I’m a Mutant. Are you?

Hello stranger! I’ve been dreadfully  neglectful, but I promise I have a good excuse. I was invited to go to Sweden to engage young adults about the Drug Wars and subsequent violence in Mexico. I am considering writing a post about it, but I try to keep my work seperate from this blog. It just means that I have been very busy and jet-lagged and did not have the energy to write anything until now.

In that time I learned something very interesting about myself that could change the course of my health journey. Prior to leaving the country I went in for some more blood tests to check my liver, thyroid antibodies, and take a genetic test to determine whether or not I have something called an MTHFR mutation. Honestly, I was really concerned about my liver and thought about it every time I had a drink in Sweden (but I still drank. At least I’m honest). So after a hellish journey home (Damn you, UNITED!) and a couple days rest I showed up at the Dr’s office to get the results. “Your liver is fine, you don’t have any thyroid antibodies, but you do have a genetic mutation and actually it is a double mutation.” I automatically thought of that three-eyed fish on the Simpsons and was surprisingly unattached to the news, but I must’ve looked concerned because she went on to say that it was really quite common (I believe she used the word rampant)  in Mexicans and people of Mediterranean descent. I asked if it affected life expectancy and was told that it affected quality of life more, but could be managed with a “clean lifestyle”.