Last year, I decided that on or around my birthday, I would make an appointment with my PCP to do a routine check to make sure that everything is OK. Last year, I got all my stuff checked, got a standard lipid panel and everything was fine.

Over the course of the year, I have learned so much new information regarding health and wellness. I wanted to carry this information with me into this years visit. Without going into details of everything that was done/checked at this visit, there were a few things that were particularly frustrating.

Firstly, the doctor told me that I had gained 11 pounds since my visit last year. She said that according to her BMI calculation (which she said “she had done”, when really, I’m sure it was her “Doctor Application” on her laptop that blinked red and said “UH OH!”), I was sitting at 33% body fat. The BMI measurement is not always accurate. There are tons of articles on this and I am not really sure as to why it’s still used as a standard measure. In any case, I know this is not true. I had my body fat measured a month ago and it was about 10% less than that. I will have it measured again in the next few days as part of my monthly data point.

So, she told me I needed to loose some weight. OK fine.

Secondly, I walked in there with a list of additions to the standard lipid panel that I wanted to check. It was things like my vitamin D level, C-Reactive Protein, and LDL particle size. I also asked about getting one of the more extensive lipid panels like VAP, NMR, or GGE, but she quickly shot those done stating that they likely would not be covered as she had no reason to order them. At one point, she even said that if I wasn’t requesting it, she wouldn’t even be doing the standard blood lipid panel on me because mine was normal last year. WHAT?

Lady, I have all sorts of shit running rampant in my family. Diabetes, hyper-tension, high blood pressure, auto-immune stuff, high cholesterol, strokes, blood clots, you name it… Excuse me for wanting to be sort of on top of this. Fucking medical industry…

In the end I ended up going with the standard lipid panel with adding vitamin D and C-Reactive Protein. I still am curious about a more extensive blood lipid panel and will likely do one of the self testing options that are available.

It really bugged me that it was almost like a negotiation session to get her to test for some of these things. What better reason than “I am the damn patient and I want to know” do I need?

I understand that most people go in there and don’t know their ass from their elbow. They are completely oblivious and have taken a back seat to their own health and wellness. Most people do not ask for this sort of testing. I get it. Really, I do.

Sorry, I am not those people.

I read. I research. I listen to ideas. I am curious. I am an active participant in my own health. Why is this not normal? Why is it considered weird or paranoid to want to know what is going on inside your own body?

The world we live in today has quite a bit wrong with it.