Welcome to Ellis Toussier-Ades Bigio-Antebi's
Recommended Blood Tests for Anti Aging Purposes
The Cardinal Rule of Anti-Aging is: "Do not die." The best way to not die, is don't get sick.
This is why the following blood tests are so useful to you and to your doctor. They can detect problems many years before they affect your health permanently, and once you know there is an unbalanced result, you can balance all of these results with a change of diet, habits, and hormones.
Hb-A1c (measures glycosilated hemoglobin. This test will show how fast you have been aging in the past 90 days, relative to the minimum you can age. If you have been aging faster than you can, you can learn to slow it down.)
IGF-1 (measures "insuling growth factor 1." This test gives you an idea of the level of growth hormone produced naturally, or purposely injected, into your body. For anti-aging purposes it should be much higher than "normal" but far less than "too high". IGF-1, which will give you a baseline to compare with, in the future. This is really not an important test, and if you are older than 25, we know before you take it that you will be "low"... but take it.
See Dr. Cranton's Interpretation of IGF-1:
http://www.rajeun.net/cranton.html Dr. Elmer Cranton: "Interpretation of IGF-1 Blood Tests"
PSA (for men) (Prostate Specific Antigen, gives you an idea of how healthy is your prostate. PSA can save your life. It is the single most important and useful blood test to prevent prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer in men. Prostate cancer is detectable through a PSA several years before it is incurable. It is an important exam to take even if you are young and healthy, so that you can later compare to find out the "PSA doubling rate" or number of years it takes for the PSA to double. In women, the equivalent is CA-125)
Total Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol, and Triglicerides
Men: Total Testosterone, Free Testosterone, Estradiol (for women: progesterone, estrogen, vary greatly during their monthly cycle...) (In men, estradiol rises with age. This is not good because it is responsible for many side effects, such as loss of libido, prostate problems, falling hair, etc. A high level of testosterone can also increase estradiol. If estradiol comes out high on a blood test, it can be lowered easily, which means that other estrogens are probably also coming down.)
Women: estrogen and progesterone. These vary greatly during a monthly cycle, so several tests will be required.
Insulin (this is not to be confused with "glucose") This will show if you are resistant to insulin, which is a big step forward on the Road to Diabetes...
"According to Ellis," the best way to reverse insulin resistance is with a very low carb diet for several months, and a lot of exercise.
Hemoglobin and Hematocrit "According to Ellis" this is one of the most important blood tests because it detects anemia, or low red blood cell count. If Red blood cells are low, it affects all your health. You should avoid anemia like the plague. Even low levels not yet called anemia are bad,
because it causes the loss of neurons... the loss of neurons is extremely serious... but it doesn't hurt... you don't even notice it... nobody complains, so doctors accept it as "normal aging"... until you are senile... Then doctors don't worry about it because it is not their problem, and it is irreversible... and you don't worry about it because you don't even KNOW it!
Complete Blood Count and Blood Chemistry (this includes hemoglobin and hematocrit) This might show anomalies in the blood, such as leukemia,
inflammation, infections, kidney malfunctions, etc. It will also show
if you are anemic, and if you are at risk for many diseases which often
have anemia as an underlying condition, such as heart disease, cancer, Parkinson's, senile dementia, etc.
If you are overweight, check TSH, to see if you have a problem with hypo-thyroid, which can be corrected if we know it. I recommend the
following for a basic thyroid profile... This will establish your
baseline data to which you can compare in the future.
* Thyroid (TSH)
* Free T4 (FT4)
* Free T3 (FT3)
* Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody (TPO)
* Thyroid Antibody (Anti-thyroid AB)
Check Hb-A1c, glycosilated hemoglobin, which will tell us your average glucose levels for the past two or three months, in other words, it tells us how well or badly you have been eating, and it might help to convince you to fix your bad eating habits, if they are bad and which you might have
thought were good...
Check Total Cholesterol, HDL, and LDL cholesterol, and triglicerides, which together with other indicators such as blood pressure, etc. will help to assess your risk of a heart attack...
There are other tests, such as DHEA, cortisol, etc. that are interesting, but I think these above are the most important. - Ellis
Question asked on Rejuvenation: What other hormones or non-hormones do you insist on testing for during IGF-1 testing?
[P.S.A., IGF-1, total testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol,
hematocrit, hemoglobin, Hb-A1c, Insulin, total cholesterol,
HDL and LDL cholesterol, triglicerides.
Notice how I remember them:
The Big Four "according to Ellis" are HGH, Testosterone, EPO, and
Insulin... The Little Three are DHEA, Melatonin, and pregnenolone...
I do not have thyroid problem so I don't test for thyroid, usually,
anymore, but I recommend TSH and T3 and T4 if you are going to test
for thyroid. I don't test for DHEA, melatonin, or pregnenolone.
1. The single most important test is: P.S.A.
2. growth hormone: IGF-1
3. Testosterone: Total Testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol
4. EPO: hematocrit and hemoglobin
5. Insulin: Hb-A1c, Insulin, total cholesterol/HDL and LDL
cholesterol, triglicerides
On top of these, if you want you can take a "Complete Blood Count"
which costs about the same as "hematocrit and hemoglobin" and
includes hematocrit and hemoglobin, so I ask for this. And Blood
Chemistry, which has some interesting components, and it is a cheap
test so I take it too.
I have taken other tests, such as cortisol, HIV+ (came out negative),
and others I have forgotten, but I don't usually take them every
time I take a blood test. Of course I test for glucose at home,
but I have tested in the laboratory just to see if it more or less
corresponds... (it was about 10 points lower than I expected.)
- Ellis]
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