Blood Panel - Good & Bad

[Zaphod]

Had a full work up the other day. Good news is my liver is just fine. Bad news is my Lipids are much higher then they have ever been, and I have the Testosterone level of a 12 year old girl. The lipid increase I have good reason to believe is caused by the kava. It has never been an issue before, my diet and exercise has not changed substantially over the last 2+ years, and there is some evidence in the literature that kava can effect cholesterol level. Not sure on the T-level, never had it tested before - could the interference in cholesterol effect T-levels?...probably. The rest of the blood work is copied just for an FYI. I didn't bother copying over units as I assume they are pretty standardized through the industry. Highlighted in RED is anything that was outside of the ref. range.
I can dig up my cholesterol levels from ~3 years ago before starting my kava journey for reference - but I remember them being in range.

CBC
WBC 9.1
RBC 4.75
HGB 14.2
HCT 41
MCV 86.3
MCH29.9
MCHC 34.6
PLATELET CT 273
RDW 12.1
Lipids
Total 224
HDL 46
TRI 174
LDL 143
Ratio 4.9
Non-HDL-C 178
Metabolic Panel
Glucose 97
BUN 15
Creatinine 0.84
BUN/CREAT 18
SODIUM 141
POTASSIUM 4.2
CHLORIDE 105
C02 29
CALCIUM 7.3
PROTEIN 7.3
ALBUMIN 4.5
GLOBULIN 2.8
A/G RATIO 1.6
BILI TOT 0.4
ALT 43
AST 28
ALK PHOS 55
VIT B12 738
FERRITIN 270
TSH 4.67
TESTOSTERONE 278.5

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Had a full work up the other day. Good news is my liver is just fine. Bad news is my Lipids are much higher then they have ever been, and I have the Testosterone level of a 12 year old girl. The lipid increase I have good reason to believe is caused by the kava. It has never been an issue before, my diet and exercise has not changed substantially over the last 2+ years, and there is some evidence in the literature that kava can effect cholesterol level. Not sure on the T-level, never had it tested before - could the interference in cholesterol effect T-levels?...probably. The rest of the blood work is copied just for an FYI. I didn't bother copying over units as I assume they are pretty standardized through the industry. Highlighted in RED is anything that was outside of the ref. range.
I can dig up my cholesterol levels from ~3 years ago before starting my kava journey for reference - but I remember them being in range.

CBC
WBC 9.1
RBC 4.75
HGB 14.2
HCT 41
MCV 86.3
MCH29.9
MCHC 34.6
PLATELET CT 273
RDW 12.1
Lipids
Total 224
HDL 46
TRI 174
LDL 143
Ratio 4.9
Non-HDL-C 178
Metabolic Panel
Glucose 97
BUN 15
Creatinine 0.84
BUN/CREAT 18
SODIUM 141
POTASSIUM 4.2
CHLORIDE 105
C02 29
CALCIUM 7.3
PROTEIN 7.3
ALBUMIN 4.5
GLOBULIN 2.8
A/G RATIO 1.6
BILI TOT 0.4
ALT 43
AST 28
ALK PHOS 55
VIT B12 738
FERRITIN 270
TSH 4.67
TESTOSTERONE 278.5

Good to have another test result posted, yet another example of liver enzymes(ALT, AST & ALP) being perfectly in range.
Raised cholesterol appears often in kava drinkers, and has been noted in a few studies. Mine was just slightly out of range, but I don't have any previous tests to compare it too. Do you drink kava nearly everyday?

@Edward Did you ever have your testosterone tested before & after you started kava?

 

[Zaphod]

Good to have another test result posted, yet another example of liver enzymes(ALT, AST & ALP) being perfectly in range.
Raised cholesterol appears often in kava drinkers, and has been noted in a few studies. Mine was just slightly out of range, but I don't have any previous tests to compare it too. Do you drink kava nearly everyday?

@Edward Did you ever have your testosterone tested before & after you started kava?

Yes, I have been a daily drinker for 2 years. All noble, mostly GHK, but occasionally some BKH, Kavafied, Squanch thrown in for variety. Typical dose is 4-6TBS of medium grind/night. Sometimes more, rarely less. I took a few weeks off a little over a year ago to clear up some dermo, but since then (and only medium grind) I have probably taken no more than 2-3 days off because of head colds.

 

[schatz]

Is the testosterone level your free or bioavailable or whole? Just curious.

 

[Zaphod]

Is the testosterone level your free or bioavailable or whole? Just curious.

Whole (NG/DL). They did not break it down any further in the report. I plan to follow up with a specialist where I would guess they will have me take another test and break it down further.

 

[Go Krunk Yourself]

Your trigs arent the best and your LDL is out of optimal range, but you aren't in too bad of shape. My LDL reached 262 to what my doctor attributes to genetic cause as no substance could bring it that high so your numbers are fine. Lots of carbs and sugars will cause the high trigs low carb will evaporate them. You can try adding plant esthers (Cholestoff), Artichoke Extract, Garlic Extract, and I bet that will knock your LDL to range.

Remember just becuase you do Kava doesn't mean it is the final cause of your ailes. It's sometimes so hard to know. If it is Kava that caused it it wasn't super significant anyway (Based on my research down the rabbit hole into cholesterol and coming from someone on a Statin at 24)

 

[Zaphod]

Your trigs arent the best and your LDL is out of optimal range, but you aren't in too bad of shape. My LDL reached 262 to what my doctor attributes to genetic cause as no substance could bring it that high so your numbers are fine. Lots of carbs and sugars will cause the high trigs low carb will evaporate them. You can try adding plant esthers (Cholestoff), Artichoke Extract, Garlic Extract, and I bet that will knock your LDL to range.

Remember just becuase you do Kava doesn't mean it is the final cause of your ailes. It's sometimes so hard to know. If it is Kava that caused it it wasn't super significant anyway (Based on my research down the rabbit hole into cholesterol and coming from someone on a Statin at 24)

Good to know. Thanks for the info. I was toying with the idea of dropping the carbs down, so I will see where this goes. It might not be the kava, but again there is nothing significantly different in my lifestyle (other than being 3 years older) since my last blood test. I will look into some of the extracts plus maybe some fish oil.

 

[Edward]

@Edward Did you ever have your testosterone tested before & after you started kava?

Unfortunately not although it would have been useful now. I have been having various problems still but I'm not convinced yet that they are totally to do with kava. I haven't had kava on holiday so far and so have had over a week off and things are still not 100% perfect. Maybe 98% though. I've managed it twice a day a couple of times and I am 44 so I can't worry too much lol. I'm almost completely convinced that it's more down to lack of exercise due to my job and putting on a bit more weight than normal. For the first year of drinking I didn't really notice those effects but I was exercising more and weighed less. When I get back from holiday I have a different job so I should be able to lose a bit of weight and report back then.

 

[schatz]

Whole (NG/DL). They did not break it down any further in the report. I plan to follow up with a specialist where I would guess they will have me take another test and break it down further.

Are you having issues with sex drive or other issues related to testosterone? My whole testosterone was 575 a month ago, and like you I have been doing kava for acouple years almost daily. My sex drive has dropped significantly in the last six months and not related to the testosterone levels. And not caused by kava I think. My cholesterol and liver panels are all normal, but I did have some blood work done at the mayo in August and my ENA,ANA and Ganglionic neuronal AB,s was high, bummer, but not caused by kava, most likely imuno issues.

 

[Zaphod]

Are you having issues with sex drive or other issues related to testosterone? My whole testosterone was 575 a month ago, and like you I have been doing kava for acouple years almost daily. My sex drive has dropped significantly in the last six months and not related to the testosterone levels. And not caused by kava I think. My cholesterol and liver panels are all normal, but I did have some blood work done at the mayo in August and my ENA,ANA and Ganglionic neuronal AB,s was high, bummer, but not caused by kava, most likely imuno issues.

Some, which I talked about in another thread. Mostly fixed with adding zinc, and vitamin D to my diet. I purposely before this test stopped taking both to see where I was at as a baseline. I will be adding those back intomy diet very shortly, but I may wait until after see a specialist and getting a better breakdown and/or testing FSH and LH levels as well.

 

[schatz]

I think it all depends on the individual if low testosterone depletes ones sex drive. One person could have 200 and be fine on the sex drive and another could have 500 like me and be symptomatic, although I can't complain I can still perform, just don't have the drive I used too. I think there are a lot of things at play here, more than just testosterone levels, but it is still probably important to know what your baseline is as everyone is different and these are just reference numbers that they give us.Good luck

 

[Zaphod]

I think it all depends on the individual if low testosterone depletes ones sex drive. One person could have 200 and be fine on the sex drive and another could have 500 like me and be symptomatic, although I can't complain I can still perform, just don't have the drive I used too. I think there are a lot of things at play here, more than just testosterone levels, but it is still probably important to know what your baseline is as everyone is different and these are just reference numbers that they give us.Good luck

I agree! I wish I had gotten a full blood test when I was younger and kept getting them to see more trends. I guess I should mention that I am in fact not a 12 year old girl, but a mid-40 year old guy with really no other major symptoms of what they list as low T. Drive is still good, function while not at 18 year old levels is fine, workouts still seem to be pretty good. I am also at a pretty good weight and best guess sit around a 15% bodyfat range (always a tough number to get accurate unless you do expensive testing). I am actually a bit more worried about the lipid profile then the T-level. I am also pretty sure it is higher when I regularly suplement with additional Vitamin D and Zinc both of which I stopped taking prior to testing.

So - for any of you young'ins out there reading this get your ass to the Dr. and take advantage for a minor co-pay if you got insurance to start tracking this shit. You will thank me in a few years!

 

[schatz]

I agree! I wish I had gotten a full blood test when I was younger and kept getting them to see more trends. I guess I should mention that I am in fact not a 12 year old girl, but a mid-40 year old guy with really no other major symptoms of what they list as low T. Drive is still good, function while not at 18 year old levels is fine, workouts still seem to be pretty good. I am also at a pretty good weight and best guess sit around a 15% bodyfat range (always a tough number to get accurate unless you do expensive testing). I am actually a bit more worried about the lipid profile then the T-level. I am also pretty sure it is higher when I regularly suplement with additional Vitamin D and Zinc both of which I stopped taking prior to testing.

So - for any of you young'ins out there reading this get your ass to the Dr. and take advantage for a minor co-pay if you got insurance to start tracking this shit. You will thank me in a few years!

Good advice, better yet lets all quit paying insurance companies to get in the way of our docs and pay them directly. Seriously I quit paying for insurance a couple years ago and am happy I did, they wanted 1000 dollars a month and a ten thousand dollar deductible. I Probably have an immune prob or early Parkinson symptoms myself causing my low libido but we will see, still working with my docs and running tests. Sounds like the lipid panel would be more concerning and may want to recheck those in a few months. Hang in there and make sure you formulate an exit strategy while you still can, I am 53 and only 215 and 6 feet, not terribly fat and it would suck if I find out I have early parkinsons. I think I would have to quit kava even because it fouls up the dopamine transport system I think I read here somewhere.

 

[Edward]

Interesting to hear other people having similar issues to me. I didn't have these issues until after a year of drinking kava so I feel like it can't be to do with that but yet if I stop drinking kava it does get somewhat better. I'm more or less convinced now that it's more down to lack of exercise and that more cardio work and just getting fitter will help to alleviate a lot of these problems I've been getting.

For a while I've been working flat out and doing nights away in the truck and that's coming to an end so I should have more time for exercise. I will definitely report anything that happens, good or bad.

 

[schatz]

Interesting to hear other people having similar issues to me. I didn't have these issues until after a year of drinking kava so I feel like it can't be to do with that but yet if I stop drinking kava it does get somewhat better. I'm more or less convinced now that it's more down to lack of exercise and that more cardio work and just getting fitter will help to alleviate a lot of these problems I've been getting.

For a while I've been working flat out and doing nights away in the truck and that's coming to an end so I should have more time for exercise. I will definitely report anything that happens, good or bad.

Good luck Edward, let us know what you find, I am also walking a couple miles a day and weightlifting a little so we will see. A year ago or so I was almost everyday, and now it is probably once a week that I get the urge. I just can't believe it's the kava because of all the other benefits I get.

 

[PepperyPyrone]

Had a full work up the other day. Good news is my liver is just fine. Bad news is my Lipids are much higher then they have ever been, and I have the Testosterone level of a 12 year old girl. The lipid increase I have good reason to believe is caused by the kava. It has never been an issue before, my diet and exercise has not changed substantially over the last 2+ years, and there is some evidence in the literature that kava can effect cholesterol level. Not sure on the T-level, never had it tested before - could the interference in cholesterol effect T-levels?...probably. The rest of the blood work is copied just for an FYI. I didn't bother copying over units as I assume they are pretty standardized through the industry. Highlighted in RED is anything that was outside of the ref. range.
I can dig up my cholesterol levels from ~3 years ago before starting my kava journey for reference - but I remember them being in range.

CBC
WBC 9.1
RBC 4.75
HGB 14.2
HCT 41
MCV 86.3
MCH29.9
MCHC 34.6
PLATELET CT 273
RDW 12.1
Lipids
Total 224
HDL 46
TRI 174
LDL 143
Ratio 4.9
Non-HDL-C 178
Metabolic Panel
Glucose 97
BUN 15
Creatinine 0.84
BUN/CREAT 18
SODIUM 141
POTASSIUM 4.2
CHLORIDE 105
C02 29
CALCIUM 7.3
PROTEIN 7.3
ALBUMIN 4.5
GLOBULIN 2.8
A/G RATIO 1.6
BILI TOT 0.4
ALT 43
AST 28
ALK PHOS 55
VIT B12 738
FERRITIN 270
TSH 4.67
TESTOSTERONE 278.5

Does anyone in your family have high LDL? Parents etc? The frequency in the US for men is 31%. However, high triglyceride usually is followed by higher levels of LDL. If you dont have family history and you lower your trigs with exercise I bet your LDL will come down too. Your low T is only slightly lower than the low end of the range. Lifting weights could bring that up.

 

[Edward]

Good luck Edward, let us know what you find, I am also walking a couple miles a day and weightlifting a little so we will see. A year ago or so I was almost everyday, and now it is probably once a week that I get the urge. I just can't believe it's the kava because of all the other benefits I get.

The thing is most people don't report that as a side effect... makes you think it's something else. I know I haven't been looking after myself of late so time to change that and see what happens. I can't think that drinking alcohol is better than drinking kava but at least in the short term that seems to be the case. Let's keep in touch and compare results after a few weeks/months of regular exercise and see what we can conclude.

 

[schatz]

The thing is most people don't report that as a side effect... makes you think it's something else. I know I haven't been looking after myself of late so time to change that and see what happens. I can't think that drinking alcohol is better than drinking kava but at least in the short term that seems to be the case. Let's keep in touch and compare results after a few weeks/months of regular exercise and see what we can conclude.

Sounds like a great idea Edward, keep me informed and I will do the same. I do fear mine is a secondary symptom from something else and been doing blood work, standard as well as some DNA testing and will let you know what comes of it.

 

[Ben Thomas]

My on testosterone replacement therapy. Mine was worse than yours and I was 29 at the time. Hopefully you can get the doctor to supplement you with testosterone, hcg and an ai. All very important

 

[The Pizzabaker]

What is with natural Testosteron booster , like tonkat ali , catuaba , muria puama.
In the Usa gives a supplement from the company Universal , N1T i swear that makes you so horny like a 15 years boy.
I have take that , while i have addiccted from K@ , that kills your sexuall drive.with this supplement , 1 week ago and my wife are
constantly busy with me.
And i take it in the holyday , everyday drinking alkohol and K@.
Nevertheless i had a very strong sexual drive.because alkohol and K@ downs your Testosteron level.
Try it