“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
(George Burns)
I love being a man.
I love opening jars for my daughters. I love carrying my wife’s suitcase, and loading up the car. I love getting things that are out of their reach, and removing snakes and mice that the cats bring into our home. I love when my wife or daughters’ call on me to do “manly” things. I want to keep on being manly until the end of my time on this planet.
Last year I learned that my Man Card is at risk of being revoked. Well, at least there have been two challenges to it. Either one has the potential to stop me in my manly tracks, and keep me from continuing in my manly ways.
The first challenge came when I visited Happy Living Expert James FitzGerald at his OPEX headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. After a thorough physical assessment James informed me that my left ass was not working and, in fact, my entire physical body was badly out of balance. He advised that if we didn’t take steps to correct this, I wouldn’t be hiking mountain trails when I’m in my nineties… nor would I be carrying my wife’s luggage either. A manliness limited solely to jar opening and mouse/snake removal was not an appealing prospect.
By the way, if you’ve missed the background on the health challenges I’m currently working to correct, these two posts will catch you up:
The Body Whisperer, posted on September 2, 2015
My Progress with The Body Whisperer, posted on February 3, 2016
The second challenge came when I visited Dr. Jeoff Drobot of The American Center for Biological Medicine last December. After a battery of tests, I learned that my health has been damaged by years of chronic stress. The doc said my metabolic system was out of whack. Left unaddressed, this would ultimately lead to sickness and disease… and would mean that again, I wouldn’t be carrying my wife’s luggage or doing many of the other manly things I love.
In March, I wrote about all the various tests I had taken, reported on my diagnosis, and outlined the course of action I was given to relax my nervous system and restore my anabolic hormones to optimal levels. Here’s the link in case you missed it: Using Technology to Prevent Illness Rather Than Cure It.
Last month I had my second round of blood tests to measure how I was progressing. I share here all results that were out of the normal range either time (highlighted in red).
To summarize, everything is looking good except the beautiful hormone that helps me keep a firm grasp on my Man Card. My doc has set my optimal target for Testosterone at 700 and for Testosterone, Free (Direct) at 17. In order to get me there, he added two supplements to my prescription:I’m making progress but still have work to do. In November, I had five measurements out of range versus only two six months later.
Restoring my testosterone to optimal levels will improve my energy, mood, bone density, body fat distribution, muscle strength, muscle mass, and sex drive. All of that will help me keep my Man Card certified, help maintain enough strength to carry my wife’s suitcase, and give me plenty of drive once we arrive wherever the suitcase is going.
Stayed tuned for updates on both my health challenges. And, I’d like to leave you with this invitation – think seriously about getting your own comprehensive wellness check. It will give you a great understanding of where you are with your health right now – and hopefully before things that are off balance go too far and become much, much harder to fix. In the future, I believe preventative healthcare will be the norm, so take control of your personal future now by investing some time and energy in all the brilliant resources and insights diagnostic medicine has to offer you. Let’s keep hold of that Man Card (or Lady Card!) forever!
[1] http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/guide/understanding-numbers
[2] http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/ldl-cholesterol-the-bad-cholesterol
[3] http://www.medfriendly.com/mean-corpuscular-volume.html
[4] https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=dhea
[5] https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=testosterone_total
[6] https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=testosterone_free
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