For years, I thought “I’m good”: my mother is 99, grandmother lived to 103. (mother has AD but her behaviors were largely responsible . . .) I paid little attention to my father and his side of the family, thinking, crazily, I don’t have much in common with them, I’ m not like them. (Father died at 69 of stroke and his sister died young of heart attack). Well, WRONG! I did the genetics simply to find out if I am APOE4. I’m not. But, I’m my father’s daughter after all.
I discovered risks for cardiovascular disease, stroke, colon cancer. I should not have been so surprised me but, given my denial of paternal history, it did come as a shock. But once I got my head around it, I showed the reports to my doctor, got referred to a cardiologist, got imaging, testing and meds that I would not have gotten simply on the basis of my blood work. And, encouraged my son to look at his, and he also learned things and started paying attention . . .
Wished I had done it earlier: might have prevented even the mild level of calcification that I have, and did not expect, given my apparent health and behavior.
Have you looked at your genetics? What have you learned?
Since we now know that genetics control over 50% of your longevity and health, shouldn’t we all know where we stand?
Given your excellent family genetics, coupled with modern medical advancements and the fact that you’re starting interventions so early—and most importantly, because you’re a woman—I think you have a real shot at breaking 122 and becoming the longest-lived person in history. My grandmother lived to be nearly a hundred, but unfortunately, I’m a man
I’m so glad you tested so you now know to be proactive about your heart health.
If it makes you feel a little less regretful, just know I’ve been seeing ‘top’ cardiologists (UCSF etc) for 20 years, and even with my very well established risk, they were all fine with my lipids being significantly higher than they are now. Not one doctor has advised me to be as aggressive as I am. Many people here are equally aggressive because they know better.
I have always been aware of the diseases I was most likely susceptible to based on my parents and grandparents.
We don’t actually have AD in my family, but we are chock full of other neurodegenerative diseases. I’ve tested to confirm I have one copy of apoe4. The reason I found this valuable is now that it’s been confirmed, it gets me to take actions I most likely would not have considered otherwise, for example, I’m going to start a Maraviroc experiment, and if all goes well, I’ll stay on that to hopefully help prevent decline. I did the same thing with starting glp1s, ldn, etc… it encourages me to be very proactive and taking extra risk vs just living a healthy lifestyle.
Last year I took the Virbrant Cardiax test so I could get insightful actionable information. It turns out it was nothing more than a colossal waste of money. It said… wait for it… I’m susceptible to getting heart disease and to eat a good diet…
I’ve been curious about testing for other things, but if I’m already proactive about my health, I’m not sure what I’d do with the information?
