Do E4s experience more swelling when injured?

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kayakmac08
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Do E4s experience more swelling when injured?

Post by kayakmac08 »

Just wondering aloud. I haven't read any papers on this yet. But it makes intuitive sense that, if the bodies of E4s (especially 4/4s) are generally hyper-inflammatory, then any injuries they sustain from sports or whatnot--sprains, strains, muscle pulls, fractures, and the like--will probably result in more swelling, etc. than what "normal" people experience.

My own experiences with sports injuries seem to align with this. Ever since middle school, it's seemed inevitable that every season, I'm dealing with some sort of chronic swelling and/or soreness associated with whatever activity I'm engaged in. And evey time I sprain or tear anything, the swelling tends to be on the extreme side.

Also, once I got rhabdomyolysis from lifting weights (doing nothing particularly intense, either) and had to be hospitalized and on an IV drip for five days before my liver and kidneys returned to normal functioning. That was seven years ago and ever since, I've been puzzled over why that happened. I was doing the same workout as several of my friends. Why did I get rhabdo and they didn't? And so I wonder if the 4/4 might be part of the equation?

This is all speculation and there's really probably no way to know. But I'm curious if anyone else has thoughts on this!
  • 4/4 male, born 1989
  • Status discovery: 2020
  • Regimen: 14+ hr. fast/day; 200-300 min of mod-vig exercise/week; Med-esque diet; Supplementing with Trig DHA, B vits, D3
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TheresaB
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Re: Do E4s experience more swelling when injured?

Post by TheresaB »

When I got my first set of biomarkers, my inflammatory markers were on top on my priority list to address. They were largely driven by diet, and addressed by diet and certain supplements.

As far as swelling when injured, I don't feel I've experienced any more than a reasonable amount. I've not read anything about 4s experiencing greater swelling and I'm not sure how, given APOE4's primary role in lipid metabolism, that could contribute to greater swelling. But if someone can connect the dots, I'd be willing to learn.
-Theresa
ApoE 4/4
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kayakmac08
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Re: Do E4s experience more swelling when injured?

Post by kayakmac08 »

TheresaB wrote:When I got my first set of biomarkers, my inflammatory markers were on top on my priority list to address. They were largely driven by diet, and addressed by diet and certain supplements.

As far as swelling when injured, I don't feel I've experienced any more than a reasonable amount. I've not read anything about 4s experiencing greater swelling and I'm not sure how, given APOE4's primary role in lipid metabolism, that could contribute to greater swelling. But if someone can connect the dots, I'd be willing to learn.
Yeah, I'm in the process of figuring out how to get my inflammatory markers measured, too. It's my greatest concern at this point, not only because I'm a 4/4 but because I already have mild arthritis, disk degeneration and chronic back pain, due at least in part--I think--to old injuries. In pursuing tests for inflammatory markers, my general physician was not helpful in the least, so onward I trek. Seeing a neurologist in a month, but I doubt they'll be ordering these tests, either. I have been reluctant to get signed up with a Bredesen Protocol practitioner, due the high price tag and my sense that I shouldn't need a pay a Doc, but just a lab, please lol. Gah, it's just getting those darn numbers without having to pay an arm and leg for it! I've considered something like Labcorp but it seems like most of the inflammatory tests only cover one or two markers, and I don't want to pay for 3-5 tests when each one costs $100. But I digress.

As to any possible APOE4 - swelling link, I guess I just suspect one because of how Bredesen and others of his ilk say that the immune systems of E4s are hyper-aggressive in regards to inflammation. Since swelling is essentially the byproduct of an immune response to tissue injury (as the body sends white blood cells and various other chemicals to the affected site), I would sort of expect that APOE is involved somehow, especially considering how it supposedly binds to the promoter regions of some 1,700 genes.

On a related note, I've also wondered whether APOE4s, with their supposedly "militant" immune systems, are more likely to fall into the category of people who self-describe as "less likely to get sick, but when I do, I get SICK". I've read in various places that E4s are "more susceptible to infectious disease" but am not sure if that means they get sick more easily or that, once sick, the outcomes are generally worse. Or both? I think disease course/severity is more in view, rather than propensity to become infected in the first place, but haven't read deeply on any of this. Just curious, sort of spitballing and speculating. Maybe there's a study out there that has looked at whether there's a correlation between E4 status and rate of infection (rather than severity of infection, which definitely has been studied).

I think part of me just wants to believe that E4 status confers some sort of benefit regarding susceptibility to disease, rather than being merely and entirely a "fragility gene" (at least now, as opposed to 100,000 years ago), as it so often seems to be characterized.
  • 4/4 male, born 1989
  • Status discovery: 2020
  • Regimen: 14+ hr. fast/day; 200-300 min of mod-vig exercise/week; Med-esque diet; Supplementing with Trig DHA, B vits, D3
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