How Not To Die By Surprise

The days of dying by surprise should be pretty much over. Unless a bus hits you or something random like that happens the big killers like cancer and heart disease do not have to sneak up on you anymore.

You should be able to catch them early enough to change the outcome in the best possible way.

There are tests available now that let you check for the silent stuff early and deal with it before it becomes a major problem.

Here are the tests that will allow you to catch the bad things early......

The Grail Galleri test: This is a simple blood test that looks for DNA signals for over 50 types of cancer. Many of the deadliest cancers have no regular screening so this test can find them while they are still small and treatable. Yeah you might get some false positives but so what. The tech will improve over time and if you can afford the $800 cost its a no brainer. Your doctor can order it or you can get it through my favorite blood testing and tracking app called Function here.

Oxidative Stress Test: This is a simple at home urine test measures oxidative stress. Over 50% of heart attack victims have normal cholesterol so this test measures lipid peroxides which shows if there’s damage to lipid membranes and lipids. It tells you what is damaging your artery wall and whether that damage is active right now which will make worrying about cholesterol numbers concerning or not concerning depending you your result. Get this easy at home test and a review by a cardiologist here.

Coronary Artery Calcium Scan: This is a quick low radiation CT scan of your heart. It measures the calcified plaque built up in your arteries. This test shows plaque that is already hardened of calcified but it misses the more dangerous soft plaque so it is good to do once for a baseline. These are cheap to do and you don't need a doctor's prescription. You can schedule one directly from your Function health app or find one easily online.

CIMT or Carotid Intima Media Thickness Test: This test uses ultrasound on your neck arteries. No radiation. It measures the thickness of the artery walls and usually also checks for SOFT plaque build up which is the most dangerous kind of plaque. Early thickening or plaque in your neck arteries is reliable sign of the same artery disease process happening in your heart and brain. It gives a radiation free look at overall vascular health and stroke risk and data shows that people who score badly on this test do have heart attacks in their future. Its so stupid but you usually do have to get a doctor's referral for this test or go to a cardiologist. In the USA their is a company called LifeLine Screening that does do HALF of this test and a few others for like $150. You really need the full CIMT though.

Cleerly or HeartFlow CCTA Scan: This test is for people who want to know exactly what is going on in their heart in terms of cholesterol and plaque. A CCTA or coronary CT angiogram is a super detailed higher radiation scan with contrast that images the blood vessels of your heart. They then run your images through special Cleerly or HeartFlow AI programs that quantify all your soft and hard plaque and the total amount the of narrowing and reduced blood flow in your heart. Not fully covered by insurance yet so there is some out of pocket cost and you do need a referral from your doctor or cardiologist. The downside of this scan is it has the most radiation of any heart test. 

For most people, a CAC, a CIMT, an oxidative stress test and good labs like an NMR Lipoprofile are probably good enough to get an accurate heart health baseline.

PRENUVO Full body MRI: This test scans your whole body without radiation but with magnetic fields. In under an hour it can detect tumors in hard to reach organs like the pancreas, growing aneurysms in your brain or aorta, organ  and lymph problems, spinal issues, visceral fat and more while they are still small and/or asymptomatic. Unfortunately, these tests are NOT great as a replacement for the heart tests above. But for everything else, they are awesome. Again, you dont need one of these EVERY year but do it once every few years. And the people who dont like these tests usually say "well what if you get a false positive"? I'm like fine. I'd rather get a false positive than one day some doctor telling me out of nowhere I have stage 4 pancreatic cancer and 6 months to live. In fact, true story, a relative had a random scan for a different reason and they caught pancreatic cancer in stage 1. Treated it and now he's fine. The other neat thing is the tech keeps track of your images over time and can more easily spot changes that might be happening. You also have all of your scans and exact issues on your app so you can show any doctor at any time. Your can get $300 off the Prenuvo scan using this special link.

Function Health: This is the membership and app for tracking comprehensive blood labs. Twice a year you get over a hundred markers tested including the advanced ones most doctors skip like ApoB, Lp(a), lipid particle sizes, inflammation, hormones, nutrients, Omega and fatty acids status etc. Everything lives in the app on your phone with trends and insights and AI integration so you catch metabolic inflammation and other drivers of disease years before they cause problems. Membership includes two test periods per year so when you get your first labs back, you can make diet changes etc and then retest in 6 months to see your progress and know if what you are doing is working. Sign up for the Function health app here.

SelfDecode Genetic or WGS Sequencing: SelfDecode analyzes your DNA and gives you polygenic risk scores from adding up all your key variants or errors in your genes that raise the chance of heart disease, cancers Alzheimers and other silent problems. Their genetic reports show your inherited risk so you know exactly where you really need to concentrate on in terms of your health. This will let you know if you need to get a calcium score or Galleri or full body MRI or specific blood labs earlier than the average person. I cannot tell you how valuable this has been for me in terms of health. By showing you exactly where to look, it allows you to solve health issues you've had for years that no one else could ever figure out. A neat thing about SelfDecode is that they also have a "lab analyzer" where you can upload your blood labs and they combine them with your unique genetics then they have integrated AI which will give you a better view and report on your health than any doctor has ever given you.  Get your SelfDecode DNA kit shipped to your house here.

DEXA Scan: This scan measures bone density to catch osteoporosis before fractures and gives body composition including visceral fat, the dangerous kind around your organs that fuels heart disease metabolic problems and inflammation. Quick low radiation cheap and excellent for tracking changes over time. You don't really need it if you do something like Prenuvo.

PRO TIP: In addition to a good doctor you trust, you need to start using AI for your health. I use mostly GROK but also Claude (SelfDecode also has this option built into their dashboard). What you do is you then take ALL of your scans, blood labs, genetics and symptoms and add them to your AI platform. You then tell AI to analyze them all and give you a health report. Have it design a diet and supplement an exercise routine based on all the info it has. You will get the most comprehensive 20, 30, 40 page health report you have ever had in your life. It is a game changer. You must do this. Now. I'll write another blog on exactly what I say to AI to generate these reports but just start and you will get the hang of it.

Some other tests worth considering are a colonoscopy or stool DNA test like Cologuard, a low dose lung CT if you have a bad smoking or industrial pollution history (you can get this in the Function App), a simple abdominal aortic aneurysm ultrasound (these are included in the LifeLine screenings) and a total body skin mapping system that photographs and tracks every mole over time so melanoma cannot sneak up on you. Some companies like Neko Health, SpotDoc and the SkinIO app are starting to do this.

Ok. 

Thats all for today.

Please send this blog to a friend or share it on your social media and start catching disease early while its still treatable by doing some of these scans and tests.