If it was inflamed would your GGT level be high?

This reminds me of another recent comment in some other post, about doctors not diagnosing "hard to diagnose" things.

There are probably ("good") reasons for this. But your own persistence, and today the help of AI, can potentially help you. The problem with it is the same problem as previously: "charlatans". Just that today the charlatan and the savior are both one and the same: The AI.

I do recognize that most people probably can't tell one from the other. In both cases ;)

You'll find this in my post history a few times now but essentially: I was lethargic all the time, got migraine type headaches "randomly" a lot. Having the feeling I'd need to puke. One time I had to stop driving as it just got so bad. I suddenly was no longer able to tolerate alcohol either.

I went to multiple doctors, was sent to specialists, who all told me that they could maaaaaybe do test XYX but essentially: It wasn't a thing, I was crazy.

Through a lot of online research I "figured out" (and that's an over-statement) that it was something about the gut microbiome. Something to do with histamine. I tried a bunch of things, like I suspected it might be DAO (Di-Amino-Oxidase) insufficiency. I tried a bunch of probiotics, both the "heals all your stuff" and "you need to take a single strain or it won't work" type stuff. Including "just take Actimel". Actimel gave me headaches! Turns out one of the (prominent) strains in there makes histamine. Guess what, Alcohol, especially some, has histamines and your "hangover" is also essentially histamines (made worse by the dehydration). And guess what else, some foods, especially some I love, contain or break down into histamines.

So I figured that somehow it's all about histamines and how my current gut microbiome does not deal well with excess histamines (through whichever source). None of the doctors I went to believed this to be a "thing" nor did they want to do anything about it. Then I found a pro-biotic that actually helped. If you really want to check what I am taking, check the history. I'm not a marketing machine. What I do believe is that one particular bacterium helped, because it's the one thing that wasn't in any of the other ones I took: Bacillus subtilis.

A soil based bacterium, which in the olden times, you'd have gotten from slightly not well enough cleaned cabbage or whatever vegetable du jour you were eating. Essentially: if your toddler stuffs his face with a handful of dirt, that's one thing they'd be getting and it's for the better! I'm saying this, because the rest of the formulation was essentially the same as the others I tried.

I took three pills per day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I felt like shit for two weeks, even getting headaches again. I stuck with it. After about two weeks I started feeling better. I think that's when my gut microbiome got "turned around". I was no longer lethargic and I could eat blue cheese and lasagna three days in a row with two glasses of red wine and not get a headache any longer! Those are all foods that contain or make lots of histamine. I still take one per day and I have no more issues.

But you gotta get to this, somehow, through all of the bullshit people that try to sell you their "miracle cure" stuff. And it's just as hard as trying to suss out where the AI is bullshitting you.

There was exactly a single doctor in my life, who I would consider good in that regard. I had already figured the above one out by that time but I was doing keto and it got all of my blood markers, except for cholesterol into normal again. She literally "googled" with me about keto a few times, did a blood test to confirm that I was in ketosis and in general was just awesome about this. She was notoriously difficult to book and later than any doctor for schedules appointments, but she took her time and even that would not really ever have been enough to suss out the stuff that I figured out through research myself if you ask me. While doctors are the "half gods in white", I think there's just way too much stuff and way too little time for them. It's like: All the bugs at your place of work. Now imagine you had exactly one doctor across a multitude of companies. Of course they only figure out the "common" ones ...

At least in Poland, I can almost always see my results before my doctor does - I get a notification that the labwork is ready and I can view results online.

Also, the regular bloodwork is around $50-$100 (for noninsured or without a prescription), so many people just do this out of pocket once in a while and only bring to doctor if anything looks suspicious.

Finally, there is EU regulation about data that applies to medical field as well - you always have the right to view all the data that any company has stored about you. Gatekeeping is forbidden by law.

You don't need a doctor to order bloodwork. I get a full panel done yearly, just to establish a baseline and trend. I try not to overanalyze it, and just keep it around for a professional in case some real issue arises in the future.

I was amused but not impressed when I was able to convince Claude Code that it was useless and absolutely not a service worth paying for. It literally apologized and recommended I ask for a refund. I mean, I still get lots of value from CC. Just that it's easy to push them into whatever corner you want.

It's amazing this still needs to be said, especially here

You are _absolutely_ going to die in the next 30 minutes.

When it doesn't happen will you still be happy?

Part of the issue is taking it's output as conclusion rather than as a signal / lead.

I would never let an LLM make an amputate or not decision, but it could convince me to go talk with an expert who sees me in person and takes a holistic view.