I had an appointment with my integrative doctor on Monday, March 7th, 2016. It was only the second time I had met her, but the meeting was much better than the first. We went over my blood work, which was pretty shitty, and then she told me that I needed to meet a European man because men in our area are, as she put it, “wimps.” While I don’t fully agree that all men in Southern California are wimps, I will agree that my blood work was fucking awful and it’s time for a significant change. I will also agree that I need to meet a European man, but that is another story altogether.

The big red flags in my blood work are as followed:

Very low in vitamin D. Fasting blood sugar is too high. LDL is too high AND made from small, dense particles. Vitamin B12 is low. Surprisingly enough, all my hormone levels are perfectly fine. I was expecting to see my testosterone elevated because my symptoms are so androgen-driven (though this doesn’t mean I am not oversensitive to testosterone or that something else is amiss.)

None of this was a surprise for two reasons. 1) I had visited my regular doctor on Saturday and also had blood work results to reviews and 2) I am overweight and have a family history of heart disease and problems with sugar. What was surprising is the different approaches these doctors have decided to take with me.

The doctor I saw on Saturday is a general practitioner who is covered by my insurance. We will call her Dr. H. She was very insistent that I begin taking a statin drug. When I refused, she seemed irritated. I understand, she’s the one with the M.D. behind her name, but I was annoyed that she offered no dietary or exercise suggestions to help bring these numbers down naturally. Like she literally said, “This is genetic and you can’t fix this with diet alone.” I don’t buy it. Folks in worse shape than I have turned themselves around through diet and exercise.

Cue the integrative doctor. We will call her Dr. K. She says that all of these issues are entirely fixable with diet, exercise, lifestyle changes, and proper supplementation. She told me that a statin drug is totally unacceptable at this stage in the game. She has placed me on a low-carb diet, a supplementation regime, and she gave me a low dose of Metformin to help bring my sugar down and assist me with losing weight. I will be seeing Drs. K and H in 3 months to see how my blood work has improved.

Here’s to new beginnings and daily posts.