly sugar and raw starch, provides symptomatic relief, but the "cause" is generally excessive visceral fat, and fat consumption -- particularly saturated fat consumption -- appears to be the most important factor, after total calories. Insulin resistance is really just another marker.

Sakly wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2023, 2:07 am

To get an idea of ranges and "normal" it would be helpful to know more details about your diet (mainly about macros and where they come from).
Your physical activities can be seen in the training thread, so there is info about it.
To put the values into perspective in a better way, it would also help to measure insulin, as this is one of the main marker of insulin resistance (aka T2D) and needed for HOMA IR.

Diet is what I would consider "animal based"; animal protein centric with fruits and vegetables. Most protein is coming from beef and eggs with a bit of hard cheese and rather unprocessed greek yogurt. I don't necessarily go out of my way to add fat to a lot of meals but will cook with a small amount of butter or have avocado added to some leaner meals. One of the things I will eat, not regularly, but about 2x a month with my wife and kids, is sushi.

Generally, 2-3 meals a day - if 2, they are about 8 hours apart; if 3, they are about 4 hours apart. It works out to be roughly a 16:8 type setup without that being the intention.

I like to do my morning training fasted and start eating after that but I don't like to eat within 2-3 hours of bed as it seems I don't sleep as well and my resting HR stays higher.

I do track macros and calories from time to time to see where things are but because I have been eating this way for several years, its not a daily thing as I tend to eat the same things over the course of a week or so. I did track them Mon-Wed this week though just to get a sense of where things are at - ended up pretty close to 175g protein and 175g fat each day. Carbs were around 60g on Monday and Wednesday and around 100g on Tuesday (ended up with a bit more fruit as I did a bit more quality training).

I agree - I would like to have fasting insulin checked. I am going to look into an HOMA-IR test as I am not familiar with it. I also want to have cortisol and C-reactive protein looked at as neither were tested.

With my familial history, keeping an eye on any/all markers related to diabetes is important. I've chatted with my wife about the idea of wearing a CGM for a month or so just to get an idea of how things look at a more granular level but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet.

I have a follow up scheduled for this Monday to review and will be asking for a few more things to be checked too based on these results as some things have gone in a negative direction since my last testing, mainly the total testosterone and estradiol levels. For reference, when I started with blood work a few years ago, total testosterone was sitting right around 500 so never bothered to look into some of the others like Free T, SHBG, progesterone, etc. Over the last few years, it has slowly dipped into the mid 400's but again, not a whole lot of change so didn't pay much attention. This test, it dropped under 300 and is near the bottom of range...and based on some things at home, I can't say looking back it's as much of a shock as seeing the number as there have been more than enough signs.

gvcormac wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2023, 6:52 am

I think the format is: name of test; normal range lo - hi; your score

You really need to get a medical consult. Somebody who will look into your family history and determine, for example, whether your ancestors were type 1 or type 2, their weight, diet, and activity levels. As far as I can see your numbers are in the normal ranges with few exceptions. Your BP is good. Some people look at non-HDL cholesterol (i.e. Cholesterol - HDL) as a better predictor than LDL alone, which appears higher than the normal range. I think the consensus is that ApoB is an even better indicator, but I don't see that on scanning the results. Many insurance/jurisdictions don't do ApoB testing, but it is not particularly expensive.

You'll find a whole lot of garbage on YouTube about causes and remedies for type 2 diabetes. Cutting carbs, particularly sugar and raw starch, provides symptomatic relief, but the "cause" is generally excessive visceral fat, and fat consumption -- particularly saturated fat consumption -- appears to be the most important factor, after total calories. Insulin resistance is really just another marker.

You're correct on format - I was hoping when I posted it would be a bit easier to read it didn't come out great.

Familial history does have some things in it which I am concerned about, mainly diabetes. My maternal grandfather was a double amputee from complications and passed in his 60's; my father was also a double amputee from complications and passed in his 60's a few months ago from the same. Maternal side (and one brother) does have an issue with alcoholism which is one of the reasons why I don't drink outside of one glass of wine a week, max. A bit of an issue on the maternal side with blood pressure as well but with my exercise, I am keeping mine in check. Paternal side, my dad was an only child so I don't have a ton to look at - grandfather was beyond healthy, active, and lived into his 90's and ended up passing away after being hit by a car while walking; grandmother did pass in her sleep from cardiac arrest.

I do agree that while LDL is elevated, the other markers do not coincide with presenting "issue" - HDL is good, triglycerides are relatively low, and the bad VLDL is very low. I would be interested in an ApoB test as well as potentially a CAC scan just to check.

I do tend to eat relatively low carb with almost all carbs coming from fruits and vegetables, and my diet is certainly higher in saturated fat as a lot of the fats are coming from animal sources. I don't have, from what I can tell, excess body fat or visceral fat (pretty lean guy for height/weight, sitting around 15% BF or so with visible abs, no real low back fat, etc). I think it would be interesting at some point to go and get a bod pod scan.

gvcormac wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2023, 6:52 am

Cutting carbs, particularly sugar and raw starch, provides symptomatic relief, but the "cause" is generally excessive visceral fat, and fat consumption -- particularly saturated fat consumption -- appears to be the most important factor, after total calories.

Interesting part of your post.
Any studies to your comment on saturated fats are the root cause of gaining visceral fat? That would mean, anyone not eating high amounts of saturated fats, but high amounts of carbs will not gain much visceral fat, but gain weight (if too much calories). Only those who eat much saturated fats will run into problems with visceral fat storage?

There's a fairly large body of evidence. As with most dietary factors, there's rarely a single study that is a slam dunk.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e ... resistance

You gain visceral fat from overnutrition, whether carb or fat. Sugar (fructose component) and alcohol in excess of your energy burn go directly to liver fat.

Your normal subcutaneous adipose tissues say "no more" and your organs start to take it up. In the case of carbs, your body manufactures the fatty acids; in the case of fats it largely onboards them directly.