Health Update - Month 11

I did not get a blood test this month, as I decided to reduce the frequency of testing in 2026. I now monitor my health by listening to my body. I plan not to test until the end of March 2026, which makes testing quarterly.

Contents

• Body Weight
• Gym Performance
• Sleep
• Resting Heart Rate
• Menstrual Cycle
  • Why Do I Want to Reduce My Platelet Count Continuously?
• Diet
• Other Learnings
  • Muscle to Sink Blood Sugar
  • Toxins on Menstrual Pads
  • Whoosh Effect
• Autoimmune Update
  • ITP: Manageable Menstrual Cycle
  • Lupus
• Next Steps

Body Weight

My body weight has been stable around 128 lbs, with fluctuations along the cycle.

At this point, I want to maintain my weight at this level to observe changes in body composition.

I always thought I needed to lose more weight before I could do a pull-up. One morning, I saw a guy with a beer belly doing pull-ups easily. That changed my perspective. I will now focus on what my body can do rather than the number on the scale.

My face shape has changed lately, getting less puffy and more defined around the cheeks and jawline. I’m not sure if it’s temporary, but it’s happening even though my weight still fluctuates within the same range. Maybe this is the famous "whoosh" effect.

Gym Performance

As I planned in the previous month, I tested eating before workouts this month—and it made a huge difference. Sometimes I ate a big breakfast (my beloved banana/peanut butter sammy, Skyr yogurt with nuts and fruit) before going to the gym. The performance was explosive! I burned almost 400 calories before I even noticed. My normal is around 200. OMG. I also didn’t feel tired in the afternoon.

There was no weight gain from this. This is such a huge win for me: I enjoy eating breakfast, it improves my gym performance and post-workout energy levels, and I’m not gaining weight.

Nowadays, I can sense my hunger cues more distinctly. I listen to my body, eat when I’m hungry, and stop when I’m full. This body–mind connection is much clearer now.

My joint pain returned this month after being absent last month. The pain is not constant, but it shows up during specific movements around the joint. I now think the lack of joint pain last month wasn’t due to lower inflammation, but rather because I didn’t work out during my vacation.

One thing I can test is reducing leg workouts to once a week and seeing if the joint pain improves. Upper-body workouts are fine.

Sleep

Sleep has been good and very predictable. I fall asleep between 9:30 pm and 10:30 pm while watching TV and wake up naturally between 5:30 am and 6:30 am. (I wish I could be woken up by the 6:30 am alarm, but it never happens.)

I also noticed that when I take a nap during the day, I feel refreshed and energetic for the rest of the day, but I have a harder time falling asleep at night. It’s noticeable, but not too bad.

Resting Heart Rate

My resting heart rate has been stable around 58 bpm and is trending down. There were no big spikes this month, which suggests good overall cardiovascular health and no infection.

There were two days when I had a sore throat, but it went away quickly.

Menstrual Cycle

My menstrual cycle was manageable this month, which indicates that my platelet count likely remained within a safe range. I did not see any blood clots in my underwear, which is very reassuring.

Given this, I decided to further reduce my Doptelet dosage to 20 mg every 4 days (from 40 mg every 7 days). This is a very small dose reduction. I will monitor my next cycle to see how it goes.

I used to hate that a low platelet count caused heavy menstrual bleeding, but now it has become a tool for monitoring my platelet count. My perspective has shifted.

Why Do I Want to Reduce My Platelet Count Continuously?

Doptelet is lifesaving, but all prescription drugs come with short- and long-term side effects. These drugs were approved based on short-term clinical trials, not long-term studies. No one knows the long-term side effects until many years later. I'm also not sure whether long-term use would prevent my body from producing platelets on its own.

I want my body to heal naturally and produce platelets independently, not rely on drugs forever. I know the root cause of my ITP—poor gut health—so I'm healing it at the source.

Diet

This month, I decided to quit looking at screens while eating—cold turkey. It feels good to savor each bite, especially my favorite peanut butter banana sammies. By paying attention to eating and my satiety cues, I’ve become less attached to food. Even with peanut butter banana sammies, I can clearly feel when my body signals that I’ve had enough.

This feeling is powerful. I can eat enough—without overeating or undereating. It’s a balance.

Thanks to the habit of appreciating coffee beans, I’ve started to appreciate the taste spectrum of many foods. Every bite and every chew becomes intentional. I taste every bit of flavor with every part of my mouth.

This is how eating is supposed to be.

Other Learnings

Muscle to Sink Blood Sugar

I stumbled upon a tweet, fact-checked it, and also confirmed it in an interview with former bodybuilding champion Dorian Yates on Andrew Huberman’s podcast.

Muscles clear glucose in two different ways after a meal.

Most people only use one. When you sit after eating, glucose disposal depends almost entirely on insulin signaling from the pancreas. That pathway works, but it has limited capacity, which is why post-meal glucose spikes are higher and last longer.

When you move after eating—even lightly—a second pathway activates in parallel.

Muscle contraction independently activates glucose transporters (GLUT4), allowing glucose to enter muscle cells without waiting for insulin. The result is faster glucose clearance, lower peaks, and less strain on the pancreas.

As we age, we lose muscle mass and therefore lose some of our ability to clear glucose from the blood. This is one reason strength training becomes more important as we age.

This makes me more confident in the direction of my resistance training.

Toxins on Menstrual Pads

I came across a tweet complaining about the cloth menstrual pads introduced by Muji. I dug into the replies and related research and was surprised to learn that conventional pads and tampons may contain toxins.

As I’ve been doing my absolute best to remove industrial products from my life, I was shocked that I missed this one. I did some research, talked to my mom about how women managed their periods in the past, and found cloth pads being sold on Etsy. I’m going to try them out and see how it goes.

Another interesting fact: in the past, women didn’t menstruate as often because they were pregnant or breastfeeding much of the time.

Whoosh Effect

I came across this article on X about the whoosh effect and it was eye-opening.

When you are losing body fat, and those fatty acids are finally being metabolized out of fat cells, this will lead to a short term increase in water retention. It's conjectured that the fat cells will temporarily refill with water. Your weight will go up, but then there's a big drop as the body adjusts, body water reduces. Fat loss is never perfectly linear.

This effect is never been proven scientifically, but it is a common phenomenon reported by many people who are losing weight. It is cool to know this and watch out for it.

Autoimmune Update

ITP: Manageable Menstrual Cycle

My menstrual cycle was manageable this month, which indicates that my platelet count likely remained within a safe range. I did not see any blood clots in my underwear, which is very reassuring.

Given this, I decided to further reduce my Doptelet dosage to 20 mg every 4 days (from 40 mg every 7 days). This is a very small dose reduction. I will monitor my next cycle to see how it goes.

Lupus

No update this month. Most of time I did not think about it. Except the joint pain that I mentioned earlier, I don't feel any other symptoms.

Next Steps

• [New] Reduce Doptelet to 20 mg every 4 days
• Continue strength training, focusing on pliability and flexibility
• [New] Reduce leg workouts
• Keep pork intake low; focus on beef, fish, lamb, and eggs
• Eat clean, sleep well, and get regular sun exposure
• Manage low heart rate
• Continue eating complex carbs, vegetables, fruits, and nuts
• Avoid gluten for now
• [New] Switch to organic cloth menstrual pads
• [New] No screens while eating