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Tag : normal
The Danger of Undertreated Gout
Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in America. It is more common than rheumatoid arthritis. It has the capacity to completely destroy your joints and leave you severely disabled. It’s acute attacks are exquisitely painful, in fact, they are usually described as agonizing.
And yet, except when someone presents with an acute attack, the disease is often not taken seriously enough by either patients or their physicians. If you suffer from gout, make sure your doctor puts you on a daily medication designed to lower your uric acid level. You need to be taking this medication every day, even when you are not having an attack. Your uric acid levels should be carefully adjusted to the middle of a healthy person's range. A uric acid level in the high normal range is not acceptable for you.
You can effectively cure this disease, but you need to take control of your care.
Posted in:
Dr. Mixon's Longevity Journal
Testosterone Levels Are Related to Heart Attacks
A low normal testosterone level may increase your risk of dying from a heart attack.
126 men who were admitted to the intensive care unit for fresh heart attacks had their testosterone levels evaluated. These men were then followed for the next 30 days to see how they did. 16 men died, and 110 men survived. However, 100% of the men who died had testosterone levels in the bottom 25 percentile of the normal range. Their testosterone was not low. In fact, it was within a range in which there are a few American doctors who would recommend testosterone supplementation, but everyone who died was within that low normal range.
Once more, we have good evidence that being normal is not enough. Where you are within the normal range can make the difference in living and dying. As I keep saying, normal is not acceptable. Shoot for optimal.
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Dr. Mixon's Longevity Journal
Ditching the Disease Management Model
We don’t have a healthcare system. What we have is a disease management system, but disease management is just second rate.
We should be working to make you as healthy as possible. Failing that, our fallback should be treating disease. Unfortunately, most doctors spend virtually all of their time treating disease rather than improving health. But improving health requires active participation by Dr. and patient, while treating disease is often done with the patient in a passive role. Unfortunately, most physicians have focused on treating disease for so long they don’t even know what the optimal laboratory and physiologic ranges are anymore.
When you see your doctor don’t accept normal as the goal. Ask what the optimal range is. If your doctor doesn’t know the difference between optimal and normal, change doctors.
Posted in:
Disease Prevention, Dr. Mixon's Longevity Journal
"Normal" is Not Acceptable
When doctors say "normal" patients hear "good". But in medicine, normal has a very specific meaning.
Normal is arbitrarily defined as encompassing 95% of the population. When your doctor says your test was normal, what he is really saying is that you are better off than at least 2.5% of the population on one end of the scale or the other. If your brain, heart, lungs, or bones are better than 3% or 97% of the people, you are equally normal. I don’t know about you, but given a choice, I will choose to be better than 97% rather than 3% every time. When your doctor says your test was normal for your age, it means at least 2% of the old fogies in your age group are worse off than you.
That is not acceptable. Tell your doctor that you won’t accept normal; you want optimal.
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Dr. Mixon's Longevity Journal
Type 2 Diabetes: Cure vs. Remission
With an aggressive cutting-edge program, over 70% of type 2 diabetics can be returned to normal blood sugars; normal insulin levels have no further need for diabetic medications. The question is, are these patients in remission or have they been cured?
In my practice, I have found that with a combination of innovative hormonal support, increased physical activity, and significant diet changes, most type 2 diabetics can effectively be returned to normal. I usually tell them that they have been cured. But some physicians prefer to say that these patients are in remission, because if they were to return to their old lifestyle, their diabetes may return.
But if all of their tests are normal, how can I claim that they are still diabetic? What you think?
Posted in:
Dr. Mixon's Longevity Journal
