mwalsh5757

You may know from another thread that I recently went to the Doctor for a good checkup. I had minor concerns going in over slightly elevated blood pressure in recent years and the possibility of having higher glucose levels than I would have liked (I've been border-line pre-diabetic before). Anyway, I got my numbers back and they all looked good, however I couldn't immediately find the paperwork from past checkups so I could compare, but now I have:


2006 (45 years of age)

Cholesterol total: 168
HDL Good Cholesterol: 55
LDL Bad Cholesterol: 102
Triglycerides: 57
Glucose: 110
Blood Pressure: 120/70


2010 (49 years of age)

Cholesterol total: 167
HDL Good Cholesterol: 53
LDL Bad Cholesterol: 101
Triglycerides: 65
Glucose: 97
Blood Pressure: 120/70


2017 (56 years of age)

Cholesterol total: 168
HDL Good Cholesterol: 63
LDL Bad Cholesterol: 91
Triglycerides: 72
Glucose: 83
Blood Pressure: 135/85


I think my blood pressure and higher triglycerides might be because I'm carrying more weight than I ever have before, but obviously I'm working on that and hopefully those numbers will go down too after I loose my "spare tire" (actually more like spare "dually" tires). I like to think of myself as "fit but fat".

doctor j

Congrats on the good data!

At 68 yrs of age, I good good numbers from my last set of labs late last month. Prior to taking up cycling, I was overweight, smoked, and numbers were nothing to write home about. For whatever reason, my blood pressure is on a slight decline, and my doc decreased my dosage of blood pressure med. I'll take it.

Well done on your numbers!

bruce19

That's excellent. If you want to lower BP try a shot of beet juice each day.

icyclist 

Those are awesome numbers. I assume you don't take medications like a statin or blood pressure medication.

I control my numbers through diet and exercise. My numbers are similar to yours. My triglycerides number, though, last time I was tested, was 29.

mwalsh5757

No medications, no. I feel quite blessed for that actually, because I went in to my medical fully expecting to need a low dose blood pressure medication and maybe something for blood sugar control.

I'm not too worried about the ever higher triglycerides number. Like I mentioned - I'm carrying a lot of extra weight around my mid-section just at the moment.

RockiesDad

Congrats! If I had numbers like that I'd be dancing in the streets.

My triglycerides needs work but everything else is sorta fine. I'm not on meds but willing to deal with it for now. What I eat has a lot of what my readings are. So I think diet might be a key. Time will tell I guess...

peterws

We never get any o' these figures our side o' the great divide. The quack merely conveys an "Acceptable" or "Unacceptable" verdict and leaves it with Reception . . . .but at least I get to read my own BP and HR . .

79pmooney

Funny the timing of this. I am in the process of lowering one "number" that has never been documented but that has had consequences i havve been living with for decades and had resigned myself to. I worked with fiberglass - polyester resin - building sailboats in the early '80s in conditions far below OSHA standards. Developed a reaction to acetone that got me out. From then on I have had weird "allergies" to things that it is not possible to be allergic too, but that the best allergist in Portland told me my body could be setting up toxic reactions to. (Not his specialty.)

I have been told for years that the chemicals in the acetone absorbed through my skin from that work would go to my liver and stay there. The health provider I have been seeing suggested a medication and approach at my physical last May that might flush those chemicals out. I said yes. For the first month and a half I felt nothing, but I have started feeling worse. Last night I realized that this is my body going through changes. I have 12 more days of probably feeling progressively worse. Hopefully the bounce back happens fairly fast and without any withdrawal, and hopefully to a level of health I haven't seen for 40 years.

Much, much more positive "numbers" game: My weight. I want it around 5 pounds over my old racing weight (145) for Cycle Oregon in a month. (I always weighed myself after waking and a dump, my true light weight. Did this every morning so I always knew how hydrated I was. Now, my breakfast almost always comes before the "business: so I haven't had a direct comparison in years. Today I did. 149 pounds! (I may be cheating a little. The chemo I am on may well have suppressed my appetite a little.)

And closer to topic: when the chemo is done, I will get a blood workup. My cholesterol has been high and my previous doc put me on statins. I've been off since the beginning of the year. Now we will see if these numbers change as a result of this cleaning. (I have nothing in my family history or lifestyle that would suggest it should be as high as it was.)

Ben

rydabent

Probably because of my cycling, at 78 my numbers are:

Resting heart rate 58
Blood pressure 122 over 67
Cholesterol 126---------I do take a statin drug.

mwalsh5757

My resting heart rate was only 50 on this go round. It has traditionally been around 60 and was the only thing the Doctor has concerns over - she didn't want to see it get much lower. I tried to explain how I'm "an athlete" and all, but she wasn't impressed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_heart_syndrome

79pmooney

In my racing days, I was also a bi-weekly plod platelet donor. I showed up for a 10am appointment one morning, bicycling the three miles. The nurse was completely disgusted that I registered A BP of 98-48. She falsified it to 100-50 so I could give, knowing I was by far her healthiest donor. On rested mornings I could not take my pulse or BP. If I could, that was a clear sign I wasn't recovered. So I never learned the true resting numbers of my racing days.

Ben