What interesting thing have you learned about health recently?

Possibly that an over involvement with health issues can be as damaging as ignoring your health.

@janbb Do you mean being a hypochondriac? Or, just being OCDish about checking health and researching medical things?

When I was a kid, all of “old” people in my family would always start a conversation with this exchange…

“Hi Fred. How are you?”
“Ok. At least I have my health.”

It made no sense to me. Now I get it.

@tom_g I have had the same experience.

@JLeslie I guess I mean both; I see them as on a continuum.

Lipid panels once a year for me. With meds also Flax oil and Fish oil, my panels are much better than 5 years ago. Now my good Cholesterol is above normal and bad Cholesterol is much lower than average . with a 135 for total. Getting good health requires check-ups and interaction with your Doctor. Both of my fathers parents died before they were 60 from CVA’s or strokes.
WebMD on Lipid Panels

@Tropical_Willie I’ve been getting that basic lipid panel done for over 30 years. This one was much more extensive. I think the panel was called VAP? I can go online later to look at my labs to tell you the specific tests I am talking about within the panel, but right now I amabout to run out the door.

Meanwhile, is that new and interesting to you? Have you discovered anything new lately regarding health and medicine?

A friend just recently told me that specialized lipid panels can be so much more helpful, so I am planning on seeing a cardiologist.

My biggest “new” knowledge was that losing weight had so much beneficial effect on other seemingly unrelated parts of my health. I have lost a lot since Christmas, and I am sleeping better and feel better overall.

@JLeslie Just the fish oil and flax seed oil. Flax seed is new to me and has apparently helped increase the good Cholesterol levels.

I had the cholesterol particle size test several years ago through Duke University. I had to do battle with my insurance company to get them to pay for the test.

The newest thing I’m trying to educated myself about is the A1C diabetes tests. I’m not sure I like this as the only means of diagnosing someone with diabetes.

Guys, if you’re over 50 make sure your doc checks the “PSA screening” box on the blood test request form for your physical. If he refuses kick him in the nuts ask him if he knows his PSA.
I know there is a chance of false positives and over-treatment. But you don’t have to do anything with the info right away. It can be a baseline.
Knowledge is power. My PCa was discovered after a routine blood test.

And make sure to have the blood drawn either before the rectal exam or at least a couple of days after. Don’t have it drawn right after the DRE. And no sex for 48 hours before the test either.

The latest study on more problems with red meat consumption:

Yesterday

Summary: “Carnitine metabolism suggests a new way to help explain why a diet rich in red meat promotes atherosclerosis,”

My sister and I allow each other two sentences about our health per conversation (barring a crisis) and then move on.

Grinding flax seeds (much better than the oil), chia seeds and sesame seeds in a little coffee grinder and sprinkling 2 T. of the fine grind/day is a good thing. I throw it on oatmeal, in soups and in salads. I grind a week’s supply at a time and keep a jar in the refrigerator in order to avoid rancidity.

Eating plants and exercising regularly is better than endless quests for the fountain of youth.

Drugs are bad.

And guys that are irritatinly bi-lingual (or liars) make my blood-pressure rise.

@zenvelo Mine was done by my endocrinologist, and I am sure a regular GP can order it. My results are so whacky, which is a nice way of putting not good, it pushes me to see a cardioligsit, which I promised myself I would start doing after 40 anyway, and it has been about 5 years now. I have other little things wrong with my heart besides the cholesterol, electrical and valve things that have been benign my whole life, but I think good to keep an eye on anyway. i’m not trying to talk you our of seeing a cardiologist, just saying you can probably just call up your doc and have him order the test if yiu have a history of high cholesterol.

I am not invincible nor am I different than anybody else.

Ten years ago I was waylaid by some pretty severe small intestine issues requiring a major surgery that laid me up for quite awhile. I got better and was given a list of guidelines to follow to ensure it didn’t happen again. I followed these guidelines for about five minutes and then decided that I didn’t need them anymore. I feel great, I thought, This whole thing was just a fluke. Other folks might need to adjust their eating habits but not this guy.
Life continued to prove me right for a decade.

Now I am laid up again with the exact same problems feeling incredibly angry with myself for being so willfully ignorant.

@LuckyGuy I second the PSA test for men over 50.
Also Blood Pressure checks, I had a dentist that checked everyone of his clients. His feeling was that most of the patients he saw were NOT visiting their own physician once or twice a year.
High blood pressure runs in my family.

When you have your gallbladder removed your metabolism slows.

When your metabolism slows, your alcohol tolerance decreases.

When your alcohol tolerance decreases, you get hangovers.

Never had a hangover in my LIFE until I had this stupid surgery. Now I can’t drink the boys under the table anymore. It’s a shame, really.

@Seek_Kolinahr I never heard before that removing the gall bladder slows the metabolism. Is that considred to be medical fact? Or, something you and other people have deduced from experience?

My doctor told me that it would happen, and that I would have to re-learn tolerance for certain foods until my metabolism adjusts. I still can’t eat spicy foods. My aunt can’t eat spicy foods anymore either, and she had hers out over ten years ago.

@Seek_Kolinahr . . . they’ve taken my beer away . . .

@Blondesjon Noooo!!

@Seek_Kolinahr My husband had his removed and we never noticed any difference. But, it is very interesting about the metobolism. I’m going to mention it to him. He had his out a long time ago, I think it is about 15 years now since he had it out.

It may not be terribly noticeable for some people. I always had a very fast metabolism. The first thing I noticed was that I was cold a lot more often than usual. I actually had to buy a space heater to keep under my desk in the office and wear a sweater all the time. I am SO not that person.

@Seek_Kolinahr I wonder if it was the anesthesia?

It’s been months. My space heater is still running, right now actually.

I have learned that my mental health is precarious and that you are supposed to call your medication, “medication”, not “drugs”.

They asked us what we learned during a group therapy session on medication and mental health. I said, “I learned to keep taking my drugs”. The group busted out laughing and I didn’t have a clue about why. They later told me that the group had recovering alcoholics and drug users.” Apparently, to them, drugs are the problem, not the solution.

I learned about a rare condition called Mondor’s Disease (aka thrombophlebitis of the superficial veins of the breast and anterior chest wall)..because I was diagnosed with it a couple months ago.

I even more recently learned that sleep apnea is often a root cause of hypertension—but doctors often mistakenly just chalk high blood pressure up to “family history” without referring their patients to a sleep study…so they never find out that they could resolve their hypertension and not need medication(s) if they just got CPAP or a dental appliance to keep their airway open as they sleep.

This is a great question because I was surprised to learn that having my gallbladder removed all those years ago slowed down my metabolism…I thought it was just that I was getting older…thanks @Seek_Kolinahr! (..and my space heater is running by my desk, too!)

Enjoy it while you can, young women. Before you know what has hit you the flashes will start and you won’t remember what you were

I learned that my heart has healed with the help of medications I’ve been taking for the last ten years. The atrial fibrillation is gone. I didn’t know that was even a possibility. My meds have been cut down to half dose. If the atrial fib is still not there in June, I will be deemed cured. A welcome surprise!

@bkcunningham not sure about the USA but HBA1C is not a diagnostic test in Australia it’s a trend indicator for diabetes related complications only, the jury is still out globally re A1C as a diagnostic as too many confounding possibilities can alter the result. Gold standard test here is glucose tolerance test with 75 gm glucose load at the 2 hour mark

You always hear new things in the news. Sometimes they discover new things that are good for you, and sometimes things that were once good for you, are now bad. I am pretty sure that doing a few good yoga poses will always be good for you.