Is Your Check-Engine Light On?

Do you even know, bro?

In 2021 and 2024 I received gifts. These were the most important gifts I’ve received in a very long time, if not in my lifetime. In 2021, the gift appeared more like a Pandora’s Box than a gift, until I later realized how precious it was. More on the 2024 gift later in this story, but let’s start at the beginning.

Doctors ALWAYS tell me I’m a ‘very healthy person’. Maybe relatively speaking I am. Maybe they’re not to blame for mislabeling me. By traditional metrics, I might have been considered very healthy at some point. But then along came H1N1 - yes, remember the H1N1 2009 influenza pandemic? My youngest son and I both had it. When the vaccine (injectable or nasal spray) came along in October 2009, I didn’t even pay attention. I had experienced the illness, which was the ‘perfected’ method of building immunity to diseases at that time. However, I was encouraged by my primary care physician not long after to get an annual flu shot, which I did that one time. I didn’t make connections between influenza and the subsequent events until much later, but at various times from 2009 to 2020 I developed ALL of the following - mystery rashes on my torso, a sudden and inexplicable allergy to poison ivy/oak (unique from the rashes), pneumonia (3 years in a row), bronchitis (the year following the end of the pneumonia run), an allergy to shea butter and a sudden development of kidney failure. I was not even aware of the kidney failure until 2024.

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In October of 2021, I contracted what the medical establishment identified as the Delta variant of COVID-19. The definition of the Greek alphabet letter, Delta, depends on how it is used. For these purposes, the definition is ‘change, difference, or a macroscopic change in a variable’. In this case, the change was a 2-3 year deterioration in my overall health starting with the gift. The 2021 ‘gift’ was Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib). I developed it during my bout of COVID and currently take a mild medication for it because I have no other risk factors. The other signs of deterioration were gastritis, urinary bleeding and infection, vertigo, hiatal hernia, ocular migraines, intra-uterine fluid (required surgery), and most recently a very rare allergy to pomegranate. Seriously?! Each ER or doctor visit was met with ‘we aren’t finding anything’ and/or ‘you’re a healthy person, so…’. During this period, I asked each specialist to assume I was not a healthy person, because, I don’t know, healthy people are NOT FALLING APART. LOL.

It got to the point where I myself began jumping at shadows. Some of this was certainly leftover ‘new world order’ crap from the pandemic. But much of it was me doubting what doctors believed my physical and mental health to be. My husband wanted me to KNOW I was healthy and this brings me to the summer of 2024 and my second gift. This is also when, in hindsight, I realized that A-Fib was a gift. It required me to get serious about understanding and managing both my mental and physical health.

My husband is a hobbyist researcher who follows several longevity and health experts, one of whom recommended Function Health. Function Health (referral link at the end of this post) is a service through which an annual fee covers 2 blood panels per year, spaced roughly 6 months apart. For additional fees, more tests can be added to the 100+ in their standard panel. For example, I added testing for the APOE genes involved in Alzheimer’s disease, of which my family has a history. The tests are reviewed by a physician who provides both an extremely well-written, thorough explanation of each out-of-range result and a comprehensive action plan to correct course.

This gift was priceless (at $499) because it identified that my blood sugar (I had A1C for first time ever) and many of the cardiac metrics had deteriorated since COVID too. Here in my hands I had a book about my true internal health, by the numbers, by someone who is only paid to read, summarize, and recommend corrections for tests, with no vested interest that I can determine except to keep me coming back to have the testing and to fully control my own health. They didn’t try to sell me anything, other than the actual blood tests they offer. Not only that, but the process was insanely easy. Here in the US there is a FULLY automated scheduling and follow up process, with blood draws being collected at Quest diagnostics.

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This is where the story gets really interesting. I was doctor shopping at the time, trying to find someone who was a bit more holistic since the Nurse Practitioner I previously saw had retired. I took my function health results, which you can download and save, to the visit with my new doctor and she ordered repeat kidney testing and a referral to a kidney specialist because of the dismal GFR numbers reported by Function Health. NO ONE else considered my kidney numbers out of range. When I looked back at my blood work from annual physicals as far back as 2013, it had been deteriorating for over a decade (10 points lost in 2013 and another 10 in 2021, out of 100 we start life with) and NO ONE in the medical establishment ever flagged it. NO ONE, NOT ONCE. That was insane to me.

When I saw the kidney specialist he had the audacity to tell me my number was not concerning to him (my failure is stage 3 of 5, with 5 being transplant or death) because I was ‘healthy’ and because (in his words) they don’t even tell people they have kidney disease until they are already in stage 3 failure because it’s not an issue unless patients have other factors - like diabetes, stroke, heart disease. See notes above about my heart and blood sugar. GAH! I truly wanted to sock that guy in the mouth. He also said no dietary or lifestyle changes were necessary because you cannot reverse kidney disease. I chose not to take his words to heart.

Through anti-inflammatory eating, increased exercise, and reduced stress my second round of tests show that I’ve moved the dial, despite the kidney doc’s thoughts on the matter. I am extremely happy to report that although I still have work to do on my heart metrics (cholesterol, Omega’s, etc.), my kidney number actually improved by 7 points. And, despite all the yellow and red flags, my real age is still years younger than my birth age of 60, at 53.

What I’ve learned from this experience is that holistic health is not always available from the GP’s office. But it’s not that difficult. Working a few levers, all of which most of us control ourselves, keeps us inside the green lines:

1. Basic, traditional health matters - good sleep, body movement, raw food, nature and sunshine - all nearly free.

2. Extra eyes help - It’s important to look under the hood occasionally and maybe, at least once every few years, have an impartial third party do a more thorough diagnostic.

3. More information is better, in the context of whether something is concerning

4. Social and community exposure improve both mental and physical health outcomes. After the pandemic, we moved back where our family is from an reconnecting has improved our overall outlook on life.

I’ll write more about number 4 in the future. However, today we have a real-life example of how social/community factors impact us. I asked

Stone Bryson

to share how he feels living local has benefitted him and community sourcing is a huge part of his success.

Stone Bryson’s Experience with Living Local

When Cori asked me drop a few words on how living local has improved my overall quality of life, I figured it would be easy. It is something for which I advocate heavily, and - since I have written thousands of words on the subject - I was confident it would be a breeze. Goodness, was I wrong.

Over the last week I have spent many hours attempting to string together words which would encapsulate the benefits of ‘living local’ in a compact yet powerful manner. Yet nothing that I was typing out was coming together to my satisfaction, as rewrite after rewrite continued to frustrate me.

Then I realized I was going about it all wrong, because there is no ‘grandiose’ in living local. Indeed, it is all about the simple things.

It is knowing your state and local officials by more than a smiling face on TV or a username on social media, and having the confidence that when you speak with them your voice may actually carry weight. That confidence does not exist when addressing a far-away politician who is entrenched in DC swamp-politics.

It is spending your money with businesses owned and located in your town and county, and having the knowledge that said-money is remaining local, where it can benefit yourself and your neighbors. That is not the case when you are buying from transnational retail outlets, where some billionaire living in a castle-like compound hundreds of miles away reaps the rewards.

It is actually knowing the person selling you your life-sustaining food, and therefore trusting that said-food is the healthiest you can buy. This peace-of-mind, that your nourishments are locally produced, 100% natural and thus free of toxic additives, cannot be achieved through purchasing foreign (or even out-of-state) items, especially the processed monstrosities peddled by Madison Avenue.

It is in the certainty that you are making a genuine difference, both in your own life and in the lives of those in your immediate sphere. It is not theoretical, not manufactured in national opinion-polls nor created through deceptively-edited marketing campaigns; it is right there, in front of your own eyes.

You experience it first-hand, for yourself. Tangible. Real. Natural.

This is something we lose with the hyper-focus on ‘the big picture’ for when we fret over national and international concerns we lose that sense of empowerment; this serves to disconnect us, not only from our communities but also from ourselves. On a subconscious level we begin to feel our decisions, our voices, even our very lives are meaningless, especially when compared to the major events unfolding at break-neck velocities in the mass media.

Everything we do is reduced in scope, therefore we feel reduced. Small. Powerless. Insignificant.

Living local flips the script, because you witness to the results of every action, while learning that everything you do actually matters; this alters your view of the entire world, because your ‘world’ becomes your own proverbial backyard. A place where you are empowered, where you really can shape your own future. Once you accept this your outlook changes, and once that happens? Everything changes.

This is how ‘living local’ has benefitted me… and why I advocate for it as strongly as I do.

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This story has been cooking in my mind for quite some time, but it’s not stand-alone. I will be updating and republishing my post about good sleep shortly, and posting a piece about making the most of what minutes we have to move our bodies daily. I’m not an expert, just a human who has figured a few things out for myself that might benefit others.

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Get your friends and family on the Bren’s Buzz tour bus heading for happiness.

Ok, whatcha think? Come at us with your questions. Hey, hey! No pushing. There’s room for everyone.

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Function Health Referral Link - https://my.functionhealth.com/signup?code=LRHOADES11&_saasquatch=LRHOADES11

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See more about Living Local at The Stone Age

Living Local

See more about sunshine’s impact on mood and health in this 2-part series