Blood Tests

[Lordmuppet]

Just got my blood work back from the doctor and had two questions for folks if you don't mind.

Results are quite interesting to me because I just realized they also compare the results to a blood test I had done 10 years previously before I was veggie and when I would eat a lot of crap, drink constantly and partake of the demon weed daily. I was also about 19. Ah to have the young body again

anyway questions!

1) The only thing that was out of their 'healthy range' was my overall white cell count (also, more specifically, my Neutrophil and Lymphocyte counts) which was a bit low on all three tests of it. Ten years ago it had been within the range. Go figure. I get sick way too much (always have) so this wasn't a huge surprise.

So question is how to increase one's white blood cell count? I had a look here, on t-nation and precision nutrition but didn't find any specific posts/articles.

2) This test was only for a few things. Has anyone in the UK had any success getting full blood tests done on the NHS simply for the purposes of training? If so how did you persuade them?

thanks!

edited to add: there are a bunch of articles on LiveStrong but was never sure how reputable that site was ...

[Fallen_Horse]

LiveStrong is just as good as T-Nation, but neither of them are peer-reviewed journals

I convinced my doctor (here in the USA) to do a blood writeup because I told her I had went vegan a few months back and I was constantly tired and losing my hair. This was true, but either way she did a full work-up!

[vegimator]

You can try taking taurine. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19490912

In addition to helping your white blood cells, it helps neutralize your body's production of things called "advanced glycation end-products" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_g ... nd-product

When I order my custom protein mix from trueprotein, I add taurine. If you want to just take it as a separate supplement, the average omni gets about 150-400 mg a day in food for comparison and it's likely safe to consume considerably more since it's just an amino acid.

[Linnéa76]

Do you sleep enough Lordmuppet? Lack of sleep can lower your white blood cell count.

[beforewisdom]

Just got my blood work back from the doctor and had two questions for folks if you don't mind.

Results are quite interesting to me because I just realized they also compare the results to a blood test I had done 10 years previously before I was veggie and when I would eat a lot of crap, drink constantly and partake of the demon weed daily.

That is a most interesting paragraph. I'm sure many people on a vegan diet and their doctors, looking for fast answers, blame vegan diets for any issues, when it could also be the case that a person had those issues before being vegan.

So question is how to increase one's white blood cell count?

I don't know. I'm guessing s/he didn't know either, but did you try asking your doctor? If there is a reliable way ( read: non-alternative medicine/nutrition folklore ) of doing it, your MD would have been able to tell you without sending you to the internet. I'm curious. Did you ask? What did your doctor tell you?

[thestoatyone]

I have no scientific backing to it at all, but I strongly believe zinc/mag tabs and a solid 8 hours a night are the best thing for a strong immune system. I seem to remember you saying that you have trouble sleeping; for me that'd be suspect number one for the crime of low lymphocyte count.

[Lordmuppet]

So here are the documents themselves for anyone interested. Note that I am now 28 so i was 18/19 when the first set where taken in 2002. Also I am a very small person at 5 5' and 150lb/70kg.

responses to people are below (going to write just now. took some coordination to scan these)



and

[vegimator]

The images say we need special permission to view them.

[Lordmuppet]

The images say we need special permission to view them.

dammit worked on preview but that must be because i have permission.

Think I know how to fix it. One minute.

[kallefs]

Works now...big pictures

[Lordmuppet]

Do you sleep enough Lordmuppet? Lack of sleep can lower your white blood cell count.

I've been averaging about 7 hours so no. It is at the top of my list of things to sort. Actually I usually sleep fine just bad with getting to bed on time.

[Lordmuppet]

Just got my blood work back from the doctor and had two questions for folks if you don't mind.

Results are quite interesting to me because I just realized they also compare the results to a blood test I had done 10 years previously before I was veggie and when I would eat a lot of crap, drink constantly and partake of the demon weed daily.

That is a most interesting paragraph. I'm sure many people on a vegan diet and their doctors, looking for fast answers, blame vegan diets for any issues, when it could also be the case that a person had those issues before being vegan.

So question is how to increase one's white blood cell count?

I don't know. I'm guessing s/he didn't know either, but did you try asking your doctor? If there is a reliable way ( read: non-alternative medicine/nutrition folklore ) of doing it, your MD would have been able to tell you without sending you to the internet. I'm curious. Did you ask? What did your doctor tell you?

I stupidly didn't ask because a) I'm also paranoid about taking up too much of their time and b) she was saying how she wasn't at all worried about the white blood cell count as it could just be a temporary result of some virus. It was only when i got home and looked at it myself and reflected on the fact that (as an aspiring athlete like everyone else on here) I think I set the bar a bit higher for health than the Doctor does. She talked about it as a 'clean bill of health [apart from the white blood cells] but I suspect that a clean bill of health from a GPs perspective is solely based on whether it looks like i have something that might kill me. Maybe I'm being uncharitable though.

Anyway going to go back to see her and ask her a bunch of the questions I've asked here.

Your links in your signature are very helpful by the way

[Lordmuppet]

I have no scientific backing to it at all, but I strongly believe zinc/mag tabs and a solid 8 hours a night are the best thing for a strong immune system. I seem to remember you saying that you have trouble sleeping; for me that'd be suspect number one for the crime of low lymphocyte count.

thanks I'll also ask the doc about this. Will probably try to get a b12 test too. I've supplemented religiously for it but my father has a b12 deficiency which he recently thought to mention was hereditary ... doh!

[Lordmuppet]

Works now...big pictures

sorry i'm bad with images