Seems like something is not right with my latest blood test results. Wrote the following, trying to think through what might be the cause. Anyone else have thoughts on this?
The issue.
WBC has seen a significant decline over the last two months. Abolute neutrophils are down by a third.
Also, HGB set a new low for the period I have been testing.
Somehow, there was a sharp improvement in creatinine clearance in the latest test. Normally that would be seem positive, but within the conext of some of the other changes, not so sure about that.
Sodium, calcium, globulin, and bilirubin all came in at the lowest levels I’ve seen since I started testing. (But ALP/AST/ALT don’t look much different than usual.)
I did make a point of drinking a quart of fluid before this last test. Usually I just show up underhydrated for a fasting test. But the prior times I was not fasting, I’m sure I consumed fluid with the meal, and I didn’t see any results like this last one.
OK, so what changed? Surely you keep track of these things, Len?
I stopped rapamycin for November and December, due to a leg injury. Restarted the first week of January., at 5mg/week. For most of 2023, I had been dosing at 10mg/week. So, although it correlates, it’s hard to believe rapa is the culprit here.
I started chromium picolinate in md-January. (In addition to the Pendulum product I started around Christmas.) I was hoping to see some notable reduction in a1c. And it seemed to be happening, with my a1c at 5.1 at the beginning of Feb. But it’s back to 5.4 as of yesterday. Shite!
I received ezetimibe and empagliflozin from India around Feb 1, so it couldn’t have impacted the blood test from Feb 2. Something totally wiped out my cardio endurance on a hike on 2/12, so I stopped both. I restarted ezetimibe maybe ten days ago, and it looks to have significantly reduced ldl/apob, even in that short time. (I have been taking rosuvastatin since October.) I didn’t restart empa, so only in my system for a few days.
Tadalafil I have had on hand since mid-January, but I think I didn’t start taking regularly until February.
Minoxidil and Finasteride - Minoxidil, I think I have been taking since before the turn of the year. I left the finasteride alone until a week or two ago, taking just 1/4 of a 1mg tab.
Arcabose I started using regularly from the end of January.
I took geranylgeraniol for about a week in February, but had to stop, as it seemed to be causing a very peculiar problem with early-morning sleep.
Update - I also restarted lithium recently, but had used it for a couple months in 2023, and saw no change in markers, so doubt it’s that.
OK, so what to do? I’m stopping rapa, chromium picolinate, ezetimibe, finasteride, and arcabose. Will test again in a couple weeks, and see what happens.
My guess is it’s chromium and/or arcabose.
Screen shot of my LabCorp blood test results. The farthest right dated column is the oldest result, taken one month after I started rapa. A red asterisk indicates a value of interest in the last test. Red number are values outside the standard range.
