[Note: this is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]
1/30/21
Aloha, Everyone!
This is the time of year when I really get to gloat about the mainland weather versus ours. No matter how bad ours seems, watching videos of blizzards and snow-shoveling is a good reminder of how
Its now been a little more than a week since Karen and I received our first Covid 19 vaccine shots (Pfizer). No significant bad reactions at all. By Saturday we were feeling good enough for Karen to play golf, and for me to do a 3-mile hike in the National Park just north of our small-boat harbor. I’ve even lost my urge to eat children and to control the world. Not everyone here is on board with medical science, however, and we have a small number of anti-vaxers who are trying to convince others that the vaccine is dangerous. The evidence they claim supports their position is, like the voter-fraud evidence, scant, flawed, and countered by a mountain of real data obtained from carefully done studies of tens of thousands of people in the clinical trials, and now millions of people (like Karen and me) who have taken the vaccine. Get a grip, people. This, and the current BS being promoted by some of GOP legistlators over the role of T**** in the capitol violence, reminds me of the difficulties of getting rid of cockroaches – as soon as you think you’ve succeeded they reappear. To really be effective, you’ve got to correct the conditions that led to the infestation, and sometimes that may even mean discovering that you might be as blameworthy as the cockroaches.
This week I had my bloodwork done for my routine 6-month followup. I get the results online, and of course they’re sent to my doctor as well. I always look them over and compare the numbers to the last time before seeing my doctor. Most looked fine, including the dreaded cholesterol test which showed no change. The one thing out of whack was a lower than desirable sodium level which last time was ok, even though it was at the lower limit of the acceptable range. Six months ago I reported to him that I noticed my diastolic bp level was creeping up while my systolic was being well-controlled with a small dose of Losartan. The doc prescribed a diuretic to take in addition to the Losartan. I was leery, because we tried this several years ago and I had to stop taking it because of......wait for it....low sodium levels. Now the usual remedy for this is to cut way back on fluid intake, to 32 oz. max, so that the lower blood volume concentrates the sodium rather than diluting it. This sounds great, except that 32 oz is very little fluid. If you have a cup of coffee in the morning, a small glass of something with breakfast, another glass of something for lunch, then maybe a beer or some wine with dinner and another cup of coffee afterwards, you’ve met or exceeded the limit. Note – no sucking on a water bottle during the day or drinking water when you take pills. And no glass of water in addition to whatever you may drink with meals. Even when I did that, my sodium levels were still too low. I tried to point all that out to my doctor when he suggested another attempt to use a diuretic. Well, lo and behold this latest result shows the same damn thing. When I had my video conference with him on Thursday he suggested I must be guzzling water or drinking excessive amounts of something else. I blew up. It seemed like news to him that we had gone through this before, with the same result. In other words, he hadn’t really reviewed my history before the conference. So, he suggested I stop the diuretic! Hmmm. I’d switch physicians but there simply aren’t many alternatives here. I’m going to try looking again, though.
Whew! To end on a more positive note, Karen and I had a good workout at PF on Thursday, and today she’s playing golf and I’m going to take another hike. Carpe Diem!
Stay warm, stay safe, stay sane.
4 comments:
I can't imagine that limiting your fluid intake would be a healthy thing to do. Glad you pushed back. I am, however, all for getting rid of the cockroaches!
Did Dick’s physician say he had cockroaches?
Side effects are sign you are living longer! Maybe you could video conference with a doc some where else in the world? Doesn't matter where they are when on video, I suppose it would be a nuisance if you need them to do something physical to you? Our doc of a few years just flew the coop and now we got assigned to someone new. Doesn't matter much that there are many others locally if they don't take new patients. So when this happens we get the newest doc in the paddock. Or we go outside our clinic of many years and find a free range doc, kinda like a free range chicken I guess, hard to round up! I am talking w/ my cardio doc about possible side effects from one of the meds he prescribed. It's tougher to diagnose the side effect than yours, could be something else entirely! Keep up the walking, that seems to be my best "treatment" of all!
I have several chronic conditions and in addition to my GP I see lots of specialists. I have had problems with all of them—problems similar to yours. When I change docs (we have lots of choices here), I end up with same or new problems. I find that the key is going with “good enough” and educate myself as much as I can (as you seem to have done). I advocate for myself and I don’t hesitate to disagree or argue (nicely, of course). Often I just ignore them and do what I think is best. One time I was so frustrated with my eye doc that I purposely made an appointment on a Tuesday (his day off). They were forced to schedule me with his partner. She did a much better job treating the problem, and in fact did such a good job that I have not had to go back for that problem.
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