# My blood tests are confusing me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218 "2024-09-13T16:36:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/1 "2024-09-13T16:36:40Z")
I’ve written before about the toxic-mold house I was living in for nine months (I finally moved out a month ago.) Among other things, I’d lost ten pounds for no good reason and was having constant headaches. Right before moving out, my blood tests showed sky-high MMP-9 and TGFb1 (both inflammation biomarkers.) My a-MSH and VEGF were also abnormally low, a bad sign. After spending a month in the new mold-free apartment, my MMP-9 and TGFb1 plummeted, which was good news, but my a-MSH and VEGF only fell even further, which was bad news. Homocysteine, tryptase, creatine kinase, etc. have always been normal throughout. I’ve been trying to get doctor consultations but their availability is almost nil, typically requiring months in advance. I’ve been sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet for months. Any medical Dopers here who know why some blood biomarkers could improve while others simultaneously worsen at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/2 "2024-09-13T17:46:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’ve been sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet for months. What does this diet consist of? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/3 "2024-09-13T17:52:37Z")
Basically what’s always recommended: heavy focus on vegetables and fruits, especially the antioxidant plants, and avoiding red meat, refined flour/carbs and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/4 "2024-09-13T19:06:06Z")
Calling on @Qadgop_the_Mercotan. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/5 "2024-09-13T19:40:47Z")
I’m curious where you are that you can get these kinds of blood tests without a doctor’s order? And don’t they have doc-in-a-box clinics where you are (I ask, not knowing where you are)? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/6 "2024-09-13T19:59:44Z")
I used Ulta Labs. I did ask around some MinuteClinics but the nurses/doctors would only give very vague and general info. I tried to get appointments with immunologists/allergists but they also only gave very vague responses to all questions as well. I’m in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/7 "2024-09-13T21:03:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Basically what’s always recommended: heavy focus on vegetables and fruits, especially the antioxidant plants, and avoiding red meat, refined flour/carbs and sugar. That’s a very generic answer to a specific question. Practically speaking, your diet will affect your adrenocorticotropic hormones including α-MSH, and what “antioxidant plants” you are ingesting and in what quantities are salient to addressing your question. Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) can be affected by a lot of different influences including stress, allergens, diabetic and rheumatoid arthritis conditions, et cetera. Realistically, a blood panel only provides inputs into a comprehensive health assessment and focusing only on a few parameters can be misleading at best, and there is no way to answer your question without more information. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/8 "2024-09-13T23:27:46Z")
Honestly, I’ve never ordered or interpreted any of those tests in my entire 40 year career. My go-to internet source (UpToDate) for accepted modern medicine practices (based on evidence-based studies) doesn’t even list MMP-9, nor TGFb-1 nor a-MSH. VEGF inhibitors are mostly used clinically for certain types of cancer, and as a very active research area. Inflammation biomarkers tend to be incredibly non-specific as to regards what’s going on in an individual’s health. They tend to be helpful (sometimes) in folks who are already diagnosed with an inflammatory disorder, and said tests may then reflect their underlying disease activity (or not). Diagnosis based on lab testing alone is a slippery thing to do. A wise clinician orders a lab test when they think they already know what the result will be based on patient history/physical exam and clinical presentation. ‘Shotgun’ lab testing tends to turn up far, far more false or unhelpful positive or negative results than it turns up confirmatory information. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/9 "2024-09-13T23:34:33Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Honestly, I’ve never ordered or interpreted any of those tests in my entire 40 year career. Reading online that’s the impression I got. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/10 "2024-09-13T23:46:51Z")
Yeah, @Velocity , see a doctor. A lay person and one such as yourself that worries so much, you need a professional. You’re tormenting yourself. And spending money that is unwarranted. Not needed. Go to a live Doctor. Let them do labs, let them explain, believe it and relax. I have regular blood work done. Tiny discrepancies don’t really change much in overall, everyday health. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/11 "2024-09-13T23:54:08Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Yeah, @Velocity , see a doctor. A _real_ doctor. There is a guy with a “doctor’s office” around here adjacent to a vitamin place where you can buy ear candles. He’s a naturopath. Calls himself a doctor of naturopathy. I’m sure he would run inflammation tests on you. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blood-tests-are-confusing-me/1007218/12 "2024-09-14T05:45:04Z")
Oh boy, would he.