Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I'm with you on integrating all sustainable lifestyle changes, before pulling the statin lever. Unless there's an acute risk (ie uncontrolled diabetes + high cholesterol), build the strong foundation first. Don't bury your most useful metric with a drug. Use it to learn. Backing off ketosis looks l...

IlliniDave, might I suggest you consider just taking the statins? It’s not you, it’s your genetic inheritance. It will likely slightly mess with your sleep pattern, and may cause some eczema issues. But you will much less likely be unexpectedly non-alive. That option is not off the table, but there...

Well, so today turned out to be the big day for receiving the large majority of my test results from Function Health. I'll start with the good news: My biological age is 11 years younger than my chronological age based on their calculation from all the relevant biomarkers they use. The not-so-good n...

I like this article, if you haven't seen it: https://www.levelshealth.com/blog/what-should-my-glucose-levels-be-ultimate-guide Their table makes your readings look pretty good. My doctor argues optimal is too strict: One thing the CGM made clear, is a glucose curve will show variance. It is how the...

What's the level of precision you can expect out of the meter? The shifts you are looking at above are very small. Two other thoughts: - moving raises blood sugar, they could be reasonably explained - some sources suggest you want to exercise the system a little, keeping it elastic For clothes - if...

April Update, Slightly Early Finances Financially everything is okay, stash is down some do to the vagaries of the market. I was a little loose with spending, spent a little more on healthcare than normal (Function Health membership, purchased a Keto Mojo glucose/ketone meter), and started stocking...

I've always been skeptical of cancer screening in general. Vinay Prasad does a good job of explaining why full body scans should not be done. I believe the same argument holds for Galleri. https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/why-you-should-not-get-a-whole-body Thanks, Ego, that was a good short read. I...

The other problem with the woods is that IIRC Starlink requires a clear view of the north sky. Some of my neighbors have it and they work from their place, and have the dish mounted on their roof to get a LOS above the trees in the right direction. A suggestion besides a local establishment that doe...

Whew! You had me worried there for a minute before I read this bit. On the basis of my fairly long career of dating men approximately your height, weighing in from approximately 135 lbs to 255 lbs., with varying body fat/muscle percentiles/proportions, I believe that with this plan you will likely ...

Yesterday I finally got below 165 lb on the scale, which was my goal for 2023 that I failed to make. I started 2023 a little over 210 lb and bottomed out somewhere around 174 iirc in early May. Started 2024 in the low 180s and hit 164 yesterday. My original goal was to hit 165 while maintaining a st...

Wow, so cool. Congrats! Just snagged the ebook. I'm going to try to save it for cruddy weather days once I get up to the hideout, with the hope it inspires me to make some of time there worth writing about aside from my random journaling. But the temptation to devour it immediately will be immense.

I'm very interested to see what value you find from the service. Access to a Galleri test is one of the "exclusive" perks of my wife's concierge doctor. Pricing is similar. It's not something we've pursued, due to age. I think there's a time where it's worthwhile, if one has the resources...

Welp, I got off the wait list promptly and am all signed up with Function health. The $499/yr membership covers the cost of the standard 109-item annual screen plus the ~60 item subset that get retested on a 6 month interval. To do all the tests requires something like 12 vials of blood need to be d...

Have you looked into a concierge medicine service? A few years ago, my doctor moved to the MDVIP model. He then removed the middle man and went straight concierge. For about $2500 a year, you get the medicine 3.0 labs array. But also in person stuff. EKG, grip strength, balance on a force plate, et...

Interesting you prioritize the LP(a) and homocysteine tests. My heart health concerns are low, so I haven't paid careful attention to what one should prioritize. ... It's hard to know what's worth it or not. With the blood tests, I kinda figure the needle is already going in, so why not? If I think...

Insulin test is very affordable. I'm getting that and fasting glucose on my annual labs, then calculating the HOMA-IR online. As a point in time measurement, it's not perfect, but I like the leading metric aspect. Selling a CGM with insurance is very tough. Uncontrolled diabetes is the criteria. Ty...

Mike Lustgarten is working on a series on RHR and HRV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiC3o6YXGB0 My HRV skyrocketed into the 80s for the month we were traveling, then plunged to the 50s the moment we returned home, before settling in the mid to upper 60s. It would be interesting to see if yours v...

Certain jobs adjacent to mine before I retired required it in order to have admin privileges on some networks. My coworkers who had it for their assignments tended to roll their eyes at it as it was just a credential they had to get that didn't have any bearing on their actual jobs. They were just h...

Love the experimental approach to sleep quality and recovery. I wonder about meditation or zone 2 exercise for improving resilience score. If it's based upon HRV, that's often looking for more parasympathetic promoting activity in your day. For sleep - I am currently trying a weighted blanket. Noth...

Some random nerdiness : On sleep. When I first moved back to Illinois I just used a bed that was already set up in the room I occupy. It had a decent mattress, but one that was pretty old. A few weeks ago I finally swapped things around and put my better quality mattress on the bed. Over the next f...