Recent Bloodwork - cause for concern?

[livinlean]

Post like these are so refreshing to see. Much respect for posting all your stats and info with your bloodwork. Others should take note if they want quality responses.

Before you rush to donate blood I would suggest running iron, ferritin, % saturation and TIBC. This will tell you what is really going on. And if you have the right items to give blood should you decide you want to for purposes outside of health.

You may be able to bring items back into line with hydration and nattokinase. As well ensuring you’re getting enough co-factors like magnesium. Alkaline phosphatase is good so likely isn’t that so would add nattokinase.

Lipids- I would consider some sort of support to get your LDL down. Citrus bergamot on an empty stomach AM will move it quite a bit. If you want to go straight to a low dosage statin you can and see how your body handles it.

Overall I personally wouldn’t panic. Just time to look at some other markers and make some adjustments. Comes with age, bodybuilding and running any gear.

What do you think about revive products? Their Lipids product contains 1.5g citrus bergamot per serving. If not then what would you recommend brand wise for citrus bergamot? I don't need it myself yet but thought it would help people reading this thread.

 

[bbxtreme]

What do you think about revive products? Their Lipids product contains 1.5g citrus bergamot per serving. If not then what would you recommend brand wise for citrus bergamot? I don't need it myself yet but thought it would help people reading this thread.

I personally believe Revive has way too much unnecessary stuff in their formulas. They’re also 6 caps per serving. If you get a good price on them will it work? Sure, but I am all about taking the least amount of capsules needed.

I personally use and suggest Italian Citrus Bergamot. It’s moved my markers and others more than I’ve seen in any other source. Naomi is the brand I use and suggest. Two daily empty stomach.

Amazon.com

It’s also relevant to note Dante has used Jarrow for years with great success as well.

My biggest thing I tell everyone is empty stomach. It’s one ingredient I have seen a significant difference in effectiveness by taking it without food.

 

[control]

Carbs- rice, sourdough, potatoes mainly
Plenty of fiber consumed

Just out of curiosity, where are you getting plenty of fiber from?

 

[jl9987]

Yes everyone should be taking Ezetimibe. Drastically reduces ApoB/LDL, CRP, risk of alzheimers, seems to be a potent anti coagulant, and potentially reduces prostate enlargement. It’s almost a perfect drug.

Never heard of this in the UK! Will take a look

 

[jl9987]

Interesting enough my cholesterol isn’t great it appears too and I’ve posted bloods so will take a look into the ezitimibe also!

 

[readalot]

The main concern with Hct that high is significant increase in whole blood viscosity. More viscosity, more heart power output for given cardiac output. Long term more wear and tear.

Red blood cells in sports: effects of exercise and training on oxygen supply by red blood cells - PMC

During exercise the cardiovascular system has to warrant substrate supply to working muscle. The main function of red blood cells in exercise is the transport of O2 from the lungs to the tissues and the delivery of metabolically produced CO2 to the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Hematocrit not only affects the amount of O2 that can be carried per volume of blood but also affects the rheological properties of blood. Due to its composition of plasma and blood cells it behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid, whose inner viscosity is affected by the shear forces and is determined by the concentration of plasma proteins (plasma viscosity), the physico-chemical properties of the red blood cell plasma membrane (deformability) and cellular hemoglobin concentration (cytosolic viscosity), the flow velocity (aggregation), and temperature (for review see El-Sayed et al., 2005). A high blood viscosity causes a high resistance to flow, increases the power output of the heart at a given cardiac output, and might impair local blood flow.

Gory details can be found in this thread...

Hematocrit drives Blood Viscosity- Does that Matter in Men on TRT? Effect of Altitude?

Hi ExcelMale folks, I wanted to start off by expressing my gratitude for this site, all of the amazing work that has been put in to make this place such a great source of information. I would expect no less from a chemical engineer :). I've been following this "debate" about how to properly...

www.excelmale.com

Hematocrit drives Blood Viscosity- Does that Matter in Men on TRT? Effect of Altitude?

Hi ExcelMale folks, I wanted to start off by expressing my gratitude for this site, all of the amazing work that has been put in to make this place such a great source of information. I would expect no less from a chemical engineer :). I've been following this "debate" about how to properly...

www.excelmale.com

Ensuring low plasma viscosity is is an important consideration for those of us running supraphysiologic Hct levels.

 

[w8tlifterty]

Post like these are so refreshing to see. Much respect for posting all your stats and info with your bloodwork. Others should take note if they want quality responses.

Before you rush to donate blood I would suggest running iron, ferritin, % saturation and TIBC. This will tell you what is really going on. And if you have the right items to give blood should you decide you want to for purposes outside of health.

You may be able to bring items back into line with hydration and nattokinase. As well ensuring you’re getting enough co-factors like magnesium. Alkaline phosphatase is good so likely isn’t that so would add nattokinase.

Lipids- I would consider some sort of support to get your LDL down. Citrus bergamot on an empty stomach AM will move it quite a bit. If you want to go straight to a low dosage statin you can and see how your body handles it.

Overall I personally wouldn’t panic. Just time to look at some other markers and make some adjustments. Comes with age, bodybuilding and running any gear.

Not donating blood till I dig deeper.

Ordering those test now… much appreciate your insight.

Not overly concerned I’m just not sure what has changed over the course of the past couple years to drive some of these numbers other than pushing past 40.

I’ve never really took any pharma drugs nor have had any reason too as bloodwork has always been fairly decent, even in my younger years when competing and pushing things much harder than I do now. I was just surprised at some of these numbers but I’ll get things in line. Will drop test down to 50-70mgs a week and start the natto, citrus bergamot. One thing that has changed is I’ve gotten more lax w carb choices… have more bread and grains than ever before. Will make the switch back to predominately fruits/rice as only carb sources and drop a bit of fat out of my diet.

 

[w8tlifterty]

Just out of curiosity, where are you getting plenty of fiber from?

Make a Guar fiber and psyllium blend from bulk powders that I take daily generally. Minimum 4 servings of veggies a day- generally broccoli, asparagus, Brussels or greens. Typically one meal w soaked oats as well

 

[bbxtreme]

Not donating blood till I dig deeper.

Ordering those test now… much appreciate your insight.

Not overly concerned I’m just not sure what has changed over the course of the past couple years to drive some of these numbers other than pushing past 40.

I’ve never really took any pharma drugs nor have had any reason too as bloodwork has always been fairly decent, even in my younger years when competing and pushing things much harder than I do now. I was just surprised at some of these numbers but I’ll get things in line. Will drop test down to 50-70mgs a week and start the natto, citrus bergamot. One thing that has changed is I’ve gotten more lax w carb choices… have more bread and grains than ever before. Will make the switch back to predominately fruits/rice as only carb sources and drop a bit of fat out of my diet.

Check the iron content of all your carb sources. Chances are you’re getting a lot more than you realize from those other sources you’ve been eating.

Easy changes like that can get those markers back into balance. Of course you can confirm with blood work.

 

[nothuman]

This is good stuff. I take Lipitor 10mg now and it's very well tolerated (don't notice anything besides better bloods) but this sounds appealing on multiple vectors.

I see no downside in adding ezetimibe to that

 

[bananas007]

Not donating blood till I dig deeper.

Ordering those test now… much appreciate your insight.

Not overly concerned I’m just not sure what has changed over the course of the past couple years to drive some of these numbers other than pushing past 40.

I’ve never really took any pharma drugs nor have had any reason too as bloodwork has always been fairly decent, even in my younger years when competing and pushing things much harder than I do now. I was just surprised at some of these numbers but I’ll get things in line. Will drop test down to 50-70mgs a week and start the natto, citrus bergamot. One thing that has changed is I’ve gotten more lax w carb choices… have more bread and grains than ever before. Will make the switch back to predominately fruits/rice as only carb sources and drop a bit of fat out of my diet.

Test for sleep apnea?

Weight / neck size compared to before?


My personal opinion at those numbers I would recommend considering phlebotomy . I know this is not a popular opinion currently on the forum.

 

[bananas007]

 

[juiceball44]

I used to have crazy ldl cholesterol like that now I'm on a rosuvastatin ezetimibe combo and dropped my ldl from 160 to 33.

How much water did you drink before getting blood work? I try to drink between 2-4L before to rule out dehydration causing high RBC hematocrit and hemoglobin

 

[readalot]

know this is not a popular opinion

At the Hct shown above, it should be.

 

[Dumbbell2008]

My biggest thing I tell everyone is empty stomach. It’s one ingredient I have seen a significant difference in effectiveness by taking it without food.

This is good to know, i have been taking it for a while now, but never knew it’s better on an empty stomach.

 

[seymoor77]

Will do, thanks for your input Pesty

Is Ezetimibe well tolerated? Low side effects? Admittedly, never done research on cholesterol meds bc I never had too. Despite hereditary factors, my father, his father all had high numbers and died in their 60’s…. Mine have always been relatively good until this year? Over 40 now, so maybe age is also a factor

The starting point before anything else is family history - there is virtually zero downside side to a statin - get ur LDL to 70 - and you cannot do it without medicine - ur diet is fine - try Ezetimibe - if not, try Crestor

 

[w8tlifterty]

Check the iron content of all your carb sources. Chances are you’re getting a lot more than you realize from those other sources you’ve been eating.

Easy changes like that can get those markers back into balance. Of course you can confirm with blood work.

I eat beef liver at least once a week and also take an organic beet root powder (2-3 tblspn pre workout usually but at least a tblspn a day). It’s very possible my iron is sky high. No cereals. Spinach a couple times a week, 2-3 raw whole eggs daily. Lots of rice, obviously.

Waiting to hear back from my doctor. She does not know I’m on testosterone so I’m sure this is going to cause questions since it’s a pretty drastic set of changes since last set of labs through her.

Generally I’m running around 800-1200ng/dl. Did not check w this set of labs (I use Jason’s health or similar to get the bloodwork I monitor on my own).

Currently putting my next set of blood test together w your recommendations from yesterday.

Maybe of note, maybe not….I did also drop injectable L-Carnitine out of my routine maybe 4 months back. Had been on 200-600mg a day for many years and figured a break was warranted. Just racking my brain of possible things I’ve changed as I’m pretty set in my routine.

 

[MyNameIsJeff]

HCT of 57+ is worth investigating, and until the cause is found, a one-time low-volume phlebotomy may be a good idea.

 

[w8tlifterty]

HCT of 57+ is worth investigating, and until the cause is found, a one-time low-volume phlebotomy may be a good idea.

No doubt… I was shocked at the number considering my diet and low dosage of test and generally pretty stellar bloodwork in the past. I’ve always ran at the top end of high w Hematocrit and Hmeoglibin but never like this. The info I’m getting is invaluable.

 

[bbxtreme]

I eat beef liver at least once a week and also take an organic beet root powder (2-3 tblspn pre workout usually but at least a tblspn a day). It’s very possible my iron is sky high. No cereals. Spinach a couple times a week, 2-3 raw whole eggs daily. Lots of rice, obviously.

Waiting to hear back from my doctor. She does not know I’m on testosterone so I’m sure this is going to cause questions since it’s a pretty drastic set of changes since last set of labs through her.

Generally I’m running around 800-1200ng/dl. Did not check w this set of labs (I use Jason’s health or similar to get the bloodwork I monitor on my own).

Currently putting my next set of blood test together w your recommendations from yesterday.

Maybe of note, maybe not….I did also drop injectable L-Carnitine out of my routine maybe 4 months back. Had been on 200-600mg a day for many years and figured a break was warranted. Just racking my brain of possible things I’ve changed as I’m pretty set in my routine.

Very unlikely it’s the carnitine IMO. But does not hurt to keep it in. Will only benefit your health and lipids.

I’d get the iron markers and go from there. Feel free to DM me once you have them.