Dr. Peat Asked Me For An Aldosterone Blood Test

[TreasureVibe]

Hi there. I have contacted Dr. Peat for some burning health questions surrounding my own health after having abused steroids 3 years ago. He asked me for a list of blood values to get tested, which are the following:

TSH
CRP
Cortisol
Prolactin
Vitamin D
DHEA
Aldosterone
Cholesterol
Albumine

He also asked for blood pressure and body temperature.

Now I have inquired a private lab to get these blood tests but they said that aldosterone required a complex pre-analysis and therefor I couldn't get that one tested. I have e-mailed another private lab but I thought I'd ask on here in the meantime to see if anybody knows more.

What exactly does Dr. Peat mean with getting my aldosterone checked, does he require me to do this complex pre-analysis? Or can aldosterone be tested elsewhere without a complex pre-analysis.

I hope someone knows! Thanks.

 

[Suikerbuik]

It's often tested with renin, for which you have to lie down half an hour prior testing.

 

[TreasureVibe]

It's often tested with renin, for which you have to lie down half an hour prior testing.

Can it be tested without renin though?

 

[yerrag]

@TreasureVibe Were you able to get your aldosterone values? Do you know what the optimal range is?

 

[TreasureVibe]

@TreasureVibe Were you able to get your aldosterone values? Do you know what the optimal range is?

Unfortunately I have not yet come to do it. Optimal range I do not know but could be found online.

 

[peateats1]

Walkinlab.com has this test available...I did it a while back and it just involved going to a local labcorp and getting a simple blood draw. I think it takes a few days to get the results back.

 

[yerrag]

Unfortunately I have not yet come to do it. Optimal range I do not know but could be found online.

I have real difficulty finding the optimal range. Reference range I can find, but that's not the same as optimal range.

 

[yerrag]

@TreasureVibe I finally found it, but I had to pay $10 for an ebook. Let me know what you find out and let's compare notes. Just can't believe I couldn't find a simple information from the internet without having to pay for it. I'm spoiled by all the free stuff and am miffed when I can't info for free lol

 

[rei]

Instead of leaving us hanging why don't you simply state the book in question and the mentioned optimal range (along with any references)? This is fair use.

 

[yerrag]

Instead of leaving us hanging why don't you simply state the book in question and the mentioned optimal range (along with any references)? This is fair use.

I thought I was the only one interested in getting that answer. I was doing that out of spite you know. It seems to me something as important as aldosterone in a Ray Peat forum at that, there would be more people interested in gaining something from having that information.

If I just throw that information out, I wouldn't even know you would be interested. Sorry for keeping you hanging!

Anything above 15 ng/dL. The source is "Curable Hypertension: Primary Aldosteronism" by Janet Rankin.

Now if I were to ask this forum what are the optimal values for cortisol (am/pm), being that it's a common marker in discussion, it's also likely I would get no answer. But it's hard to believe that, considering people would say their cortisol is high, and yet they can't answer what constitutes high or what's low or what's normal.

 

[ddjd]

Aldosterone signals the kidneys to retain salt and water, thus maintaining the body's fluid and electrolyte (sodium and potassium) balance. It's critical to regulating blood pressure.

 

[Diddleum]

I’ve just discovered that I can lower my pre hypertensive bp of about 130/90 to about 105/68 by massively increasing salt intake from a couple of g to about 20g per day.

Im assuming I’ve massively dropped my aldosterone. No blood tests done.

 

[yerrag]

I’ve just discovered that I can lower my pre hypertensive bp of about 130/90 to about 105/68 by massively increasing salt intake from a couple of g to about 20g per day.

Im assuming I’ve massively dropped my aldosterone. No blood tests done.

You have enough albumin, and that albumin was waiting for the salt, and when salt came, the albumin held on to the salt in a complex. With salt retained, it was just easy for water to be attracted from the extracellular fluids into the plasma, and this led to an increase in blood volume. And consequently, lower blood pressure.

Glad salt worked for you. Taking salt fit your context. It doesn't work for me because my albumin is low. I'm working on increasing it though.

If you focuses more on blood volume than on aldosterone, and you found that blood volume was low, it would have led you to increase salt intake.

The RBC value in a CBC test would serve as a useful surrogate for blood volume. The higher it is, the lower the blood volume.

OTOH, an aldosterone test is much more expensive, and when it's high, usually the answer is to take a maintenance drug for it. Many people (familiar with Peat) may try to fix it by taking salt, and failing to lower BP, would just turn to taking a maintenance drug. Most people just go straight into drugs.

 

[Diddleum]

You have enough albumin, and that albumin was waiting for the salt, and when salt came, the albumin held on to the salt in a complex. With salt retained, it was just easy for water to be attracted from the extracellular fluids into the plasma, and this led to an increase in blood volume. And consequently, lower blood pressure.

Glad salt worked for you. Taking salt fit your context. It doesn't work for me because my albumin is low. I'm working on increasing it though.

If you focuses more on blood volume than on aldosterone, and you found that blood volume was low, it would have led you to increase salt intake.

The RBC value in a CBC test would serve as a useful surrogate for blood volume. The higher it is, the lower the blood volume.

OTOH, an aldosterone test is much more expensive, and when it's high, usually the answer is to take a maintenance drug for it. Many people (familiar with Peat) may try to fix it by taking salt, and failing to lower BP, would just turn to taking a maintenance drug. Most people just go straight into drugs.

Thanks. This is all quite new to me after a lifetime of hypo symptoms. To get some sort of result finally even if it’s just on the bp meter reading is exciting. I guess blood volume and bp are massive important things to optimise first. Hoping my symptoms improve in time as things adjust to the changes.

Can you offer any other advice in what I should look into given this discovery?

do you think using my bp is a reasonable way to check I’m getting enough salt?

 

[yerrag]

Thanks. This is all quite new to me after a lifetime of hypo symptoms. To get some sort of result finally even if it’s just on the bp meter reading is exciting. I guess blood volume and bp are massive important things to optimise first. Hoping my symptoms improve in time as things adjust to the changes.

Can you offer any other advice in what I should look into given this discovery?

do you think using my bp is a reasonable way to check I’m getting enough salt?

I'm glad that salt is your 'maintenance drug,' which meant the cure is not going to cause side-effects, unlike the effect of taking maintenance drugs.

If you're keeping records, do you have a CBC blood test and can you check the value of your RBC, Hgb, and Hct?

Even so, 130/90 is considered normal and nothing to worry about.

But you say you're hypo. Is that hypoglycemic? Was taking salt about to help you with your hypoglycenic condition? Why do you say your're hypoglycemic?