Thursday, May 24, 2007

Iron Man

I got the lab results back from my check up. Everything was OK. Cholesterol is split into LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good cholesterol). Surprisingly, my LDL levels were at 115; they should be less than 130. Even more surprisingly, they said I have "elevated iron levels." I have no idea what that means, but they want me to go in and get another test in case the results were wrong.

A little research on WebMD says that high iron levels is a condition called
hemochromatosis:
Hemochromatosis is a condition that develops when too much iron builds up in the body. Your body normally stores small amounts of iron in the bone marrow, liver, kidneys, and heart, but excess iron will eventually damage these organs.

A little more research yielded a site called
foodshighiniron.com, which said:

Iron Rich Foods
· Beef, Certain cereals, Green leafy vegetables, Liver, Prunes

So it looks like I don't need to worry too much about the cholesterol, but do need to stay away from those life-threatening green leafy vegetables.

Overall, I think this is good news for a guy who's one-third through his probably potential lifespan.

I immediately celebrated with fried chicken wings and french fries.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

So you'll be able to enjoy ribs and mac n cheese at Daisy Mae's!!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you've made it thru the first third of your life span with relatively little collateral damage. I knew a sifu who said the body you have at 40 is the body you have for the rest of your life. Only 8 more years to go...

The Patient Connection said...

Hemochromatosis and Phlebotomy – Updated Blog

Hi

Thanks for all your help so far with our Hemochromatosis blog. The discussion has changed in the last few days so we would like to take this opportunity to invite you again to a research blog on Hemochromatosis. We are very interested in you attitude toward Phlebotomy and have therefore added a few new questions.


To take part please click this link

http://www.thepatientconnections.com/blog.asp?uid=44


The blog is anonymous and easy to use. Instructions are given on the blog so thanks in advance for your help it is much appreciated.


Best wishes

Belinda
The Patient Connection
Belinda.shale@thepatientconnections.com

The Patient Connection said...

Just to let you know our blog is still open