Labs & Panels One Week Away

collegefbfan
collegefbfan Posts: 346 Member
edited November 13 in Social Groups
What do I do this week so all stuff looks as good as possible? Blood pressure cholesterol and stuff.

Replies

  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    idocdlw wrote: »
    No cheating on tests...do what you normally do so your tests give you as much valid information as possible. Education is key and will let you know if you should continue on the same path or make some tweaks to optimize health.

    This. Just this.
  • cstehansen
    cstehansen Posts: 1,984 Member
    What do I do this week so all stuff looks as good as possible? Blood pressure cholesterol and stuff.

    I just had my blood work done. Dr appt is on Monday for getting the results. I know they will have the results well ahead of that, but they are weird about not wanting to give them before the appt. I just did what I have been doing the last 3 months while being keto.

    Like the others said, there is no cheating on tests. Every research study I have seen shows this being the best option. I know, based on my BG readings, that my A1c will be significantly improved. As for the lipids, I just have to trust the process and that I am not one of the outliers.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Cholesterol is just kind of a snapshot anyway, and can be very dynamic in response to foods. Just make sure that you are fasting for the tests, eat your normal foods, and you'll do the best you can do to take that snapshot of your life as it currently stands. Good or bad, you will know where your were in that moment, and have a point of reference for future improvements.
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    Nothing you can do in a week, you'll want regular results anyway so you can get an idea of what you need to adjust. Fast for 8hrs before the blood work, no coffee, no sweeteners, nothing but water.
  • castlerobber
    castlerobber Posts: 528 Member
    idocdlw wrote: »
    No cheating on tests...do what you normally do so your tests give you as much valid information as possible. Education is key and will let you know if you should continue on the same path or make some tweaks to optimize health.

    My hubby eats a relatively small amount of sweets and grains, but he cuts them out entirely for a week before his semi-annual checkup, to fudge the results so the doc won't fuss at him. He's T2D, on metformin, and has just high enough blood pressure to need a minimal dose of the weakest med.
  • idocdlw
    idocdlw Posts: 208 Member
    edited November 2016
    idocdlw wrote: »
    No cheating on tests...do what you normally do so your tests give you as much valid information as possible. Education is key and will let you know if you should continue on the same path or make some tweaks to optimize health.

    My hubby eats a relatively small amount of sweets and grains, but he cuts them out entirely for a week before his semi-annual checkup, to fudge the results so the doc won't fuss at him. He's T2D, on metformin, and has just high enough blood pressure to need a minimal dose of the weakest med.

    This is going to sound really harsh, but is the reason he tries to fudge his results is so the doc won't fuss at him or because he can be happily oblivious of his true status. I know this is hard to hear but I will repeat...education/knowledge are key.

    Fudging on tests is often what leads health care providers to making inappropriate management decisions. I know. I had lots of glaucoma patients who would be completely noncompliant for 4-5 months then show up to a 6 month followup with target intraocular pressures right on target, but still show both an alarming decline in optic nerve health & loss of vision on visual field tests.

    Cheating on a lab test cheats both the patient and the provider.
  • RowdysLady
    RowdysLady Posts: 1,370 Member
    Not sure why you'd want to try to make a temp improvement. You want everything to be as honest as possible so you can adjust or not the most appropriately. Good, bad or indifferent, it is where you are so take the true results and go forth and conquer.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    idocdlw wrote: »
    Cheating on a lab test cheats both the patient and the provider.

    Yep -- unless you've got a backwards employer who sticks it to you if it's being steered by last-century medical advisors or group insurance carriers who don't approve of your lipid profile, blood pressure......
  • MyriiStorm
    MyriiStorm Posts: 609 Member
    cstehansen wrote: »
    What do I do this week so all stuff looks as good as possible? Blood pressure cholesterol and stuff.

    I just had my blood work done. Dr appt is on Monday for getting the results. I know they will have the results well ahead of that, but they are weird about not wanting to give them before the appt. I just did what I have been doing the last 3 months while being keto.

    Like the others said, there is no cheating on tests. Every research study I have seen shows this being the best option. I know, based on my BG readings, that my A1c will be significantly improved. As for the lipids, I just have to trust the process and that I am not one of the outliers.

    I am so grateful that my provider is technologically more up-to-date than that. I had my blood drawn Saturday, and the results were online yesterday. A1C was down another .3, cholesterol was up slightly because I stopped taking the statins, and my doctor posted a comment on the result to "keep doing what you're doing."

    I hope your results are just as good, or better!
  • collegefbfan
    collegefbfan Posts: 346 Member
    I didn't mean to cheat the results. I know one week before won't matter. I meant to be provided with tips from you all. Like I heard coffee was okay. Just black. I only do water though. Also, my eating is crap this week. Not cheating but just not eating. My little boy is 10 and his mom left us when he was 7. He didn't ask anything then. He at the age now that he is asking and upset about it. I will say that he has the best stepmom in the world. His anxiety has had me not caring about food in the morning or for lunch. Then I get home and eat what I would have had for lunch and then supper later. Hope this isn't destroying my results. Been stuck at 222 for two weeks now. Thanks people.
  • idocdlw
    idocdlw Posts: 208 Member
    Sorry you're going thru a rough patch. Take care of yourself and your boy. You'll get back on track.
  • cstehansen
    cstehansen Posts: 1,984 Member
    I didn't mean to cheat the results. I know one week before won't matter. I meant to be provided with tips from you all. Like I heard coffee was okay. Just black. I only do water though. Also, my eating is crap this week. Not cheating but just not eating. My little boy is 10 and his mom left us when he was 7. He didn't ask anything then. He at the age now that he is asking and upset about it. I will say that he has the best stepmom in the world. His anxiety has had me not caring about food in the morning or for lunch. Then I get home and eat what I would have had for lunch and then supper later. Hope this isn't destroying my results. Been stuck at 222 for two weeks now. Thanks people.

    Those are tough conversations at that age. He is starting to get to an age where he is going to be inclined to think things are his fault that aren't. The best thing you can do IMO, is assure him his mom leaving was not his fault but hers. Obviously, you don't know me, so you can take or leave whatever I say.

    As for being stuck at 222 for 2 weeks, it isn't stuck until you hit a month, however, the closer to the time you go to bed that you eat, the more likely you are to store what you ate, so you may be making gains through the day and then negating them by eating late.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    I didn't mean to cheat the results. I know one week before won't matter. I meant to be provided with tips from you all. Like I heard coffee was okay. Just black. I only do water though. Also, my eating is crap this week. Not cheating but just not eating. My little boy is 10 and his mom left us when he was 7. He didn't ask anything then. He at the age now that he is asking and upset about it. I will say that he has the best stepmom in the world. His anxiety has had me not caring about food in the morning or for lunch. Then I get home and eat what I would have had for lunch and then supper later. Hope this isn't destroying my results. Been stuck at 222 for two weeks now. Thanks people.

    I'm sorry to hear that. My oldest daughters father didn't leave her life but it honestly would've been better if he had. She decided to leave his once she was old enough to say so and hasn't spoken to him in years. When she was young and had to visit him and didn't want to, I just tried to make sure she understood his behavior had nothing to do with her. Even when he said it did. That he wasn't an emotionally healthy person and literally didn't know how to care about other people. In order to not take it personally she needed to think of his behavior as an illness. Which, it actually was... some people just don't know how to be good people. They don't even know where to begin because they literally believe they're totally normal so don't even consider other people's feelings about their actions or words.
    She did finally understand that and decided she didn't want that in her life anymore when she was 15.
  • idocdlw
    idocdlw Posts: 208 Member
    [quote="Sunny_Bunny_;38189581" I'm sorry to hear that. My oldest daughters father didn't leave her life but it honestly would've been better if he had. She decided to leave his once she was old enough to say so and hasn't spoken to him in years. When she was young and had to visit him and didn't want to, I just tried to make sure she understood his behavior had nothing to do with her. Even when he said it did. That he wasn't an emotionally healthy person and literally didn't know how to care about other people. In order to not take it personally she needed to think of his behavior as an illness. Which, it actually was... some people just don't know how to be good people. They don't even know where to begin because they literally believe they're totally normal so don't even consider other people's feelings about their actions or words.
    She did finally understand that and decided she didn't want that in her life anymore when she was 15. [/quote]

    Went thru same with my son. Left his father when my boy was 2.5 yrs old. Made sure visitation happened and did not speak negatively about his father. It was scary every time I sent my son off because I was putting him in the care of someone with serious substance abuse issues. It broke my heart to have to prepare my son from a very young age for visits by explaining where to go and/or who to call if anyone (not his father specifically...I always included myself to make the expectation universal) ever made him feel uncomfortable by drinking & driving, doing drugs, being very angry, throwing or hitting things in rage. My son was about 14 when he told me he didn't want to go for visitation anymore. His dad would call him periodically but never came to visit him or send him even a card for birthdays or holidays. I coordinated a reunion between father (now clean) and son (now 27) a couple of years ago, but I doubt they will ever have a normal, healthy parent/child relationship.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,374 Member
    I have gone thru the same thing with my stepchildren - their father was a violent and abusive drunk when he was married to my wife and his 3 children (my steps now) have almost no contact with him. My stepdaughter won't even acknowledge his existence (almost to the point of not even acknowledging his right TO exist) and the boys have seen him maybe 3-4 times in the 16 years that their mom and I have been married. Their father has sobered up and has tried to connect with them, but they really don't want the relationship now.
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