Blood Test Outcome Acronyms

I offer some personal thoughts in several aspects of our body health as a lay person.  Please refer to a trusted medically qualified person if you have any questions.

BLOOD TEST OUTCOMES

I reckon best to fast for at least eight hours before going to pathology to get a blood sample from us for a full test or specific markers.  Some opine that not all blood test outcomes are affected by not fasting before.

Chloresterol

HDL - High Density Chloresterol or the Good Guy.

LDL -  Low Density Chloresterol or the Bad Guy.

Chloresterol to HDL Ratio - Upper ceiling of reading desired is 4.5. ( with ideal ratio of 3.5 to One)

Non HDLC is a measure of Lipids in our body, with 4.0 suggesting an upper ceiling.

Statins are widely prescribed to manage cholesterol levels, but non statin tablets are also available.   Side effects of statin intake include possible impact on liver function, pain on joints and muscles.

Glucose level in Blood

Levels oftwlen range from 70 to 100 mg/dL and levels above 126 mg/dL can suggest diabetes.

Blood Pressure Management

The target range is between a systolic or higher ceiling read of 120 and a dystolic or lower floor measure of 80.

As one gets older, should we still stick to this range, or allow higher systolic readings?

Beta Blockers are usually prescribed in daily tablets to be taken by a patient whose non medicine attempts at better lifestyle, less stress plus daily movement and exercise have not successfully optimised blood pressure readings.

The problem with manufactured prescription medicine often is dealing with side effects to the body of the patient trying to manage blood pressure issues.  These side effects can be in blurred vision, rapid pulse rates, diarrhea, overly low blood sugar and cold feet.

When one has unusually low body blood pressure, there is a risk of and incurring pains of having an insufficient supply of blood pumped to the heart (Angina Pectoris effect).

PSA Reading as an Indicator of Prostate Health.

Age increases the risk of having higher readings and monitoring is encouraged.

Level of Vitamin B12 is measured as it helps in the metabolism of the body's amino acids and fatty acids.

Folate or Vitamin B9 helps in DNA synthesis.

EUC/ LFT is a liver function test.

FBC is the acronym for Full Blood Count of the body, including for white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.

HbA1c meaaures the average blood sugar over the past 2 or 3 months.  It is therefore an indicator of potential or actual diabetes.

Iron levels in blood.

Fatigue, poor concentration and anaemia are symptoms with lower than desired levels.

Triclygerides

This denotes the level of high fats in the blood, with a desired average of 2.5.

TfT levels measure the health of the body's thyroid function.

Vitamin D 

Vitamin D are fat-soluble compounds helpful particularly for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate.

Bicarbonate levels can indicate potential kidney or lung issues. 

Urinary Micro Albumin point to the adequacy of protein count in the body. 

T Bilirubin parameters range from 4 to 20.  It echoes the health of the liver and is related to the yellow pigment in our bile.

ALT refers to Alanine Transaminase.  This measures liver health, which is impacted by side effects of specific medicines, excessive alcohol consumption and hepatitis infection.

OUTSIDE OF BLOOD TEST OUTCOMES:

Bowel Test Every Two Years

Samples of poo are placed daily in small tubes for three days and quickly submitted to the pathologist for examimation.

Fibres and texture in breakfasts of oats do help build up the roughage in daily intake for ensuring optimal gut health.

Nature's Produce as Medicine

We live in a commercialised society that brainwashes us on the intake of manufactured medicines and pharmaceutical supplements.  Medical treatment in the Western tradition has been accused of attending to relieve the symptoms instead of emphasising on the causes of ailments.  Are contemporary medical approaches meant more to generate regular revenue rather than evoke the Oath of Hippocrates?   I do not know a clear answer.

Our regular food intake can recognise more of Nature's abundance and generous ability to take care of ourselves.  Regular nutrition is more helpful than taking a daily handful of medicines that can have side effects and possibly interact negatively with each other.  

Whether it is natural food or prescribed tablets, be mindful to always everything ingested in moderation.

Magnesium is found naturally in seeds, nuts, green leafy vegetables and whole grains.

It is vital to maintain a healthy body immunity system, regulation of the body's blood sugar level and is helpful to both muscle and nerve functions.

Potasssium is an essential element that helps in the functioning of the body's heart, muscles and nerves.  It also is significant in transferring nutrients to the body's cells.

Movement, Muscle and Joints

Strength in specific muscles can be more significant to factor in body flexibility, agility and ability.

Depending on age, a human being has to pay attention to the fact that muscle loss can occur.  The ability to squat, balance and move up slopes gives overall confidence to maintaining the ideal posture, stretch and grip.

Eye Pressure.   The ideal reading is between 11 to 20. What is the link between overall blood pressure and eye pressure?   One should not experience too high or low a pressure reading of both kinds.

Minimising Build Up of Plaque for the Teeth.  Teeth are very tough and durable, but the challenge is to take care of its counterpart - the gums.   Taste and flavour are less experienced once teeth and gums deteriorate.   The overall softness of food taken in most contemporary societies - for example fillets, over processed texture and less biting of bones - no longer offers the crunch to maintain stronger teeth.

The dubious viability of many tooth pastes and a general taking of granted of the workings of our teeth also add to higher risks.

Across Australia, tooth care expenses are not covered by Medicare and so dental health is often neglected from childhood.

#yongkevthoughts

Blowing, Chipping or Washing Them Away

Spraying, draining, decluttering, chipping, removing.

I was just pondering.

Many of life's processes seem to be about freeing things up.  The flow of traffic.   The destruction of mould.   The blockages in pipes.   The fears that can manifest.  The build up of infestation.  The spread of weeds.    The build up of rust.   The plaque over gums.   The fattiness in the arteries.  The level of corruption.  The misplaced ego in politics.   The over consumption of sugar.  

Once removed, such obstructions and unwanted build ups allow better alternatives to channel in and give vibes and reality of relief and space.

So we can utilise the power and effectiveness of pulling, scraping and digging to remove.  There can be no better sensation at times to feel and observe the power of water.

We as human beings have this primeval linkage with the water from the Universe, whether soaking in the floating seas, or being sufficiently body internally hydrated or just watching the heavens open up in pouring rain.

Flowing water energy cleanses, stimulates our senses and also physically cleans.  Using the precise amount, whether with miniature or bigger tools, the gush of water sprays can so right in dental procedures, when courtyard cleaning or when a vehicle has dirt removed.

The less movement we allow, there can be accumulation of debris, dirt and unwanted stuff.    The more circulation we exercise for,  there can be less toxins, waste and dirt remaining.

We use mechanical blowers to remove insect webs, dried up biological waste and choked up debris.    We vacuum and sweep.   We drain away excesses, abcesses and restrictions.   We encourage circulation and redistribution.

Hoses get kinked, passages get blocked.   How best to liberate, attend and mitigate depends on the way to remove and clean.

Before chipping away at what we do not want, at times, the best way is not to place them or allow them to grow from the beginnimg.    Whether it is unhealthy food, negativity or rorts in society, each of us have to recognise them in the first place and not to allow them to fester.

Only then do we have less to clean up, remove and drain away.


#yongkevthoughts

The Cycle of Addiction

Introduce a specific thing or experience as exclusive, inviting or of curiosity.

Offer relief from the drudgery of routine or regime.

Package it to captivate the senses, or that particular personal sensitivity ignored or not aroused for a rather long time.

Allow entry or experimentation at a rather low cost or with seemingly no harm sampling it.

Remind on a regular basis, at cleverly selected times of day aimed at the target market.

When and where the sweetness sets in, reveal there is more.

Begin a process where dopamine like sensations seep in stages, varying doses or more to structure and embed regular usage.

Escalate usage and dependency.

Vary the flavours, choices, upgrades and engagement options.

Make users unavoidably incorporate the service or product into an essential pace and factor of life - without them realising it.

What are examples of such addiction?

It all starts when we are most impressionable.

That drink, that movie, that snack, accesory, toy or that other thing to be seen with - when we are children.

It may come from influencers, an ad, social media or peer pressure.  It propels on ego, a sense of belonging or not to be left out.

It embraces us with comfort, calmness and an apparent safe space - even when they are inherently and truly not.

It provides momentary escape.  It includes binge watching, binge obsession with thrills run by software and repetitive hits.  The reward is more than visual, it can be physical, physiological and pyschological.

It elates the ego, the uniqueness and elevation of one's self.  The product or service makes one feel special, even if in reality it is indeed for the masses. It implies constant and regular usage.

Reflect on examples of fast food, streaming, depreciating vehicles, hyped up supplements, additives, devices, frequent usage points, must have beverages and hidden ingredients. 

Many are convenient diversions or distractions. Some are obvious, many are delusions. 

It affects various ages, straddles across cultures and is truly accessible.

Such are the essense of addictions.  It alters our mindsets that indeed we cannot live without it. 

#yongkevthoughts

Musings, Passing Conversations and Observations

Diners go out for a meal and expect socialability.   Interacting with eatery staff is part of that experience.   Instead in more and more places, we are encouraged to order and pay on screens, get used to robot delivery and clear out of our meal table as soon as possible, as multi eating sessions are the order of the night.  Customers can feel as part of the churn.

Public transport terminals and interchange stations are ideally where passengers need not walk far to change train or bus platforms.  These hubs are usually not final destinations for many, but only a vital transition from one part of the journey to another.   Smooth connections like automated walkways are still rare outside of city airports across Australia.  Escalators and elevators are definitely useful for an aging demographic and families with child seated prams, but they can also reduce the opportunity for exercise and movement for many who need such activity.

Blood donation can be a most useful factor in population hubs.  Preassessments are understandably made of donors but these exercises can involve voluntary answers on several personal matters.  Of course these are asked to help develop and understand a profile of the blood  donated.   Questions are asked on travel places visited in recent three years - but also include on whom one has slept with,  the medicines taken, any relevant illnesses experienced and blood pressure measurements taken.   The burgeoning growth of populations means a need for blood supplies to help other human beings.

Purpose at different stages of the journey of life is the constant as one passes through the decades.    Society provides the structure in education, training and other development imperatives of children and teenagers until adulthood.  Adults embark and work on careers, family, 

personal changes, habits, passions and inner growth.

The crowded pressure of time management, commitment and achievement takes a different kind of pace after middle age.

Suddenly the new found apparent freedom for the elderly may transform from initial pleasure to finding more meaningful routines and ritual, away from work, obligations and holidays of the past.  Such new found purposes, in the view of third parties, can be prejudiced by perceptions and reality of slowing down in physiological and mental acuity and flexibility.

Does leisure travel fulfil all the inner wishes of any one who has more time and ability to do so?  Gen Z and Millennials tend to go overseas earlier than Baby Boomers and Generation X in peacetime.  Older folks these days generally do the big caravan trip around Australia or spend weeks cruising at sea after retiring. Tourism aimed at customers are rather structured for older demographics, while younger travellers of various nationalities prefer more independence, more parties, more influencer environments, more spontaneity, more social impact and more networking.

Contemporary communication, even for unimportant transactions as well as more significant matters, are increasingly all recorded on screen - and all executed on portable devices.  The capacity of awesomely huge databanks seem to grow virtually each year, with the electric costs in maintaining and expanding cyberspace often not publicised.

Is there a need to publicly verbalise and vocalise our personal positions in the stormy seas of politics, religion and sexual matters?   More people are hesitant to speak of such matters when physically gathered and present, but less so when using app messaging, making quick electronic postings and writing up opinions on websites.

Articulation and expression best echoes in a healthy debate, where ideally every individual who participates keeps uppermost in mind and discussion that although one may not agree, one respects differences in thinking and opinion.  Problems arise when dichotomy appears in supposedly being right and wrong.   There really is no right or wrong, only the effect of different perspectives in belief, philosophy, preference and approach - especially in heady matters of politics and religion.

#yongkevthoughts

Northern Hemisphere Still Holds the Key

 "There will be great trouble in the North", so goes the quote attributed to Nostradamus, who occasionally is brought up in the media as one from the past who made predictions about a future world.

Even as populations have increased and economic activities have been enhanced in the past 200 years across the Southern Hemisphere of Earth, societies here are relatively behind and still seemingly trapped in seemingly colonial platitudes, industries of the past with surprisingly low value add and with immature political structures.

South America and southern Africa have not shaken off the quagmire of governance and social revulsions, pulsating along a political spectrum of rule by socialist, dictatorial and right wing governments.

Australian governments are still content with exploitation of their raw resources, providing a key supplier of energy and mineral needs of nations pumping away in growth but located north of the Equator.

Australia, with one of the largest land masses for territory, has still not emerged to assert her own strategic interests and continue to perpetuate a mentality of being dependent on another Western nation.   She has not seized the oppprtunity to realise the huge advantages of her geographical location near the world's fastest growng area. 

New Zealand likewise has to break away from plucking the easier and low hanging fruit of tourism and agriculture.

No matter, both Antipodean countries do still attract migration from Asia, in waves from different countries due to a variety of economic, political and social factors.

The Northern Hemisphere however remains where the most relevant action occurs.

Innovation and research hubs remain in both Bay areas on both sides of the Pacific -  San Jose- San Francisco California and the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macau-Shenzen region.   London, Washington-Baltimore, New York, Boston-Cambridge, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles shine for Anglo nations.

In north east Asia, Tokyo-Yokohama, Seoul, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nan Jing, Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto and Beijing propel like the bright city lights they exude in vibrancy of relentless growth.

Most growth centres encompass a profile of being financial, advanced technology, higher education and business investment hot spots.

It is no surprise that China and the USA lead in this respect.

Contemporary world events have also cast these two very same large nations in the speculation, dynamics and tensions for conflict.   Is it a clash of civillisations and ideology? Is it a time of the dominant old having to give way to a rising new?  Whatever it is, whatever the constant noise emitted, underlying reality and whatever the public is not told, in the end outcomes speak for themselves.

The "great trouble in the North" in so many ways can refer to a future drawn out conflict by the USA with Russia and China.  The world wars of the 20th century saw great divides between two groups of countries - for example, the Allies against the Axis powers and nations joining one side or the other accelerated the geographical spread of battles and destruction.

After the traumatic experience of massive, intense and widespread loss of lives and damage, there arose a non- aligned movement in the 1950s in which mostly African, Asian and South American nations chose not to be involved with the Western club of war winners from the European and Asia Pacific theatres of war.

As the 21st century approached, the momentum of this Non-Aligned Movement seemed to fizzle out.

Roll forward to 2025, eighty years after the Nazis and Japanese Imperial Army surrendered - and the world is once again regrouping into two sides - those who follow the lead of the USA and another who do not.

Significant changes since 1945 highlight great technology advances in societies once downtrodden and vulnerable; falling standards and quality of life in others once deemed superior; the greater mobility of migrants to enter nations once closed off;  the dearth of manufacturing in places that started the Industrial Revolution due to comparative labour costs; and rising educational levels which increased social and economic expectations and reality in so called previous "third world" countries.

Europe in the Northern Hemisphere has always been on the move from the Renaissance to its current nurturing of the European Union.

Geographically, continental Europe is relatively a smaller place than the expanse of land one travels through in the USA, China or Russia.  Unity and social cohesion remains a challenge for the various cultures and states of Europe.  Europe led in world affairs, colonised the rest of the world and had a confident heritage until the Second World War.

The lands lying between Europe, India, Africa and Central Asia have witnessed tumultous change of empires, birth of important religions and throbbed through aggressive cultures.  Several political entities here have been blessed with the world's dependency on petroleum - but this can come along with interference by foreign powers, violent disorders and instability for the unprotected. 

South east Asia and India have geopolitically entered a new era that is way past colonialism but are still riding the waves of political and ethnic nationalism.   Their populations for a variety of reasons contribute a large share of migrants to other parts of the world.  Politics here can be a mixed bag, attracting various versions of democracy, dictatorship, communism, royalty and socialism.

Standards of living, business dynamism and future growth do face risks from geopolitical turmoil.   Wartime means the further bloom in arnament sales but destruction and holding back of peace time share markets, inter cultural understanding, quality of life, supplies, public infrastructure networks, freer trade and economic returns.

Are conflicts fought over access to natural resources and food supplies?   Do troubles break out due to excess hormonic tribal pulses, in the name and push to uphold history, religion or culture?   Are battles fought with sacrifice of lives just because we are on the opposing sides of some imagined political spectrum or deeply rooted religious passion?

Are internal matters of a society interfered by outside parties instead of being allowed to be resolved without the manipulation by others?

Social upheaval can arise from ethnic tensions, divisions in multi-racial economies and changing governance arrangements.  Orders of the old world like royalty are diminishing.  On the other hand, when there is too much personal freedom, human instincts can long for being under personal political control.  History can repeat or rhyme for human societies.  New generations can forget, yearn for the past or experiment with drastic radical politics.

The British exported their language, government institutions, philosophy, religions and technology when they colonised the world.  Having superior technology in trade, science, arnaments, leadership and historical opportunity can embolden nationalism, cultural imperatives and the course of human civilisation.

The Northern Hemisphere has been saddled with the course of human progress, discord, capacity and impact.  The so called South may have been on the receiving end of initiatives and impact of incursions from the Northern Hemisphere, emphatically for Indigenous groups, but is not without her uniqueness and advantages.

The Southern Hemisphere seems to be an abode of relative remoteness, less pollution and a chance to restart and do things differently.  

Where negatively utilised, like in conducting nuclear testing, sourcing of slave labour and greedy exploitation of resources, these echo the dark sides of human behaviour.

Where positively shown, the Southern Hemisphere has been a refuge for the economically, religious and politically weary populations of Earth, where the atmosphere is relatively unpolluted and where one can still clearly see the stars of the Universe at night.

#yongkevthoughts