Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

First Lobby Visits to Chelation Clinic

Recap: The NIH (US National Institutes on Health) reports that the study called T.A.C.T. (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) and published in the National Journal of Medicine in 2012 concluded that chelation therapy "modestly reduces cardiovascular events."

Didn't know anything about that.

Instead, learned about chelation in the lobby of the chelation clinic from folks who did chelation. Most had some previous cardiovascular issue like a stent they wanted to keep open. Never had any 'cardiovascular issue' but in my family on my Dad's side they don't get a second heart attack.

Just one and light's out. (Dad died at 49; his dad at 51; Dad's younger brother at 57; the youngest survived because his took place in an emergency room. Well, survived for a while, not all that much.)

Began to think that chelation might be smart BEFORE a cardiac event. It still took some years, though, for me to do something myself. Back in 2006, for example, there were no blood test labs in Algodones; you had to have that done in Yuma, bring the results back to the chelation clinic before you could get started. Didn't want the bother.

The one testimonial that stood out from others (and which I remember) was an older couple (most chelation patients are). When I asked what benefit they'd gotten from chelation she pointed to her husband.

"You see him there, right?" she responded. "Well, three years ago they gave him maybe, maybe, 3 months to live. That was three years ago. I PUSHED him in a wheelchair from the parking lot across the border to get him in here."

She went on, "Today, he's walking back with me on his own. No wheelchair." That kinda knocked me over.

It still took me some 6 years to try chelation myself in 2012. T.A.C.T. study was published in 2012 and I first tried chelation in 2012.

Mere coincidence. Knew nothing about T.A.C.T. study.

 

First Chelation Experience--BP Drop 140/90 to 122/80

In 2012, same year started with Gordon, loaded 3 dogs in my '97 Merc Sable and headed southwesterly and in due course spent time in Southern California. Had been meaning for some time to have a dental implant and knew that Algodones was the ticket. Did not really have a specific plan to do any chelation but knew that my BP (blood pressure) ran on the high side.

The crossover from elevated to first stage hypertension is 140/90.

I could get it under 140/90, but that's what it was. Getting it. Dark chocolate, exercise, hibiscus tea, vegetables, yada, yada. You know the routine, I'm sure. My BP never got a lot under 140/90 but I could get it there and sometimes it was higher than 140/90 and then I'd automatically go into 'bring it down' mode. My average BP had a yo-yo tendency, up then down, then up.

When I finally made the side trip to Algodones, I put the dogs in a Yuma Motel 6 so they wouldn't sit out in the sun in the Quechan (Native American tribe, pronounced like kitchen, only 'kwitchen') parking lot. It takes a while to search out the right dentist as I've said before. So between shrimp or fish tacos and tamales, and while hunting out the 'right' implant dentist, I visited the chelation clinic again, learned that two blood labs had moved in town.

Cool! Could get blood work without going back over to Yuma and paying US prices. Think it cost me $55 for a SMAC30, a pretty complete blood exam. Took the test in the morning and results were back by 11 am. This is Mexico, no two week wait here. The lab hand-carried the results to the chelation clinic and I was shown where to sign in for the first treatment.

Pretty simple. Go in, walk past the lobby, then past the Doc's offices on your right, through another door into the large room with all the green recliners (there's another room upstairs with more recliners), turn a little corner in the back of the room to the left, sign your name and probably want to note the treatment (chelation) because there are many others, like Plaquex.

Go find a recliner.

A few minutes later either Luz or Manuela call you back for the needle...

 

New BP after Algodones in 2012 Was 122/80

Doug, Yard Boss' boss called yesterday. Told him had no plans for driving until I lose 15 pounds or more. Had a nice chat. Yard Boss hasn't called. No doubt still tweaked. That's fine. Tried to bulldoze me into slipseating with Mack, a smoker. Told him, "This is where we part company." Not happening. He backed down. And then I thought about it.

Hey! Summer's over! Over! All the projects I had planned and expected to get done were... not done! This is Indiana. Some things you either get done in summer or they don't get done until next year. Hopping mad, I was. My 1x week to Prairie du Chien had been 2x or 3x all summer! Nothing done!

Immediately sent Yard Boss an email that in two weeks I was taking 3 weeks off and blew off his, "Whattamy supposed to do? Whattamy supposed to do?" Sorry, boss. Your problem, not mine. Tough-o. Your tough-o.

Really was not aware how far my health had slipped this summer. Getting older. Time to deal with weight, shortness of breath, etc. is now. Right now.

My issues, now in 2014, are a lot more serious than back in 2012. But before I left for my car camping trip in 2012, had already lost weight. Ugh! My 'heavy' weight's heavier now than my 'heavy' weight back in 2012 by 10 pounds.

Almost can't believe it.

Plus, my attention span's about 3 weeks. For anything. Then I get involved in something else, forget and ultimately have to pick back up again. That's what I expect now, too. Surprised though, how fast things move. The size 40 pants went bye-bye almost as soon as I started back at the Spencer Y as did about 6 pounds, no doubt just water weight. Back down to 38's.

Haven't pushed hard wading in the YMCA pool all that much, time on walking track has been comparatively little and same for treadmill. Haven't 'pushed' my weight down by taking fasting days yet, just pared my portions down some. (Instead of 2 eggs and ground turkey this morning, had one egg and half my usual meat portion, for example.)

But, no, my BP hasn't dropped down to 122/80 like it did in 2012 after same 10 intravenous treatments alternating chelation/Plaquex/chelation/Plaquex.

Before I left bought vitamins beneficial to BP, now ordered wrist BP monitor, finger pulse oximeter and some other helpful stuff from Amazon.

Well, 3 week attention span. We'll see...

 

Attention Span... 3 Weeks

Like I said in the last post, my attention span's 3 weeks. For anything. I'm good--well, pretty good--for anything for 3 weeks. Max. Then, bet's off.

I eat mostly out of boredom, or 'something to do', or feeling tired rather than out of actual hunger. Definitely a problem. Combine 3 week attention span and eating when bored, not a happy combination. So I'm down a little bit, 5-6 pounds. A good thing. Water weight. Trivial.

But, hey! Who's that pregnant guppy walking in my clothes when I walk the track and look over at the mirror the vanity folks stand in front of, flexing this or that, barbell in hand looking at their reflection looking back at them? Eh? I mean, really. Who goes to the gym to gander at your own puss? Well, they're there every day. Go figure.

Me, I'm not down to medicine ball-sized pregnancy yet.

Twenty minutes in the pool, walking at chest deep, then another 20 up on the track late this afternoon (Sunday, 10/26). Yeah, gonna take a while. Not all at once. Not with that protuberance, no! Whattalump! Hey!

Like some bad joke... tell ya.

This morning got the 'new', used $75 dog pen set up for the chickens, reaches almost to end of back side of the garage, 10 feet wide. Drove all the way up to Crawfordsville (Indiana) yesterday. Plus, some guy hadn't shown up for 3 days to buy a wireless dog fence, got that for $100. I'll CraigsList the wireless dog fence and should about pay for the 'new', used dog pen. Betcha!

Really don't know the range of the old F350 diesel, so fueled before I left and swung in on the way out into my normal fuel stop just in case. Hey! Guess what's in the back lot, 5259, my old truck, still hooked to my trailer. Parked about where I left it. Funnee!

Old truck sure looks beat up! Good truck, though. Never did clean the inside up. Never knew if they were going to pull it or bring on something better. It ran a tad faster on the road than any other company truck I encountered, though. Just a tad. Just enough to catch up, wave and pull on by, leave 'em behind.

Fueled there again on the way back and my curiosity would not let me not peek in the driver's window. Well, just a peek...

Hey!! This truck hasn't moved since I parked it and pulled my gear out!!

 

'Semi' Fasting after 'At Rest' BP Comes Down to 134/83

Roy called last week, one of 3 ex-marines taking chelation on a green recliner across from my green recliner. The joke on Roy was, "Just one question," with index finger pointing up. I howled at that, told him to take his 'one question' and vendor away from our table as I'd almost gotten rid of him.

No, don't want to look at your belts. No, don't want to look at your hats. No, don't want to look at your...

Singlehandedly, I got the guy to start to turn away...

Then, "Just one question," interrupted Roy, and would have brought him back except that I roared at both of them to take it to the guy's shop just off the open air restaurant. Humph! 'Just one question' my...

"No, no, NO. Get outta here, Roy. Take it over there, you can talk and haggle there." Roy wanted a hat the guy didn't have anyway. Roy's an intense 60-year-old ex-Marine from upstate New York, was staying at his ex-Marine buddy's place in Yuma and wanted to squeeze every drop of E.D.T.A. out of this trip he could. And more. He had research papers, literature. Yada, yada.

We had just left the 'other' chelation clinic owned by an American chiropractor who looks to me like HE needs chelation. And more. I insisted we all traipse over. And wouldn't you know it. The other clinic's giving a bigger dose of E.D.T.A. The ex-Marines went over the fence for the bigger dose!

Plus that clinic always adds D.M.S.O. so you smell like corn tamales. Well, I had D.M.S.O. over at MY clinic so when we were going through customs a Mexican gal announced, 'Tamales' with a laugh, referring to the 3 of us. You don't smell it yourself. Everyone else does, though.

So the Triphala and 'Extra Strength' Testosterone from Amazon arrived today that Roy recommended last week. Can't hurt, I suppose. The Triphala is from India, composed of 3 fruits and supposedly some kinda miracle digestive supplement. Testosterone's, well, testosterone.

Frankly, there isn't enough testosterone in that bottle to make the fat girl in the next lane at the pool tonight interesting. No. Way. Take a lot bigger bottle than that!

This weekend, though, my 'at rest' BP (blood pressure) got down to 134/83--that's well within the normal range and until this weekend it's been pretty spiked. As a result, gave myself permission to push myself a little with a 'semi' fast. Not a fast fast. A little slower, 'semi' fast.

For breakfast, a modest serving of Oriental Stir Fry veggies and brown sauce, one scrambled egg. For lunch, my Chinese take-out chicken and Chinese vegetable soup, a peach yogurt. Later, for a snack polished off some mixed nuts left out in the car and opened a can of sweet potatoes and nibbled on it.

Just nibbled.

Oh, there's hope. Springs eternal, doesn't it?

 

Except for the Brown Sauce

I'm thinking stay on my slow-fast for the next few days, take it a day at a time. Puts me right in there with the D.A.S.H. diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) except the brown sauce on the Oriental Stir Fry veggies is a little, well, a lot salty.

Increase exercise at the Spencer Y, get more projects done at home here.

There's a lot of info on the web about D.A.S.H. including at the US National Institutes of Health web site: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/dash/

Figure I could stand this for a few days, for sure. I like veggies anyway, and there are a variety of frozen stir fry selections, almost better than fresh because flash-frozen.

Claim made for D.A.S.H. is that it lowers BP (blood pressure) in as little as 14 days. Not bad. I've got 14 days--at least if it's up to me and not, ah, some catastrophic event.

The other health item that arrived yesterday, in addition to Triphala and Testosterone supplements, was FRX liquid concentrate with quercitin. Was one recommended by Lance Armstrong and his LiveStrong web site. Quercitin figures into the recovery of cancer and chemo patients to help improve energy and activity levels.

Cap full of FRS and vitamin C powder (Emergen-C) go into a short cup of water, use that to down the supplements and any other vitamins.

Haven't done ANYTHING healthy like this since Prairie du Chien 2x-3x week. Dunno why, just haven't. No walking the track at the Y, no wading chest-deep in the Y pool, for example. Just haven't. Shame on me.

Scanned the transportation ads on CraigsList yesterday. One did catch my eye and I called on it. They have a contract with UPS to deliver natural gas from Indy to places like St. Louis, Toledo, Columbus, five in all and they'd like to beef up for the heavy Xmas season including part-time...

Um-m-mm, like me, for example?

Pays $21/hr after training and $18/hr during training, some better than my Prairie du Chien. Prairie run pays $329.16 itself and $150 additional for outbound load, or just under $500 for 2-1/2 days and two overnights, which is about the limit without calling my neighbor to help out with the critters.

Lots of unpaid hours.

They SAY if I come on part-time on this I'd never see over 30 hours.

Well, I've heard that before! Figure I've done a year's worth of 1x week to Prairie du Chien during the last six months! And the last run I took with the Haz outfit had me out, can't remember, Wed or Thurs until Tuesday the following week.

Was supposed to have been 1-3 days max, preferably only one overnight.

That's trucking. Once you're on the roster, you're sorta stuck. "Can you be in Philly by..." Well, sure I could. Dispatch didn't tell me, or didn't know yet that it would be Philly-Rochester-Philly-Ohio-Philly, then back to Indy.

Paid well, though. Percentage plus $18/hr for all wait time over max 2 (for both loading and unloading--max 2 total before paid) and $18/hr for all breakdown time until fixed.

Made lots better $$ by far as a computer guy but then Microsoft's habit of re-inventing the world every 3 years gets old, too.

What? Another new OS to learn? (Operating System)

 

Here's what Bumpy's referring to: http://www.webmd.com/men/news/20140129/testosterone-therapy-might-increase-heart-attack-risk-study

Didn't know anything about this. Thanks, Bumpy.

Article says research found heart attack risk doubled.

The article goes on to say:

Well, I've taken two capsules so far, one yesterday, one today.

Kerplop!!

 

Goal for this Week

I was a little disappointed yesterday at the Spencer Y and this morning when my weight hadn't cracked below 10 pounds under where I was on Sept 24, the beginning of my '3 weeks off' to make Trip West. Still have a couple pounds to go. And that was over a month ago (today's the 29th).

That is, my 'semi' fast the last two days didn't result in as much as I'd hoped for; had hoped to push below that 10-pound point. Still a good goal and a good goal for the week. So there it is. At that, the guy in the mirror when I walk by at the track at the Spencer Y sure looks fat.

Well, not flabby fat. More like, pregnant fat. 15 pounds in a 10-pound bag fat.

Of course, my focus hasn't been on losing weight yet. I started with wading chest-deep in the Spencer Y pool for that first week before I left for PHX (flew). The picture I had in my mind was that I'd do the chelation/Plaquex treatments in Algodones and spend the rest of the day at the Yuma Y. They don't have a track or a pool but more machines and weights than the Spencer Y.

Didn't work out that way in Yuma. Did not spend much time at the Yuma Y and typically just used it as a place to shower. My 'workouts' were minimal. Wasn't ready yet. Can't tell you how many times this summer I drove over to the Spencer Y, even stopped in the parking lot, waited and left. That's kinda how Yuma was, too. Wasn't up to it.

That's sort of depressing if you think about it. Just didn't have enough oomph! all summer to get out of the car and go in to the Spencer Y and I'm paying for this membership all along here. Pretty much the same in Yuma and could have done more if felt the proverbial push.

No push.

Different now. Pushing a little further every day. Still limited to pool and track, though. Haven't touched any of the machines other than one treadmill. Like last night, did 45 minutes at a fast-paced walk on the track and then 5-minutes some slower on treadmill watching heart rate.

Also went over yesterday and got pulse-oximeter/recorder. For some reason this one was set to beep each time your heart pumped and I didn't want to listen to that all night. Finally gave up trying to figure out what combination of buttons to push to change it and went on line.

Got it silenced finally and I'm expecting that the results will blow the first readout away. Took this thing home the day before I left. How'd it go?

See post #946 for how that first session with pulse oximeter/recorder went...

Badly!!!!

 

Thank you, Los Algodones!!

......................Before Algodones (9/29-30)...................After (10/28-29)

Study duration...........................9 hours.....................7 hours 20 minutes

SpO2 values at or below 85%.......over 600...................29

Low SpO2..................................79% @ 68 bpm..........77% @ 63 bpm

Average SpO2.............................90%.........................91%

Total time at or below 85%...........41 minutes................2 minutes

High pulse rate............................107..........................87

Low pulse rate.............................30...........................30

Average pulse rate.......................67............................53

SpO2 81-85%.............................8% of time................0 (Less than 1%)

SpO2 86-89%.............................25% of time...............13%

SpO2 90-95%.............................64% of time................85%

SpO2 96-100%...........................3% of time..................2%



YMMV. (Your mileage may vary.)

I think I can still do better. Will go back next month. The GE Healthcare TruSat Pulse Oximeter came from a pharmacy/medical supplies store. They have 2 to lend out to customers overnight at no charge and download the results for you the next day at no charge.

Runs on internal batteries so, yes, you could do this on the road.

Maybe someplace similar near you will do the same. Dunno.