Just got my annual bloodwork back. I have questions, and don't know how concerning any of this is. As a generally health-conscious place, I thought someone here might have some info, since it'll be several days until the dr. gets back to me.
My cholesterol is up 20 points from last year! My weight and activity level are the same, and the only thing that has changed about my diet is I'm trying to include more protein. Maybe it's the additional cheese and eggs? Total is 185, which is supposedly OK, and the ratio of good to bad is 2.2, which is OK since it's supposed to be below 5. But I don't like that it went up that much and I can't figure out why.
My iron is still the absolute lowest of the acceptable range. Guess it's time to supplement again.
Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) got flagged as low. No clue if this is an actual problem, and I have never heard of this or noticed it on previous bloodwork, but they apparently always test it. Google says it can be a sign of protein deficiency, pernicious anemia, or malnutrition??
I am starting to worry that 20 something years of vegetarianism is starting to catch up with me :( Any thoughts? Not sure if anyone here has medical training, but extra appreciated if you do!
Thanks @skwigg and @sarah too . That does help. I do feel better with more protein, so that's a good point: if dairy and eggs make my cholesterol go up (but it's still OK) and I feel better, who cares? And sarah, you're I found the same thing when I looked up ALP, that high is more concerning. We'll see what the dr. says. I have not been super consistent with my iron supplement, so I'll do that daily and see if it helps. I do feel low energy a lot recently, but that could be the streak of 100+ heat we're having, too.
Thanks!!
Also not a medical person, but I agree with skwigg. If you're feeling okay I wouldn't worry about it and your doctor will give their opinion. Remember that bloodwork is just a moment in time - 20 points doesn't seem that much and probably you'd want to be more concerned if it kept trending up. I think ALP is probably more concerning than low. And again, it's just a one time data point. I recently had my blood panel done and my ferritin is normal but my rbc is low. So my doc said just emphasize iron and we'll check again in 3 months. I take a supplement with iron but only every other day so I've been taking it daily instead. I also asked her about cholesterol since mine is normal and my ratio is fine but my good could be better. My father (who lived to be nearly 96 years old) had successful bypass surgery in his 70's and he also had lowish overall but not a good ratio (worse than mine.). My doc said to me something to the effect as long as your overall numbers are okay it's your behaviors that are what make the difference. And since I exercise a lot, eat whole foods/plant based for the most part and I don't carry excess weight, I don't need to worry about the details. Makes sense to me based on my dad's experience since prior to his bypass he was eating basically SAD and not a lot of exercise and after his bypass he turned that around and lived another 20 years (despite his continued bad ratio.)
I am not a medical people, so there is my disclaimer. 🤣 But I know what it is to get bloodwork back and then slightly (or completely) freak myself out with it. Your total cholesterol and ratio are both in the normal/ideal ranges. In my own experience, these numbers are quite variable. What we eat in the days or week before the blood draw can shift it quite a bit. The eggs and cheese could move the number, but that's not necessarily bad. Mine went up when I quit being vegan but was still normal/ideal, and I feel SO much better. That's the main thing. How do you feel?
I don't know if it is good or bad, but iron and white blood cell count can run low for plant eaters. Do we fall outside the norm because we're healthier than the norm? Or is it malnutrition? I've pondered that extensively, but don't have any real answers other than, I eat to feel my best. When I'm doing that, everything tends to stay in range and my doctor is happy with my bloodwork. Two years of a low-fat vegan diet had her ready to refer me to hematology. If I had felt fantastic, I'd have shrugged that off, but I was feeling pretty bad. Hair falling out, brain fog, fingernails splitting, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, losing muscle mass. I was like, let me eat some salmon, eggs, and greek yogurt for a few weeks and I'll get back to you. That fixed things right up, so I didn't care that it made my total cholesterol "worse." It was still great, just not as freaky low as it had been.
I was also curious if you fasted for your test and for how long? One of the weirdest things I had happen was when I did a workplace biometric screening after a 17 hour fast. The test was in the afternoon and I thought it would be better to do it fasted. Ha! No! All my coworkers who ate lunch first (?!) had great numbers. As a fasted health nut, I had triglycerides through the roof, which then pushed my total cholesterol high enough that it got flagged too. I was wigging out about it until I finally got to talk to my doctor. She told me that the long fast meant my body had released stored body fat to use as fuel, which is why the fat in my blood was higher than normal. It was like, oh, duh! I try to keep bloodwork fasts to only 8-12 hours now. Or, I don't worry about fasting at all. That works too.
Maybe others will have some input. I mainly just wanted to tell you that I can relate!