2024 Fast Day Four

Monday, 8 April 2024

Feeling slightly better after what was a low point yesterday, Monday happily was another quiet (at least from a strenuous exertion point of view) day, particularly for me as I had Zooms to, well, not bother with, since they were such a gas, but address in the morning and the first of several test recordings of the new live show to do with Joel in the midday.

The relevant points for the fasting and health regime though were the usual doctor's appointment in the morning to go over all the blood and urine test results, and then, finally, my first ever experience with a "high colonic" or as they so scientifically call it here, ColonHydroFlow therapy, to wit:

COLON HYDROTHERAPHY

Gentle intestinal cleansing using warm water combined with abdominal massage. A manual therapy which flushes the entire colon. Deposited intestinal contents pass gently out through a closed system. This intestinal rehabilitation and regeneration is used, among other things, for migraine, bowel irritation and acne. Singing bowls can be combined with the treatment, making it even more pleasant for our guests and often more successful due to the deep relaxation.

I did not benefit from the singing bowl treatment (that one is still to come, as separate option) so my experience was, well, weird AF but pleasant nonetheless as this beast:

The machine itself - serious much?

In slightly larger context - sterile yet comfortable?

And the "attachment"

...went through the process of irrigating and "cleansing" my large intestine. I didn't learn much in the way of new German vocabulary, but...that tube and my "po" got, um, very well acquainted over the next hour. I'll leave more details to your imagination, or by all means, DM me and we'll talk, but I can neither recommend nor censure the experience. I mean really, would you take a restaurant recommendation from someone who'd only eaten at one restaurant - ever! - to have any credence whatsoever?

It came highly recommended by my doctor - Wolfgang Finke - at the clinic, and as such, was well worth the experiment. Ask me again next year if I go back to that well. But having mentioned Dr Finke, I can segue to the test results, which were encouraging. The less exciting bits? Total cholesterol was a little bit higher than desired at 242 mg/dl - I'm told you want that under 200. Doc Finke was not bothered given the much better than desired HDL (76 vs desired >40 number) and the much more important to him LDL/HDL ratio - mine was 2.1 with the goal being <3.

The much more telling stat for him was one that was a little dangerous looking last year - my thyroid stat (the measure is hormone TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone) he said resembled the numbers of an overstressed, even overwhelmed CEO or other business leader. (The stat then was 4.6, when the standard acceptable range is 0.4 - 4.0 milliunits/Liter) Doc Finke was very pleased to see that it had fallen to 2.6 this year for two reasons: 1) that that's a healthy number in its own right, and 2) (more pleasing) that he generally tends not to see high numbers fall, that it's generally a chronic problem.

That suggests to him that Vicky's and my stress last year was happily acute (yes, being literally homeless for two months when the house you were going to live in disappears out from under you) and not a long-term condition. Needless to say, I was pleased too.

Usual stats
BP: 114/67
Kg: 75.4
HR: 41