You Know You've Gone Peat Mad When

[visionofstrength]

Our bodies do actually keep track of and regulate CO2 and considering this audience on the forum I should have been more thorough. Suffice to say our body tightly controls CO2 and our levels/ set point can gradually be increased but I think Peat has given us excellent ways of achieving this already.

Here's a question just for you, how would you know if the things you are doing are in fact increasing your CO2 level? Have you been tested on a capnograph, or in a blood test? And if you have, what were your results? And what should they be?

My sense is that very few people know what their CO2 levels are, or what they should be, or even that they should know what those levels are!

I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, I'm just trying to point out how much disinformation is out there, and how profoundly and insidiously people (perhaps even you?) are influenced by it, or one might say, brain-washed by it.

 

[Blossom]

My venous CO2 was 29 just a couple weeks ago.

 

[visionofstrength]

My venous CO2 was 29 just a couple weeks ago.

That's low, right? (I'm hoping I'm not saying something you don't already know?) [I'm assuming you're not at more than 3000m elevation.]

And if you feel comfortable sharing, has it improved or gotten worse since you've been practicing the things that Peat teaches? By how much, over how long?

Again, I'm just trying to get some sort of good information out here to counter the disinformation that is put out to an unsuspecting public.

 

[Suikerbuik]

29 is perfect

 

[visionofstrength]

29 is perfect

Reference? Do you know what you are, and how you are trending?

 

[Suikerbuik]

Google is all you need I guess.. References may differ between hospitals. I've been thaught normal is somewhere between 22-30. I have no reason to not trust this. Venous CO2 is a major player in blood pH. Too low is bad as is too high.

 

[visionofstrength]

Google is all you need I guess.. References may differ between hospitals. I've been thaught normal is somewhere between 22-30. I have no reason to not trust this. Venous CO2 is a major player in blood pH. Too low is bad as is too high.

You were taught this in school? Can you say what kind? Was there a book?

You raise an excellent point, normal is 22-30, but what is healthy! We live in an extremely unhealthy world, right?

 

[Suikerbuik]

Clinical biochemistry and yes it was in a book . Considering what Peat writes on CO2. I take the upper end of normal (>26-30) to be perfect. 29 would be the value to strive for.

Health doesn't depend on CO2 measurements/ values solely, absolutely not. Still, It's been said earlier in this topic intracellular CO2 production is what we need to aim for. Supplemental can be beneficial but should be taken with care. I had a fish tank with CO2. When I disconnected the CO2 apparatus and I was exposed to it, it only took a moment before I became drowsy. It can be helpful but only in a controlled environment. IMO, you have to be careful with giving advices on a forum.

 

[visionofstrength]

Clinical biochemistry and yes it was in a book . Considering what Peat writes on CO2. I take the upper end of normal (>26-30) to be perfect. 29 would be the value to strive for.

I wonder if it's an issue with units? 29 what? If you had a PaCO2 of 29 mmhg in your venous capillaries, you'd be low. Healthy is a PaCO2 of 45 mmhg. So is there another unit here? If so, I'll need to look up a conversion to PaCO2.

[Edit: I've looked it up, and it seems that 29 is likely not a measure of CO2 at all, but instead a measure of HCO3 expressed in mEq/l.

To convert HCO3 to CO2 we'd need to know the pH, and then use our friend the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation!]

 

[Blossom]

The lab reference range was 18-27 for venous blood but it does vary a bit from lab to lab. I'm at 700 feet above sea level. I ran at about 24 prior to Peat. I'm happy with my reading considering I'm currently not doing regular bag breathing.

 

[visionofstrength]

Clinical biochemistry and yes it was in a book . Considering what Peat writes on CO2. I take the upper end of normal (>26-30) to be perfect. 29 would be the value to strive for.

I just had a crash course and I think I found that if 29 is a measure of HCO3 expressed in mEq/l, then you need pH to learn what's going on.

Basically, for any given HCO3, the higher the pH the lower the PaCO2. And you use the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation for the calculation. Peat recommends carbonic anhydrase inhibitors to make this equation favor the PaCO2.

Does that fit with what you remember from the course? (Sorry if I'm wrong, I'm just learning as I go!!)

 

[Blossom]

To get a PaC02 reading would require an arterial blood gas draw which would also give a pH, Pa02, HC03 and base excess. I merely had a venous draw and the unit of measurement was in MMOL/L.

 

[Blossom]

Normal PaC02 in medicine is considered 35-45.

 

[Blossom]

The unit of measurement in an ABG is in mmHg. I think it sometimes creates confusion because of the difference in MMOL/L(venous blood) as compared to mmHG(arterial blood).

 

[visionofstrength]

To get a PaC02 reading would require an arterial blood gas draw which would also give a pH, Pa02, HC03 and base excess. I merely had a venous draw and the unit of measurement was in MMOL/L.

But did the venous draw tell you the pH? because if it did we can calculate H+ and the PaCO2 using this nifty formula, derived from Henderson/Hasselbalch:

PCO2 = [HCO3 - ] x [H+] / 24

The problem with the HCO3 that they measured is it does not tell you how healthy you are, in Peat's sense, if at the same time you have a high blood pH (in which case you would have a low PaCO2).

 

[visionofstrength]

To get a PaC02 reading would require an arterial blood gas draw which would also give a pH, Pa02, HC03 and base excess. I merely had a venous draw and the unit of measurement was in MMOL/L.

Yes, this is what I just learned in the crash course I just took.

You can also hook yourself up to a CO2 sensor and not have to worry about blood draws!!! Hey!

 

[charlie]

Arterial blood gas draws are no fun.

 

[visionofstrength]

Arterial blood gas draws are no fun.

Can I count you in on the DIY CO2 sensor fun? It's all fun and no blood!

 

[Blossom]

They can be very painful if not done by a skilled person. There is a definite difficulty to it because it's a blind stick and if the artery is damaged that can be a big deal. My CO2 result was from a BMP venous blood test. I could probably get an arterial draw done fairly easily but I honestly wouldn't trust many people to do it right. DIY sensor sounds way better.

 

[visionofstrength]

They can be very painful if not done by a skilled person. There is a definite difficulty to it because it's a blind stick and if the artery is damaged that can be a big deal. My CO2 result was from a BMP venous blood test. I could probably get an arterial draw done fairly easily but I honestly wouldn't trust many people to do it right. DIY sensor sounds way better.

The sensor is about $400 or so, but this seems to equate to one or two tests. Here, you can test your PaCO2 anytime of night or day. The PaCO2 does vary quite a bit, and is lowest in the morning, when it matters most, because it indicates how well you slept (or not).