Recommended Blood Tests

A primer for newbies and old pros alike.
Post Reply
User avatar
waltezell
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:49 pm
Location: Greenville, SC

Recommended Blood Tests

Post by waltezell »

I have an appointment with my new general practitioner in 10 days and want to present him with a list of blood work I am requesting to detect which of the 36 holes in the roof I need to patch. The Bredesen book goes into daunting detail but I have not been able to find a simple, unadorned list of blood tests I can present to my physician. I am not a fan of repeating questions that have already been asked, so I did a search, and the best I came up with is that the Primer has such a list. But gosh, I scoured the Primer and could not find that list.
User avatar
Tincup
Mod
Mod
Posts: 3558
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Front Range, CO

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by Tincup »

waltezell wrote:I have an appointment with my new general practitioner in 10 days and want to present him with a list of blood work I am requesting to detect which of the 36 holes in the roof I need to patch. The Bredesen book goes into daunting detail but I have not been able to find a simple, unadorned list of blood tests I can present to my physician. I am not a fan of repeating questions that have already been asked, so I did a search, and the best I came up with is that the Primer has such a list. But gosh, I scoured the Primer and could not find that list.
Welcome walttezell. Perhaps this list in the Wiki is what you are looking for.
Tincup
E3,E4
NF52
Support Team
Support Team
Posts: 2772
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:41 am
Location: Eastern U.S.

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by NF52 »

waltezell wrote:I have an appointment with my new general practitioner in 10 days and want to present him with a list of blood work I am requesting to detect which of the 36 holes in the roof I need to patch. The Bredesen book goes into daunting detail but I have not been able to find a simple, unadorned list of blood tests I can present to my physician. I am not a fan of repeating questions that have already been asked, so I did a search, and the best I came up with is that the Primer has such a list. But gosh, I scoured the Primer and could not find that list.
Welcome, waltezell!

Your doctor will appreciate you coming in with a clearly defined purpose and specific tests--at least I hope so! Here's another list, which is listed as "Biomarkers" in the Primer, just after Strategy 12, but which really has a good list of tests you may want to consider under paragraphs 3 and 4: Primer:Biomarkers
Some of these tests may be easy to get approval for through your insurance; others, such as LDL-P (LDL particle number) might not be as easy to be approved. What I have done in those cases is use one of these options: Direct to Consumer Lab Testing Options. For what it's worth, my family members had lab work recently in both a hospital setting and a separate lab, and in both cases the procedures to keep people safe from COVID-19 were reassuring.

If you are getting these blood tests because you know that you have one or two copies of ApoE 4, you may want to consider holding off on sharing that with your new GP until you feel comfortable asking that the information NOT go into your electronic medical record. I have had several great conversations with my primary care doctor about my ApoE 4/4 status, and he agreed to my request to keep that information out of my record. My other doctors simply know that I have a family history of dementia of undetermined type. While medical insurance companies cannot discriminate on the basis of genetic information under the GINA law, the same is not true for long-term care providers. http://ginahelp.org/

Best of luck in forging a great partnership with your new doctor!
4/4 and still an optimist!
User avatar
waltezell
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:49 pm
Location: Greenville, SC

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by waltezell »

I looked at the links and one list seems too short, and another (with 103 biomarkers!) seems too long.
I'm sure someone with the medical training that I do not have has looked at The End of Alzheimer's and created a simple, straightforward list of blood tests that a 3/4 or 4/4 can take to their doctor. The Goldilocks list would be all the tests Dr. Bredesen says I should get in order to benchmark where I am now. With those results I can red-flag the markers that are out of range for me so I know what to specifically work on. If it is not here, I can summon all my humanities-major skills to cobble something together and if it makes sense to my doctor I will share it here. Or we can wait for Dr. Bredesen's new book due out on August 18 and hope he includes that Goldilocks list.
User avatar
Tincup
Mod
Mod
Posts: 3558
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Front Range, CO

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by Tincup »

Maybe this list?
Tincup
E3,E4
summer0088
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:16 pm

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by summer0088 »

waltezell wrote:I have an appointment with my new general practitioner in 10 days and want to present him with a list of blood work I am requesting to detect which of the 36 holes in the roof I need to patch. The Bredesen book goes into daunting detail but I have not been able to find a simple, unadorned list of blood tests I can present to my physician. I am not a fan of repeating questions that have already been asked, so I did a search, and the best I came up with is that the Primer has such a list. But gosh, I scoured the Primer and could not find that list.
Hi Waltezell!
Welcome to the ApoE4 forum!

My name is Joanie and I'm an intern who helps welcome new members to the site and funnily enough I have yet to seen this exact question so far (though that's probably just due to my limited experience :-) ) but I think it's a fantastic one and my guess is there will be multiple members who can assist with your question. I will be following along with response as I'm interested myself!

If you haven't already explored the forum, here are some areas that you may find helpful. The "How-to" guide in the wiki link is great and helps to get the most out of the Apoe4 website. You may also want to view the Primer, written by one of our physician members and is a great introduction. Also, feel free to introduce yourself to the community in the Our Stories section.

So happy to have you here, Waltezell!
User avatar
DebbieG
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:19 am

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by DebbieG »

Tincup wrote:
waltezell wrote:I have an appointment with my new general practitioner in 10 days and want to present him with a list of blood work I am requesting to detect which of the 36 holes in the roof I need to patch. The Bredesen book goes into daunting detail but I have not been able to find a simple, unadorned list of blood tests I can present to my physician. I am not a fan of repeating questions that have already been asked, so I did a search, and the best I came up with is that the Primer has such a list. But gosh, I scoured the Primer and could not find that list.
Welcome walttezell. Perhaps this list in the Wiki is what you are looking for.
Thanks for that link, Tincup. This list is was last updated in January 2018. Is it the Bredesen 36 hole list? If so, has his list, number of holes, etc changed since then?
User avatar
Tincup
Mod
Mod
Posts: 3558
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Front Range, CO

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by Tincup »

DebbieG wrote: Thanks for that link, Tincup. This list is was last updated in January 2018. Is it the Bredesen 36 hole list? If so, has his list, number of holes, etc changed since then?
I'm not a Bredesen expert, so can't answer this.

I do know the 36 number is just an example, I believe the number is materially larger.

I also think a new Bredesen book is coming out in August. My understanding is it will be more of a "how to " book. I've not seen it. Found it, here is the preorder link.
Tincup
E3,E4
User avatar
waltezell
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:49 pm
Location: Greenville, SC

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by waltezell »

The 36 holes in the roof is Bredesen’s number. That is his inventory of possible insults to the brain that can contribute to Alzheimer’s. He has said the typical patient has 12 to 20 of these issues needing to be addressed.
He said in an interview he believes 36 is almost all of the issues that are to be discovered, though there might be a few more. In a very recent interview he said there are a few more that have turned up.
His new book is coming out August 18.
User avatar
floramaria
Support Team
Support Team
Posts: 1423
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 11:22 am
Location: Northern New Mexico

Re: Recommended Blood Tests

Post by floramaria »

DebbieG wrote:
Tincup wrote:
waltezell wrote:I have an appointment with my new general practitioner in 10 days and want to present him with a list of blood work I am requesting to detect which of the 36 holes in the roof I need to patch. The Bredesen book goes into daunting detail but I have not been able to find a simple, unadorned list of blood tests I can present to my physician. I am not a fan of repeating questions that have already been asked, so I did a search, and the best I came up with is that the Primer has such a list. But gosh, I scoured the Primer and could not find that list.
Welcome walttezell. Perhaps this list in the Wiki is what you are looking for.
Thanks for that link, Tincup. This list is was last updated in January 2018. Is it the Bredesen 36 hole list? If so, has his list, number of holes, etc changed since then?
Hi DebbieG, The list that Tincup posted has biomarkers for vascular health, toxicity, insulin resistance, inflammation, and hormone levels for trophic support, all of which are important. It also covers other critical markers that Dr Bredesen emphasizes, like the Cu to Zn ratio. It would be a good place to start. And for someone doing prevention , it might be sufficient. To look at more factors, the Cognoscopy that Dr Bredesen outlines in his book would be the best guide, especially in someone who already has some degree of cognitive impairment. From what I understand, the full Cognoscopy, not the shorter list, would be the "36 hole list".
By starting with the list Tincup posted, one could identify area that needs to be addressed and then use that as a guide to further testing and/or to lifestyle changes to address those areas.
Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach
IFM/ Bredesen Training in Reversing Cognitive Decline (March 2017)
ReCODE 2.0 Health Coach with Apollo Health
Post Reply