Spring Infection update

I hadn't blogged in a while, and wanted to give an update.

In Janurary I ran another GI stool test to see how the bugs in my gut were doing.

Here are the abbreviated results:

Pathogens -

Yeast +3
Parasite Present taxonomy unavailable

Immune system -

Fecal slgA 22 ( 5-161)
Anti-gliadin slgA 6.8 ( <= 21.8)

Digestive function -
Low Elastase, High triglycerides (signifies fat malabsorption)

The report had some things out of range for the SCFA. With the yeast and dreaded PPTU back, I figured I would just continue taking varous immune system enhancing supplements (colostrum, lactoferrin, s. boulardii, etc), nystatin, and prebiotics. I have been meaning to do a prebiotic review as I develed into the prebioitc literature pretty heavily earlier this year. In short I think I found some prebiotics that benefit me, but some are potentially dangerous so be careful!

Going forward I intend to do some nystatin enemas and am trying another attempt at iodine supplementation to become replete.

In January I also tested thyroid again and copper.

TSH 2.37 (0.450-4.5)
T4  1.76 (0.82-1.77)
T3  4.5 (2.0-4.4)
rT3 406 (90-350)

You can see why it's important to check for rT3! Otherwise you might think I have hyper-thyroidism lol :). In reality TSH is too high, and the high rT3 blocks the otherwise elevated T3.

Ceruloplasmin 15.6 (15-30)
Copper, Serum 83 (70-155)

Copper is on the low end of the scale, looks like I need to keep eating liver, squid, lobster, shrimp, etc.

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I wanted to get tested for Toxoplasma gondii since as I blogged about before, I may have a brain infection, and since I have eaten quite a bit of raw meat, Toxoplasma seemed like a likely candidate. I was negative for IgG antibodies.

Paul's post of vitamin D dysregulation was interesting to me so I wanted to check both 25OHD and 1,25D.  Results don't reveal dysregulation -

• Vitamin D 25OHD  48 ng/mL (reference range 30-100). 
•  Calcitriol (vit d 1,25)  50.6 (reference range 10-75.0)

Recent STD panel showed still negative for all STDs. The CBC panel showed depressed Neutrophils and elevated Lymphs. Looking at prior tests, that was the first time those values were out of range. A quick googling reveals that it usually indicates a viral infection. I may have picked something up while overseas. I have not received a phone call after my most recent blood donation, so the common viruses they check for are probably not it. Since my values were barely out of range, I'm not sure it's anything at all but will keep an eye on it. On the topic of blood donation my most recent iron tests were:

• Iron Bind. Cap. TIBC 270 (250-450)
• UIBC 203 (150-375)
• Iron Saturation 25% (15-55)
• Ferritin 88 (30-400)

Ferritin levels popped up quickly (from 25 in December), but overall iron remains in a good place, i.e. low but not too low.