For decades I have avoided doctor's visits. Simply put, they couldn't tell me how much I needed to change my lifestyle if I didn't allow them to confront me with the hard truth. Even within the last five years, I've procrastinated scheduling medical checkups, fearing any news of damage I may have inflicted on my body. One step in my wellness plan is to stop this avoidance and face the truth. My goal is to schedule several consultations with different medical practitioners.
At the moment, I'm finding this part of my 12-step challenge very difficult. I had big plans to see Ayurveda practitioners, other nontraditional medical consultants, and some mainstream doctors as well. However, I've drained my financial reserves to deal with flooding and funds are low at the moment. In April I participated in a local health fair and ordered the full bundle of blood tests, hoping to take this information and see various doctors, For now, I'm going it alone and learning what I can on the Internet.
The results I obtained from the lab work on my blood tests were better than I thought they would be but not as good as I had hoped. Instead of boring you with the minutia of my results, I'll just review highlights and red flags. Keep in mind that at this point I was only around seventy percent plant-based, as I continued to use cheese and sour cream in my cuisine and had a serving of fish or poultry once or twice per week.
The Good
Approximately ninety percent of the results look good. Only seven out of fifty-four tests came back either high or low, and two of those were only the smallest amount out of the healthy range. I'll definitely need to see a qualified specialist, though, to understand what each item says about my health.
The Not So Bad
One test, the screening for cholesterol to HDL ratio, was a little high. On the copy of my blood test results under "Reference ," it indicates that a healthy range is 0 - 3.5. I scored 4.0. According to the Framingham Heart Study, a score of 5.0 is an average risk of heart attack, 9.6 is twice the average risk, and 3.4 is half the average risk in men. I feel reasonably safe with these results and assume because I've lost over one hundred pounds in the past five years, proudly possess a resting heart rate of 53, and have adopted a whole food, plant-based, vegan diet that I'm on the right track. I can't wait to see the difference after following my upgraded diet and lifestyle for a full year.
The Ugly
Two of my results are not good at all and really concern me. First I have a high EOS%, which probably means I have eosinophilia. According to the Mayo Clinic, I have good reason to be concerned about a parasitic infection (I live and work on an organic farm), an allergic reaction (I had severe allergies when I was younger, took treatment, don't suffer as much as I had but still have some flare-ups), or cancer (yikes, but I don't have a family history of that disease). Next, my TSH-Ultra Sensitivity is quite high. According to WebMed, I have a high probability of having hypothyroidism (a low performing thyroid). This could explain why it's been so hard for me to loose those last twenty.
I'm grateful for my decision to create this blog and journal. It's reminded me of the importance to make room for medical checkups, and I'm recommitted to make time, spend the money, and seek sound medical advice soon. With whatever information that can be gathered, I should be able to make more adjustments and heal those hidden conditions of which I've been unaware.