Disappointed with blood tests (mine)

Donald Munro wrote:
Being Dutch I would have thought you would be up to date
on the latest trends in potplant cultivation.

Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
You're Dutch too?!
(Sorry.)

I think I've got some Dutch blood so you could say I'm Dutch Lite.
No Dutch blood bags though.

"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
et...
So I finally broke down and got a life insurance physical (I'm not a fan
of having blood drawn), and was looking forward to seeing my hematocrit
level.

It wasn't listed!!!

Five weeks of micro-dosing EPO so I could get a health exemption
certificate claiming it's normal for me to be to have a hematocrit level
of 53 down the drain. Sigh.

(Actually, it is curious that they list about 20 different things they
tested me for, but nothing for hematocrit or white cell counts etc... but
a bazillion ways to test my liver, wasted because I don't drink).

At least my PSA level was ridiculously low, at .31 So I'll just keep
taking saw palmetto and not worry about it.

Not sure if you were kidding about the saw palmetto Mike but it may be
linked to depressed PSA levels:
"In theory, PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels may be artificially
lowered by saw palmetto, based on a proposed mechanism of action of saw
palmetto (inhibition of 5-#945;-reductase). Therefore, there may be a delay
in diagnosis of prostate cancer, or interference with following PSA levels
during treatment or monitoring in men with known prostate cancer."
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/saw...B6C908C10BB01F

Not sure if you were kidding about the saw palmetto Mike but it may be
linked to depressed PSA levels:
"In theory, PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels may be artificially
lowered by saw palmetto, based on a proposed mechanism of action of saw
palmetto (inhibition of 5-#945;-reductase). Therefore, there may be a
delay in diagnosis of prostate cancer, or interference with following PSA
levels during treatment or monitoring in men with known prostate cancer."
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/saw...B6C908C10BB01F

Yes, I'd actually looked into that. Curious thing; they believe there's a
mechanism that could affect that, but so far, in actual studies, that hasn't
been shown to be the case.

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030315/1281.html
"There has been some concern that saw palmetto could mask prostate cancer by
lowering prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. However, a randomized
study10 of more than 1,000 patients did not demonstrate this effect on PSA
levels. The same study showed that finasteride decreased PSA levels by 41
percent."

The literature that shows conern about PSA levels and saw paletto seems to
head back towards a 1997 piece done by Dr. Trabucco, in the middle of tihs
article- http://www.prostatelab.com/contdiet.htm. In it he theorizes that
saw palmetto's mechanism is similar to finasteride, and he goes on to being
critical about the few tests done so far (at that time) that checked for PSA
levels after only 3 months use, while the "mechanism" involved, if the same
as finasteride, would drop PSA levels by 50% after 6-12 months of use.

In any event, it would have had to have that effect on the PSA levels very,
very quickly (since I hadn't taken it that long before the tests).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"Mike Jacoubowsky" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
| Due to a medical problem I usually have blood drawn every Monday. I have
| been doing it for years and my normal figure is 42. I guess that I can
| give up hope of ever beating Bjarne Riis in a masters race.
|
| My apologies to anyone if I appeared overly flippant discussing hematocrit
&
| psa stuff. It occurs to me that those things that I apparently take for
| granted and joke about are deadly serious business for others, and I can
| look at what I wrote and see where someone might see it as insensitive. I
| hope that whatever your situation, it's nothing more than a nuisance for
| you, but you brought home to me what my father went through, and that was
| nothing to make fun of. No issues with prostate stuff, but his hematocrit,
| rbc & wbc had to be constantly measured. And then my wife just finished a
| chemo session for breast cancer (she's doing fine, great long-term
| prognosis). Kind of puts things in perspective. I should be more thankful
| just for the fact I can swing my leg over the top tube and ride my bike.
|
| --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
| www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
|
The first time I had a routine blood workup, my hematocrit level was low
20's (not a typo). That was the first indication that there was something
seriously wrong with my kidneys. After my transplant, it was as high as 56
(had to drain off a pint from time to time.) Now I take EPO just to keep it
around 35-38.

I've never had RBC envy. It didn't even occur to that you were being
insensitive. Oversensitive maybe...

Tom

"Tom Grosman" wrote in message
...
"Mike Jacoubowsky" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
| Due to a medical problem I usually have blood drawn every Monday. I
have
| been doing it for years and my normal figure is 42. I guess that I
can
| give up hope of ever beating Bjarne Riis in a masters race.
|
| My apologies to anyone if I appeared overly flippant discussing
hematocrit
&
| psa stuff. It occurs to me that those things that I apparently take for
| granted and joke about are deadly serious business for others, and I can
| look at what I wrote and see where someone might see it as insensitive.
I
| hope that whatever your situation, it's nothing more than a nuisance for
| you, but you brought home to me what my father went through, and that
was
| nothing to make fun of. No issues with prostate stuff, but his
hematocrit,
| rbc & wbc had to be constantly measured. And then my wife just finished
a
| chemo session for breast cancer (she's doing fine, great long-term
| prognosis). Kind of puts things in perspective. I should be more
thankful
| just for the fact I can swing my leg over the top tube and ride my bike.
|
| --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
| www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
|
The first time I had a routine blood workup, my hematocrit level was low
20's (not a typo). That was the first indication that there was something
seriously wrong with my kidneys. After my transplant, it was as high as 56
(had to drain off a pint from time to time.) Now I take EPO just to keep
it
around 35-38.

I've never had RBC envy. It didn't even occur to that you were being
insensitive. Oversensitive maybe...

I used to donate blood twice a year for many years. Most of the time my
hematocrit was 48-49%. I do not feel like I have any particular advantage
and certainly riding weekly crits for about four years was a hell of a lot
more inducive to strong riding than any natural ability which can be
completely offset by other physical attributes.

In article tvUFi.5013$Af1.372@trnddc06,
Mark & Steven Bornfeld
wrote:

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
So I finally broke down and got a life insurance physical (I'm not a fan of
having blood drawn), and was looking forward to seeing my hematocrit level.

It wasn't listed!!!

Five weeks of micro-dosing EPO so I could get a health exemption certificate
claiming it's normal for me to be to have a hematocrit level of 53 down the
drain. Sigh.

(Actually, it is curious that they list about 20 different things they
tested me for, but nothing for hematocrit or white cell counts etc... but a
bazillion ways to test my liver, wasted because I don't drink).

At least my PSA level was ridiculously low, at .31 So I'll just keep
taking saw palmetto and not worry about it.

Of course they're looking for chronic illness, but I'm still a bit
surprised. But it's pretty routine, and you should get a physical from
time to time anyhow...
What is the lab range given for PSA? Changes over time in that range
are probably more important than the raw number. Of course, the value
of PSA as a screening tool are somewhat controversial, because things
other than cancer can cause it to rise.

The conditional probabilities of testing is most
interesting. False positive, false negative, and
incidence of the malady in the population interact with
each other. Here is a neat article that lays it out.

om

--
Michael Press

In article
. com,
"Qui si parla Campagnolo-www.vecchios.com"
wrote:

On Sep 12, 10:02 am, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
So I finally broke down and got a life insurance physical (I'm not a fan of
having blood drawn), and was looking forward to seeing my hematocrit level.

It wasn't listed!!!

Five weeks of micro-dosing EPO so I could get a health exemption certificate
claiming it's normal for me to be to have a hematocrit level of 53 down the
drain. Sigh.

(Actually, it is curious that they list about 20 different things they
tested me for, but nothing for hematocrit or white cell counts etc... but a
bazillion ways to test my liver, wasted because I don't drink).

At least my PSA level was ridiculously low, at .31 So I'll just keep
taking saw palmetto and not worry about it.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReactionBicycles.com

PSA for .007 for me..after my wife's boss had a prostate scare. So
much for riding causing all sorts of plumbing problems, if it ain't
hurtin' me now, it ain't later.
The guy that works at the shop, rides seldom, drinks, well like I do,
meat and potatoes kinda guy, not small, kinda like me, had a
hematocrit of 49!!, plus 130 or so for clorestorol(too lazy to look it
up-sp-10).

I think drinking in moderation is good..my theory- Alcohol is a
poison, having a wee dram jumpstarts the immune system, kinda like a
innoculation..a shot of bad bugs...I hardly ever get sick...

Any toxicologist will tell you
"The poison is in the dose."

--
Michael Press

"Michael Press" wrote in message
...
In article
. com,
"Qui si parla Campagnolo-www.vecchios.com"
wrote:

On Sep 12, 10:02 am, "Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
So I finally broke down and got a life insurance physical (I'm not a
fan of
having blood drawn), and was looking forward to seeing my hematocrit
level.

It wasn't listed!!!

Five weeks of micro-dosing EPO so I could get a health exemption
certificate
claiming it's normal for me to be to have a hematocrit level of 53 down
the
drain. Sigh.

(Actually, it is curious that they list about 20 different things they
tested me for, but nothing for hematocrit or white cell counts etc...
but a
bazillion ways to test my liver, wasted because I don't drink).

At least my PSA level was ridiculously low, at .31 So I'll just keep
taking saw palmetto and not worry about it.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReactionBicycles.com

PSA for .007 for me..after my wife's boss had a prostate scare. So
much for riding causing all sorts of plumbing problems, if it ain't
hurtin' me now, it ain't later.
The guy that works at the shop, rides seldom, drinks, well like I do,
meat and potatoes kinda guy, not small, kinda like me, had a
hematocrit of 49!!, plus 130 or so for clorestorol(too lazy to look it
up-sp-10).

I think drinking in moderation is good..my theory- Alcohol is a
poison, having a wee dram jumpstarts the immune system, kinda like a
innoculation..a shot of bad bugs...I hardly ever get sick...

Any toxicologist will tell you
"The poison is in the dose."

After all, EPO is as safe as orange juice.