HEARThrive - Module 1 - Hidden Secrets in Your Blood

A wise word of advice from Sherlock Holmes about becoming your own detective of health.

Do you care about your heart? The time to begin doing something is NOW!

Ha, ha! Here's how a comedian looks at blood and aging.

A fun look at a guy who takes blood testing to extreme limits. In HEARThrive you will learn what the best tests are for you.

I encourage you to push hard with your doctor when requesting blood tests that could help you discover your risk for heart disease. Unfortunately, you may run into resistance and worse yet, ignorance, from doctors that are not keeping up with the latest tests.

You may want to dig up any blood tests you have on cholesterol and follow along as we track the differences observed between Malcolm and Myron in their SpectraCell lipid panel reports. Besides total cholesterol and LDL, you will learn that other reported values such as triglycerides and HDL are more significant. Discover why the triglyceride/HDL ratio is very useful to know and how to calculate your own ratio as shown in this video to see whether it's optimal.

In May 2007, Myron Achtman had no symptoms of heart disease and passed his exercise treadmill test easily. One year later, on May 7, 2008 he underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery. Listen in as Myron retraces his progression of heart disease and describes sensations he felt over time. Learn to be "tuned in" to your body and heed the warning signs of heart disease.

Some great ideas to be aware of before you go to get blood tests done.

Here is a quick overview of 10 key blood tests to get to help evaluate your heart disease risk factors.

Fasting glucose or fasting blood sugar is a readily available routine blood test. It's the first of 5 tests that you can use to help determine your heart disease risk from a metabolic point of view.

Hemoglobin A1c, abbreviated as HbA1c, is the 2nd of 5 key metabolic tests that will help you assess your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

The Fasting Insulin test is the 3rd way to evaluate your metabolic risk for heart disease. It could reveal problems even sooner than fasting glucose and HbA1c.

The 4th important blood test is C-Peptide. This test helps evaluate how much insulin your pancreas is producing, which is another way of evaluating your health from a metabolic perspective.

Get your lipid panel tested and then look at two key numbers, triglycerides and HDL. When you understand the significance of these two values you will learn how to gauge your metabolic health and heart disease risk.

This is the first of 5 key blood tests that help you detect whether inflammation is playing a role in your risk of heart disease.

This is the 2nd of 5 key blood tests associated with inflammation and increased cardiovascular risk.

Fibrinogen is the 3rd of 5 key inflammatory blood tests. This marker, if elevated, could indicate you are at increased risk for heart disease (and stroke) due to a higher potential for blood clotting.

Lp(a) has the potential to increase clotting, which in turn could increase your risk for a heart attack or stroke. Doctors sometimes are not familiar with Lp(a) and therefore won't test it. I encourage you to firmly request this test next time you get blood work done.

Ferritin relates to how much iron is stored in your body. High levels may be associated with increased heart disease risk, although there does not seem to be a very consistent reference range as to what is "normal." Very high ferritin levels (as well as very low values) warrant further investigation.

Here's an example of a person's blood test requisition. It is very thorough and covers most if not all of the tests illustrated in Lectures 14 to 23. In the U.S. you can use specific CPT codes so that you are sure to get the exact tests you require. Some doctors won't support your wish to get certain tests. You may have to educate your doctor by explaining why you want these tests. The HEARThrive videos above will help you gain an understanding and appreciation of the merits of these tests so that you can convince your doctor to approve them on your behalf.

Here's a brief recap of 10 key blood tests that you should get to help evaluate your risk of heart disease. Metabolic health plays a big role and the first 5 tests address that. Inflammation is the other major cardiovascular risk you must assess, which the next 5 key blood tests cover.

Diet is a controversial topic but there are some important and very relevant factors to learn in the next module that illustrate how diet impacts heart disease.

By the time you finish this module of HEARThrive you will have gained a new level in understanding what your blood tests mean in terms of heart disease risk. With this knowledge you can transform your health for the better and use this information to have meaningful conversations with your doctor that will help you take more control of your health.

Here are a few short paragraphs to read every day, 3 times per day. Doing this without fail will dramatically increase the chance that you will do something with what you have learned in HEARThrive.