Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Blood Work Results

I mentioned weeks ago in this post that I was fasting for a blood draw.  The reason for the blood draw was that we have a program where I work every year, where we get our blood drawn for free and they test it for a bunch of different things.  The purpose of it is to help us be proactive in our health.  Which is great!  I think more American companies should support proactive health!

Birthplace


My first experience with this test (read about it here, 5th paragraph under Life Changers), told me I had high LDL cholesterol.  The test, true to its purpose, made me proactive.  I researched, told my doctor about it and made some changes in my diet and exercise.  High cholesterol causes plaques to build up in your veins, restricting the flow of blood which can cause strokes, heart attacks, and chest pains (Mayo, 2001).  I definitely do not want any of those.




The results this time around?  My LDL cholesterol is down to 87!  Good LDL cholesterol should be below 100.  I'd still like to see it drop a bit farther, especially since cholesterol naturally rises in women as they get older.  However it is a start!

But there was some bad news too.  My total iron level is high.  Isn't that an odd thing?  I think for most women it's hard to keep your iron up to where it should be, but to have it high?  That's seems crazy.  My iron is at 212 and they want it between 35-155, so I feel like it is way high. I need to find some time to do research on this and figure out what to do to fix it.  I'm pretty sure one of my friends told me that green tea blocks the abosprtion of iron.  If that's true, I'll have to start drinking it more than I do right now!

Do you work in a place where they are proactive about health?

Have you ever had your blood drawn for testing?  Did you freak out, because I was so freaked out on the way there that I had to do breathing exercises to calm myself!?!

Sources:
Mayo Clinic Staff, . (2001, June 1). High cholesterol. In Mayo clinic. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-cholesterol/DS00178/DSECTION=complications



6 comments:

  1. sorey this isn't quite related here but I saw your post on a weight loss blog about wanting to be vegan and not thinking you could and YOU TOTALLY CAN! It's all just tha will to actually wanna do it and, really, after any significant amount of time it's just second nature. I BELIEVE IN YOU!

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    1. Thanks Ryan! I appreciate your vote of confidence in me! Are you a vegetarian? If so, was it hard to switch from non-vegetarian to vegetarian? Do you have a favorite vegetarian meal/recipe? I have started to collect some to incorporate more into my diet...and perhaps one day I'll go completely vegetarian!

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  2. Excessive fiber also blocks iron absorption, and citrus fruits, and calcium.

    Iron is mostly found in meat, so if you are trying to cut back, maybe you could cut back on meat. If you're into cereal, check out how much iron is in it -- I thought I wasn't getting ENOUGH iron for a while, and then I saw that my frosted shredded wheat was fortified with 90% of my daily value per serving! Most cereals don't have quite this much, but it's worth checking. Also, apparently, you aren't supposed to drink much: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001368/

    -Beth Spencer :)

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    1. Beth! Thanks for all this information!! Time to up my fiber, citrus and calcium. I wonder if drinking more soy milk than cow's milk has anything to do with this?

      I am trying to cut back on meat, so this just gives me another reason to do so. And I LOVE frosted shredded wheat, so I'm definitely going to need to look into my cereal...

      Thanks so much for the link. It is so interesting. What's weird is that I don't have nay of the symptoms, except fatigue, but I think that is due to not sleeping for 8 hours most nights.

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  3. Hmm, I don't think either of those is a huge source of iron, or that that factors in at all. But I'm no dietitian! (I just wanted to be one in my pre-librarian life when I remembered I suck at science :) ) If you love Frosted Shredded Wheat, there might be other brands that are less fortified. Maybe organic brands? I don't remember what my brand was, it might have been Trader Joe's.. but that was a while ago. I have switched to eggs in an attempt to control my ADHD, not for nutritional reasons per se. But eggs also have iron! And yes, I think your fatique is PROBABLY related to not sleeping for 8 hours most nights!! Safe bet!! :)

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    1. Yeah, I guess I'll just have to start paying attention to what I'm eating.

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