Blood thinners are important for those of us that must use them to control the formation of blood clots. Having a clot is not a bed of roses, ask anyone that has had the experience! However, there might come a time where you might need to make the decision to stay on them or to come off. That is what I faced yesterday.
My Oncologist went over my recent blood work for the D-DIMER and Cardiolipin AB IGM and AB IGG. My IGM was still high at 33.8 and was I registered as a "weak positive" (<15.0-39.9) for Lupus. The Cardiolipin AB IGG was <9.4 so this number was in fact normal. My D-Dimer was 151 which is now in the normal range. 230 is the cut off. I was really pleased with the results.
So you might ask what is the concern here if the D-Dimer is normal? Well the cardiolipin antibodies are the largest antibody that our bodies create and since my body is still producing a higher number these can form a clot anywhere in my body. It is also a sign of inflammation and these antibodies usually have to be controlled with thinners and immune suppressant drugs. Later if they become extremely numerous chemotherapy might have to be used as a last resort.
However, with the D-Dimer in the normal range and even though my number 33.8 is considered high, it isn't any wheres near as high as some other people that I know who have this problem. We also have connected my clots to when I become ill with a bad infection. So after much talking of the pros and cons of the blood thinner and the fact that I am still young, we have opted to remove the blood thinner I was on off of my list of drugs to take. So can I have another blood clot? Absolutely! What will I do to try and prevent another clot and monitor things?
The answer, is that I will be taking an aspirin a day, drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, and get 30-60 minutes a day of moderate aerobic activity every day. It sounds like a lot but since this is my journey to wellness I am going to try it. We will monitor my blood work in three months to see if there is any change in the cardiolipins and the D-Dimer. If there is an increase then I might have to go back on a low dosage of the thinner and monitor things but to me less is best as my body does not like medications.
I find that if I read up on my conditions and try to find ways to improve my health my doctors have more respect for me. My doctor said that I am one of the few who really has tried to understand what is happening to my immune system and trying to find ways to lessen the stress on it. I will share more on that in another blog.
I will give an update on this in another three months and pray for no clots to form.
My update on my exercise challenge at the gym is great. We did body comps this week to finish up the challenge and I lost a total of eleven inches, gained 2.1% in muscle and lost 3.6% in body fat!!!
I did not lose a lot of weight but that will come as I think I mentioned before that you have to build muscle before you can burn the fat underneath it. They have not tallied all the other peoples numbers yet but we hope to know how we ranked as a group by next week. I did not join the challenge to win anything as I just needed something to motivate me to get using my membership and encourage me to continue. Who knows, maybe my numbers will be the best. I know so far I have lost the most in the inch department!
I did ask when they did my body comp. if I could have mine done every five weeks so that I can stay motivated and see the changes. They said, "yes", to my delight! So I will be able to continue to share with you accurate changes to my health in this area and hope to help anyone who is trying to lose weight that it isn't the scale that determines your success but it is the other numbers that tell the real story!
May you all have a great week and may you also succeed in having better health!
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