Health Check

[Murray]

@Adam H that's awesome, very positive to hear

washing the car and came in feeling "normal" i guess instead of feeling like I just needed to sit around for the rest of the day.

Yeah I really had to ration out what I did everyday because I knew if I did X I wouldn't feel up to doing Y

Physical activity used to = mental fatigue, the tiredness would seep into my brain, this heavy horrible feeling where id need to rest and eat and recover for an hour

It was quite a scary feeling really

Now there feels like a partition in me between physical and mental tiredness

I will jog, my legs will feel heavy by a certain point, my lungs wont be able to catch breath and I will have to stop, but my mind and core being don't feel tired at all, it's totally separate

 

[dee]

@Adam H Hope you just crack on with this and don't worry about your GP. These days they care more about targets it seems. The NHS is amazing...but if you go in with niggles you'll get bounced.

I watched my brother spend 20 years dealing with ME to the point of collapsing after walking 50 yards, and his utter bumble twunt of a GP just blanket writing him off the moment he walked in the door. Eventually, he pushed for a second opinion on something which turned out to be cancer that had gone so far it had also got secondaries into his lungs pretty badly. The NHS then saved his life. Which quite frankly is frickin amazing. When you need them they are there but the bottom end of the system is broken. Anyway.... I digress.

My point is to anyone, don't rely on your GP for stuff that you know is going to make an improvement. Just do it. If you're potential ME I'll find out the name of the guy my brother got involved with in terms of diet and stuff. Had a massive impact on him. A Dutch chap but apparently top of his game and made a huge difference to my brother. Hold the line caller.....

Edit - Jan De Fries was the chap

Seems he was an old boy who has since passed, but written a few books that are worth looking at from a holistic approach.

 

[Adam H]

Thanks @dee, I don't personally think I've got ME I just know something isnt right and its a matter of finding it, whether it was an allergic reaction or something else, now the thriva results have shown rather low Vit D and taking the spray has shown an instant improvement it gives me something to look at , it's the not knowing why you feel drained is the worst bit, having something to work with helps massively. The GP's in the past also tried telling me they think I could be depressed.........that couldnt be further from the truth and I told them that with no uncertain terms, they seem to want to label an invisible illness for every thing they can't figure out now days instead of digging deeper for possible physical causes.

You are correct though, it seems if you go in there and don't make a big deal out of it, they won't either. Unfortunately I'm probably one that under glorifies the issue rather than over exaggerating it so they get the hint.

 

[dee]

Thanks @dee, I don't personally think I've got ME

Good. It's awful. From where we grew up I know 5 people whose lives have been pretty much trashed by it, my brother being one All within a very small radius and from same age group. It's weird... Of course, this was all pre ME as well. It was only later it got labelled that. They didnt know what it was. They used to call the yuppy flu at one stage.

I'd read those books though he says if you're showing similar symptoms. One thing he's said it's important to be able to change pace, and take recovery time if you feel tired and sorting out diet can be a game changer. For him, it was certain kinds of vinegar made a huge difference. They ferment.

 

[Murray]

I succumbed and ordered a test from thriva today, did a custom one with testosterone and cholesterol (since my dad suffered with that) and other basics things. Found a 1/2 price code CYCLINGSHORTS50 so was only £33

I will be really interested to see what my vitamin D is like now after 3 months taking it

I'm actually quite excited to do it and get the results; funny the things that excite you as you get older lol

 

[dee]

I succumbed and ordered a test from thriva today, did a custom one with testosterone and cholesterol (since my dad suffered with that) and other basics things. Found a 1/2 price code CYCLINGSHORTS50 so was only £33

I will be really interested to see what my vitamin D is like now after 3 months taking it

I'm actually quite excited to do it and get the results; funny the things that excite you as you get older lol

lol.... indeed. Get excited by paint colours and a decent drill bit these days.

My workmate (whos about 15 years older than me) said something a while back that made me think. He said "We're accountable to our older selves"

You never realise it till you've already buggered yourself.

 

[Murray]

Fucking hell I just had some shocking news lol

I asked my doctor for my blood results from last November so I could compare them to the Thriva test which will hopefully come back tomorrow

At the time, the Dr just told me I had a vitamin D deficiency and that it was 14 and prescribed me vitamin D tablets, didn't tell me anything else

Not knowing about vitamin D and googling afterwards, I just presumed it was 14ng/ml since he didn't seem overly fussed about it..

14 nmol/l! lol jesus no wonder I felt like shit

I'm also shocked the Dr made no big deal about it, only prescribed 1 month at 4000 and didn't ask me to come back and check my levels

 

[Admin]

y'all need to move to Spain, straight up.

@dee - surprised it doesnt test for blood sugar so you can see if you are pre - diabetic or whatever...?

 

[ian]

@dee - surprised it doesnt test for blood sugar so you can see if you are pre - diabetic or whatever...?

It does, Triglyceride/HDL covers that.

 

[Murray]

Got my results back, really pleased overall

My vitamin D is at 76.6 nmol/L which is a massive jump from 14, it's on the lower end of good now. I didn't take the spray for about arorund 36 hours beforehand so not sure exactly how that effects thing
.
Was really surprised my testosterone came back the higher end

Only thing concerning was my Neutrophils are low so will need to look into what that is

Really pleased I did this test thanks @dee for suggesting it

 

[Adam H]

I've got an appointment on Tuesday Morning

 

[dee]

Really pleased I did this test thanks @dee for suggesting it

Cool ! Glad its made a difference. Have to say I'll be carrying on with it.

 

[Murray]

I've got an appointment on Tuesday Morning

How did that go?

Edit> oh, totally misread, next Tuesday derp

@dee yeah I think I will do at least one more test too, my bad cholesterol was on the higher end of ok and my good cholesterol was on the lower end of ok, also my immune system seems to be on the lower end of things too, so I think I will try and eat a bit better, continue exercising and trying some new supplements in things I'm likely lacking and see where I am in a couple months

 

[Adam H]

How did that go?

Edit> oh, totally misread, next Tuesday derp

Haha yeah hasnt come around yet

 

[Adam H]

The Lipid profile , here is a screen shot of mine so show you what they bring back :
https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/fd5747cc-e57f-400e-b711-de75f08bd17d.png

 

[Adam H]

How did that go?

Went on Tuesday, he's booked me in for a larger range of bloods to make sure everything else is ok and to check the vit-D levels. It will be interesting to see if the spray has been making a difference as I've been doing 3 sprays a day, spread out 2 in the morning and 1 middle of afternoon since you mentioned to get it. I feel better because of it without a doubt, but the doc said the spray is crap compared to their pills to boost it backup lol, but in the same breath he also said it would be interesting to see if it has made a difference so it didnt really convince me he knew much about Vit-D levels anyway.

So I've got bloods Friday morning, I'd guess i won't hear back from them until next week

 

[Murray]

but the doc said the spray is crap compared to their pills to boost it backup lol,

Everything I read about it says oral sprays are just as good if not much better if the person taking it doesn't have the best stomach

Also the NHS might prescribe you d2 pills instead of d3; apparently d3 is much better because it's exactly what your skin would make via sunlight, d2 is a plant product and leaves your system quicker, your body doesn't store it the same as d3.

Did he say you should stop using the spray for an amount of time before the blood test or no?

I did some research on it after doing my blood test to see if I should have left it longer than 36 hours, but 24 hours is apparently enough time to see what your baseline in (not 100% on this though as I couldn't only find one source)

https://www.livestrong.com/article/465017-does-the-body-store-vitamin-d/

According to a 2010 journal article published by "Pediatric Nephrology," vitamin D-2 and vitamin D-3 circulate in the blood for about 24 hours. Afterward, these vitamins are stored in the fat tissue for approximately two months. When the body needs more vitamins, vitamin D-2 and vitamin D-3 are converted to their active form called 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The active vitamin is then released into the blood

Another interesting thing I learned was that the blood test doesn't look for the vitamin D3 from the supplement, it looks for what your liver turned into the active form

 

[newguy]

I've done a Medichecks test before. It was pretty comprehensive and revealing really. For the price I'm thinking of doing one each year just to keep an eye on things.

 

[m4c]

I think living in the UK, unless you're spending a lot of your time outside in the summer (when there is sun) or going on holiday regularly it's very likely you have low vitamin D

You can't produce vitamin D via sun through a window

You can't produce vitamin D in the winter in the UK because sunlight doesn't contain enough UVB radiation between October and March

These are the vitamin D facts I've learned lol

I use this spray - https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/betteryou-dlux-3000-vitamin-d-oral-spray-60012895

In my personal experience it also boosts your libido because it helps increase your testosterone

Agree with Murray - I've been using that spray during the winter for a couple of years - and then after my Thriva test showed I was short of B12, take that as well first thing in the morning

 

[m4c]

I'm actually quite exited to try some weights again in the coming weeks to see if its made any difference, as doing anything like that, even pull ups, pushups etc feels like my muscles are burning after 10 reps where I used to be in a physically fit Job before the interweb stuff so i'm used to being fit ( or 10 - 15 years ago I was ).

6 months off from hitting 50 years, I suddenly appreciated my own mortality and stepped up efforts to pay attention to my health - after growing up on a farm until age 25, and then 10 years of martial arts, I'd always kept 'fit' - but last 10-15 years, let it go in the pursuit of business - and always saw going to the gym / working out as a 'luxury' or only if you wanted to compete at something - now I know it's as essential to good health as quality food / vitamins / sleep - without regular exercise, and pushing / pulling weights - we all loose muscle mass as we age, and reduce our potential life span.

Definitely recommend visiting this site and taking your own QRisk test, to know your likely life expectancy: https://qrisk.org/three/