I have a reg drs appt on May 1, 2012 and want to ask for tests to establish some baselines for things I think may be affecting my health and also to have good quality input for SWAMI which I have only recently begun... (formerly BTD about 60% overall compliance, but 100% non-compliant in some strategic areas!)

Already I am planning to ask for more blood typing tests - Lewis, MN, and A1/A2. Made some calls and found out I will need to have the dr send me to the hospital blood bank to have samples sent to a nearby city for these results.

Also expect dr will do the usual lipid profiles, sugar levels, kidney functions, etc. Will assume also calcium & Vit D though I will ask to be certain...

I have been reading these boards... Vit D thread, trehalose, etc. I'm already taking a multivitamin, some B vitamins, CoQ10, Fish oil(1g), gingko biloba, black currant seed oil, MSM(1000mg), Flax oil, flaxmeal. Would like to start some other supplements but would like to know where I am before I get where I'm going to be...     I'm looking forward to finishing up the supps I have so I can start using some NAP products instead. Also working toward improving my diet via SWAMI which is why I want some of these tests... in order to arrive at the best food lists possible.

My collective symptoms are:
weight gain(moderate), especially belly fat
skin problems, rosacea, cysts
thinning hair (though this has improved since I cut back on sugar several months ago)
joint pain, including TMJD
'tissue' pain, more widespread than joints, but not exactly muscle pain either... nerves maybe...
fatigue, sleep problems
sugar cravings
eyesight problems

So I would welcome suggestions for what else to test... for heart, thyroid, sugar, arthritis, other???

Also, do you think it is better to start with symptoms instead of just ask for the tests?

Thanks!  

Your Dr should be helpful in determining what tests would be most useful.

Depending on what insurance covers/affordability you may or may not need to restrict your list.

Thyroid is an obvious thing to check. Get TSH and at least a couple of the others that go with it - free levels, uptake.

There are some other things that may or may not be applicable.

vg,
take a moment to read the Garland thread
http://www.dadamo.com/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1276020101/
99% of the people sharing their incredible success simply 'did the work',
followed their guidelines, and let the plan do its thing

the anti inflammatory power is what will put you back together again


If you need testing, consider the secretor test and find out your subtype if need be, to simply help fine tune and target your choices

Thanks, Lloyd, for the reminder about thyroid, my symptoms do probably warrant that... it's those other things that 'may be applicable' that I'm trying to figure out...

Lola, I am not trying to get out of doing the work!    I have read the 'garland' and find it very inspiring and encouraging. I'm already planning to ask for the extra blood-typing tests... and yes, the anti-inflammatory power is what I'm hoping to put to work!!!  

I might not have made this clear... it is because of my desire to have more accurate info to plug into SWAMI that I am seeking relevant testing... I hope to get my food list as targeted as possible. When SWAMI asks if I have "been told" I have (blank) problem, I don't have an answer other than 'no' simply because I haven't seen any test results to confirm/rule out whether I have that particular problem or not...

And I thought it might be compelling to have some test results that I can compare later after tweaking my diet in order to monitor my 'progress' in terms my dr can better understand...

So I will use that list on SWAMI and my symptoms and go from there... duh!  

vqueen, may I allow myselve to ask you to decide between flax oil and fishoil, I think and experienced with myselve and patients flaxoil is even higher and muchmore efficient as fishoil... omega 3 is guaranted here and it does a better job also for your metabolisme then fishoil ...I'd go for the anti-aging booklet or also for a short term onto the menopausal booklet....

btw..I take flaxseed oil in tablespoon units...2 spoonfull 3-6x daily all pains gone
I wasn't aware of my lacks of omega 3... but I've found an oil made of organic flax and it tasted wonderful, not bitter at all

Amazone, yes, I have wondered about this...

I don't have the reference right now, but thought I remembered reading in Eat Right, or could have been Live Right, that fish oil is better for A's and flax oil better for O's (my 2 household types). There are so many fish servings on my SWAMI that I thought the fish oil would be ok, the brand I have been using is very pure.

Though since flaxseed meal and flax oil are both superfood for me, I was doing it too, but mostly flaxseed meal instead of oil. The flax oil caps that I have are supposed to be refrigerated so weren't as convenient when I have to be away from the house for a meal. I have an organic bottled flax oil so I will try as you suggest and take it by the spoonful. Do you take it with food? I confess I don't love the taste, but I was considering starting fermented cod liver oil so it couldn't be any worse than that would probably be!!     Do you think I SHOULDN'T try the FCLO? Everything I read speaks highly and CLO is a superfood for me, while I see now that more generic fish oil (salmon, herring) is only neutral.

So... ok... further look at my SWAMI suggests I should up the flax oil, add the CLO, and quit the regular fish oil caps...

...really appreciate your input and the heads up, Amazone. There is just sooooo much info in this report!    It is hard to take it in all in one big gulp!!  

Up your compliance on your foods 60% is good but not enough for someone with your health issues-- let your food be your medicine.  

It will take time for your body to heal from all your little issues. Invest in a secretor test so you can refine your diet.


Write down all your health problems and in a year revisit the list and see that they have disappeared.

Many of us have forgotten what was wrong with us after about a year.

Quoted from Amazone I.

vqueen, may I allow myselve to ask you to decide between flax oil and fishoil, I think and experienced with myselve and patients flaxoil is even higher and muchmore efficient as fishoil... omega 3 is guaranted here and it does a better job also for your metabolisme then fishoil ...I'd go for the anti-aging booklet or also for a short term onto the menopausal booklet....

btw..I take flaxseed oil in tablespoon units...2 spoonfull 3-6x daily all pains gone
I wasn't aware of my lacks of omega 3... but I've found an oil made of organic flax and it tasted wonderful, not bitter at all

Isa, I've experienced the same as well, my body loves the flax oil. It pretty much instantaneously quenches any inflammation if I have inadvertently have consumed an avoid unbeknown to me.
I got off it for a few weeks but I am getting back into the habit of taking 1 TBS. before bed. I see that you take more than 1 TBS, is that only when you are feeling in more pain on a particular day?  

Quoted from Andrea AWsec

Up your compliance on your foods 60% is good but not enough for someone with your health issues-- let your food be your medicine.  

It will take time for your body to heal from all your little issues. Invest in a secretor test so you can refine your diet.


Write down all your health problems and in a year revisit the list and see that they have disappeared.

Many of us have forgotten what was wrong with us after about a year.

I am already improving my diet, my 60% guesstimate was re BTD up to about 3 years ago. So now I've got SWAMI and only haven't done the secretor test yet because I have not gotten the inside of my mouth sufficiently healed from abrasions from braces on my teeth, could be a false positive for secretor if I am not careful to get a clean sample.

SWAMI changed some things from neutral to avoid that I ate regularly before: chicken, corn, goat cheese, mozzarella, wild rice, asparagus, paprika... to name a few. And a few things that weren't on TypeBase that I took to be neutral are also now avoid. And some things that were beneficial on BTD I didn't eat much of because I'm the only type A in my family and would take a lot of extra cooking time to get all of my beneficials while still preparing compliant meals for the rest of us. So I did as many as I could but would now like to do more...

So again, I'm just trying to hone in on the foods I should be eating. I can't be more compliant if I don't know what compliant is... and I won't be compliant at all if I don't give SWAMI enough info to get it targeted well...

...at least these have been my assumptions.

Get the secretor test by blood at your docs-  

I am an A Warrior and make small portions of food that only I eat  I do this on the weekends makes my life easier. Most of these things I eat at lunch.

Had my doc appt today... and he ordered lots of blood tests... lab took about 9 - 10 vials of blood and that was after she combined as many test samples as she could...

Did get him to write order for Lewis, MN, and A1/A2. Caused a bit of a stir in the lab though... "do you need a transfusion?" "are you getting the (blank) shots?" I didn't even know what they were saying... I finally said something like "need it for some genetic typing..." and that got a nod and some kind of approving sound and she was able to track down the correct code - at least I hope it was correct... "human genome" is a wonderful buzz-word in the health field these days I guess...

So I should know some things in the next few weeks...

Got referred to a rheumatologist to rule out (or diagnose) a few things...

And I'm about 5 years past that birthdate that is supposed to trigger the first screening colonoscopy, so I agreed to do that. No symptoms though so not expecting anything to show up...

Quoted from Andrea AWsec

I am an A Warrior and make small portions of food that only I eat  I do this on the weekends makes my life easier. Most of these things I eat at lunch.

I've been doing that with some things for a long time... tofu, ground turkey, beets, for example. And I keep canned adzukis for myself... nobody else likes them, though they ought to eat them anyway.

But I have been neglecting lentils, partly because I haven't really liked them very well, and since they are avoid for type O I wasn't including them in family menus. But I've decided to add them back just for me... ordering some sprouted ones from the co-op this week.

Andrea, what other blood types do you live with? Can you give me some examples of things you make only for yourself? Do you eat lentils...if so, how do you use them? I could use a little fresh inspiration...  thanks!

Quoted from veggiequeen

Andrea, what other blood types do you live with? Can you give me some examples of things you make only for yourself? Do you eat lentils...if so, how do you use them? I could use a little fresh inspiration...  thanks!

Can Andrea, or anyone else, share any ideas for A Warrior make-aheads? I especially need soft or pureed things due to TMJD bite problems... Thanks in advance!  

Got the results of my blood type tests as you can see...  

Quoted from veggiequeen

Can ... anyone ... share any ideas for A Warrior make-aheads? I especially need soft or pureed things due to TMJD bite problems... Thanks in advance!

I make vegetable protein dishes (VP) using lentils or split peas, onion, other vegetables and spices as desired / available.  I usually cook a whole pound of VP per package instructions, except I add onion (either dried plus enough water to reconstitute, or fresh), herbs as desired - quite often I just start with a generous bunch of parsley.  Let this cook until the VP are soft.

I can eat this hot when done, add some fish or turkey, if desired.  I also refrigerate the left-overs and eat them as a side to something else or reheat and eat as originally cooked or add additional spice for variety when reheating...