[darkpuppet]

Well, I got the call from the doc's office to come in for a chat. Of course I'm thinking, "uh oh.. there goes my fatty diet! :( ".. but turns out that's not entirely the case. my HDL is extremely high, and my LDL is only borderline..

but turns out I have nearly double the high limit of iron in my system.. .and I'm not taking any supplements.

So I get to go back for tests to see if I have hemachromatosis... an inability to properly metabolise iron. Nothing serious, but I may have to become a regular blood donor as the only treatment is bleeding... which could be handy if I were looking for a vampire chick to date...

[mo_focus]

sorry, Can you please translate that into english.

what is HDL? LDL? and hemawhat?

[focusracer]

Anybody got a magnet??? :D

[NOS2Go4Me]

You weren't stunt-doubling for X2: X-Men United, were you? ;)

It's a good thing you caught that, man.

[darkpuppet]

^-- nah, I gave up being a star after tuner transformation...

but apparently a lot of people go through their lives with the condition undiagnosed. I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones that might get conned into blood donorship.

This is obviously a scam created by the Canadian Red Cross... blood coveting bastards!

[NikiterZTS]

hemachromatosis.....the longest word ive read today


im not a doctor but i can take a look

[ANTHONYD]

Give me your spare Iron.

I'm anemic.

[ZX5chica]

mo_focus,Nov 29 2006, 02:00 PM Wrote:sorry, Can you please translate that into english.

what is HDL? LDL? and hemawhat?
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HDL is known as high density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of HDL, it can store more lipid (fat)... otherwise known as the *good* cholesterol. HDL can be increased substantially through exercise, mainly aerobic.
LDL is known as low density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of of LDL, it stores less lipid (fat), so you need more of these molecules to store the same amount as on an HDL molecule (in theory)...
The ratio of HDL to LDL is what tells you whether you have high cholesterol or not, so the higher your HDL number in comparison to LDL, the better off you are..

And as for the heme question.... each blood molecule is comprised of a hemoglobin group, which basically binds iron to the main binding site of the blood molecule. This binding of iron allows oxygen to bind to the blood molecule (to deliver to working tissues), and carbon dioxide to be picked up by the tissues. If he has a high hematocrit level, that means that in his blood, there are more iron molecules than are necessary (its 4 iron molecules per hemoglobin unit). Essentially, that means that is blood is thick, which could lead to high blood pressure, and a whole bunch of other things.

To regulate this, you would either need to be a regular blood donor, or go on some form of blood thinner, to regulate the high blood pressure.

Does that make sense?

[NikiterZTS]

^^^ u know, u can be one hot doctor

[darkpuppet]

ZX5chica,Nov 29 2006, 03:42 PM Wrote:HDL is known as high density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of HDL, it can store more lipid (fat)... otherwise known as the *good* cholesterol. HDL can be increased substantially through exercise, mainly aerobic.
LDL is known as low density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of of LDL, it stores less lipid (fat), so you need more of these molecules to store the same amount as on an HDL molecule (in theory)...
The ratio of HDL to LDL is what tells you whether you have high cholesterol or not, so the higher your HDL number in comparison to LDL, the better off you are..

And as for the heme question.... each blood molecule is comprised of a hemoglobin group, which basically binds iron to the main binding site of the blood molecule. This binding of iron allows oxygen to bind to the blood molecule (to deliver to working tissues), and carbon dioxide to be picked up by the tissues. If he has a high hematocrit level, that means that in his blood, there are more iron molecules than are necessary (its 4 iron molecules per hemoglobin unit). Essentially, that means that is blood is thick, which could lead to high blood pressure, and a whole bunch of other things.

To regulate this, you would either need to be a regular blood donor, or go on some form of blood thinner, to regulate the high blood pressure.

Does that make sense?
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I'd rather be a regular donor than go on blood thinners.

question tho... could this be caused by dehydration? I played beach volleyball the night before, which is a) extremely high exertion and b ) takes about a day to get my hydration levels back to square one.

but don't get me wrong, I drink a lot of water, but my system uses a lot... I have friends that could survive with one water bottle on the same bike rides I'd be consuming nearly 4L of....

[ZX5chica]

darkpuppet,Nov 29 2006, 03:11 PM Wrote:I'd rather be a regular donor than go on blood thinners.

question tho... could this be caused by dehydration?  I played beach volleyball the night before, which is a) extremely high exertion and b ) takes about a day to get my hydration levels back to square one. 

but don't get me wrong, I drink a lot of water, but my system uses a lot... I have friends that could survive with one water bottle on the same bike rides I'd be consuming nearly 4L of....
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No, it wouldn't be caused by dehydration... the point is that there is too much iron in your system.... I talked about the 4 iron molecule that bind to the hemoglobin molecule... well, essentially you have more than these necessary 4 molecules (maybe you have 5-6 iron per hemoglobin). The iron has nowhere else to go, so it builds up in your other organs, and could lead to potential problems such as organ failure (worse case scenario... don't get scared).

Hemochromatosis is caused by a gene mutation... therefor, it's genetic. There do not seem to be any other causes. As for treatment, I looked it up in some books for you, and the main treatment is intensive blood donation for a period of up to one year (ie: donating a few pints on a monthly basis), and then once your iron levels are normalized, you become a maintenance donor, donating every few months.

The reason the blood donation works is because when you lose blood, your body senses that you need more (it's funny how we work, really). So it starts to create more hemoglobin molecules... which allow you to take these iron deposits from your organs to be used to create the molecules... therefor, it gets rid of any of the excess molecules by creating and ridding your body of blood.

Eventually, your iron levels will regulate. Don't worry though... this is a bit more in depth than you may have wanted me to go, but rest assured, you're going to be fine!!

[darkpuppet]

^-- that's what my doctor said. she didn't want me to look it up on the web because they make it sound worse than it really is.

they're doing more tests, and I'm going to get my liver imaged, just to be safe.

but the blood tests indicated a level of 780 or something like that.. is that the hematocrit?

[mo_focus]

darkpuppet,Nov 29 2006, 08:11 PM Wrote:

ZX5chica,Nov 29 2006, 03:42 PM Wrote:HDL is known as high density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of HDL, it can store more lipid (fat)... otherwise known as the *good* cholesterol. HDL can be increased substantially through exercise, mainly aerobic.
LDL is known as low density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of of LDL, it stores less lipid (fat), so you need more of these molecules to store the same amount as on an HDL molecule (in theory)...
The ratio of HDL to LDL is what tells you whether you have high cholesterol or not, so the higher your HDL number in comparison to LDL, the better off you are..

And as for the heme question.... each blood molecule is comprised of a hemoglobin group, which basically binds iron to the main binding site of the blood molecule. This binding of iron allows oxygen to bind to the blood molecule (to deliver to working tissues), and carbon dioxide to be picked up by the tissues. If he has a high hematocrit level, that means that in his blood, there are more iron molecules than are necessary (its 4 iron molecules per hemoglobin unit). Essentially, that means that is blood is thick, which could lead to high blood pressure, and a whole bunch of other things.

To regulate this, you would either need to be a regular blood donor, or go on some form of blood thinner, to regulate the high blood pressure.

Does that make sense?
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I'd rather be a regular donor than go on blood thinners.

question tho... could this be caused by dehydration? I played beach volleyball the night before, which is a) extremely high exertion and b ) takes about a day to get my hydration levels back to square one.

but don't get me wrong, I drink a lot of water, but my system uses a lot... I have friends that could survive with one water bottle on the same bike rides I'd be consuming nearly 4L of....
[right][snapback]217928[/snapback][/right]

WOw. thanks so much for the clerification.

So my dad is taking Asprin to thin his blood. Should I recommend the idea of giving blood to him? Maybe this way he doesnt have to take the pills on a daily basis. He is 63 yrs old though.

[ANTHONYD]

An asprin a day is actually reccomended to people over the age of 50.

[ZX5chica]

mo_focus,Nov 29 2006, 03:50 PM Wrote:[WOw. thanks so much for the clerification.

So my dad is taking Asprin to thin his blood. Should I recommend the idea of giving blood to him? Maybe this way he doesnt have to take the pills on a daily basis. He is 63 yrs old though.
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Alright, before anybody goes and starts prescribing health problems here, I'm going to clarify certain issues...

1) I'm not a doctor
2) I'm just giving these answers based on 4 years of physiology training and classes... big difference, so please don't go out and change medications/treatments etc.

Having said that... No, you do not want to give blood to your father/have him recieve transfusions. Your father is probably on a low dose aspirin that his doctor recommended because of the protective effect aspirin has on cardiovascular health. Aspirin works to thin blood by not allowing the platelets in your blood to *get together and have a party*, and form what is otherwise known as a blood clot. The anticoagulant (aka. anti-blood platlet chunking) is used to essentially *thin blood* by decreasing the viscosity of the blood so that it moves through your veins and arteries better, and this ability to move better will result in lower blood pressure, and decreased chance of having heart attack, heart problems, etc.

I'm going to stop here, because I can see this going on forever with new questions and such... but, if any of you have any questions regarding how the body works, I would be happy to answer them, but just PM me.

[ZX5chica]

And just another thing... I'd just like to say that I'm pretty surprised that doctors don't explain results/tests/basic body works to you when you go in and have questions. That's a part of the health care system that I don't agree with... so, if you could all do my a favour and the next time you're visiting a health care professional, innundate them with questions about how you (and your body) work.... it's your body, and your life after all, you might as well know what's going on with it!

[focusracer]

Yes it is surprising and disapointing that doctors don't explain things to their patients. I've had kidney surgery 3 times and never has the surgeon explained anything to me afterward. My family doctor is just as bad, he'll write prescriptions till he's got writers cramp but never tells you what's wrong. That's why I usually don't visit his office.

[darkpuppet]

I hope I didn't spur anyone to act on advice that wasn't provided by their own doctors. Your doctor knows what's best for you, so better to listen to them than an internet forum (regardless of how man Lefebvres there are) ;)

my doctor was really good in telling me everything I had a question for at the time... in fact she was probably more concerned than I was about how conerned I would be.

I'm pretty easy going that way.

[Flofocus]

So this thread made me thinking of when was the last time I went to the Dr.....

I cant remember.

then it got me thinking when was the last time I went to the dentist.

I cant remember that either.

:ph34r:

[NOS2Go4Me]

Chick doctor? That explains everything.

"Nah, baby, I can take it. Just tell me what's wrong with me and I'll tell you how you can make it better." :D

Nate - Dood, no dentist talks until the new year. Christ. I maxed out 2 peoples' worth of dental coverage in the last 5 months alone getting s*** fixed. :ph34r: