Latest Health Update
Well, I went to the doctor's yesterday- the walk-in clinic. As soon as I left I went right out and bought this stylin new suit... After a battery of tests, the doctor came back and told me I'm impotent... and I figured, when you impotent- you got to look impotent!
Seriously, the doctor said the symptoms are those of Congestive Heart Failure... which, as bad as it sounds, isn't necessarily a death sentence. He prescribed some meds (Lisinopril) and made me an appointment with a specialist. Actually, it turned out pretty good. The reason I went to the clinic I did is because it's affiliated with Mercy Care who has the best hospital in the area (St. Edwards). I also got the specialist I wanted... Dr. Nolewajka. Besides being the best cardiologist in the area, he's a great guy as well.
I had some problems a few years back... I was going to a fly-by-night pain clinic which really stressed me out- it was like going to a drug dealer. Every time I went there my blood pressure went through the roof, so they put me on blood pressure meds. Seeing that there was nothing wrong with my blood pressure, I kept passing out. I went to Dr. Nolewajka who confirmed that my BP was fine. He also told me to eat salt when I worked outside. He scheduled me a follow-up in two weeks (this guy is EXPENSIVE) and told the receptionist not to charge me because I was paying out of pocket... that's the kind of guy he is.
Anyway, they're going to schedule me a battery of tests and an appointment with Dr. Nolewajka... So don't write me off just yet!
Depending on how bad it is, you can probably live another 5-10 years. My father-in-law had congestive heart failure at the age of 75 after a lifetime of smoking, heart attack at 50, and some kind of fever that he caught in Vietnam that sent him home before he saw any action but damaged his heart. He died in the hospital at 83 after a quadruple by-pass surgery. He woke up from the surgery but died soon after. I think it was the doctors trying to pump the last few $$$ out of him.
I wish you well on your journey with your health.
Your father-in-law sounds like me! He probably had Malaria like I do, it's the only fever I can think of that came out of Nam. I've had one heart attack in 2014 and I smoke, but have cut way down (it's hard to kick). I'll be 73 in a couple of weeks God willing!
Glad you're still here, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would miss you. Look into the heart triad, which is co Q10, L carnitine, and D Ribose. They together can drastically improve heart function. Available at fine health food stores everywhere.
I usually get my supplements through Stop Aging Now online- they have great quality stuff, I get my prostate meds and Berberine there. CoQ 10 I've heard of, I'll check them out... I don't really like taking meds, I'd rather do natural remedies.
Good to see you getting checked out. We don't want to lose you now that your are so Impotent. :-)
At least I got a new suit to get buried in!
Thanks for going to the clinic. Hope you are relieved to be seeing a good specialist. I know it makes me feel better. Thinking you have just bought yourself some extra time. That’s a pretty nice birthday present. 🐓🐓
And thank you! It does feel better- Dr. Nolewajka is a really good guy, there's nothing pretentious about him. With the current state of medicine- doctors being pushers for big pharma- he's a breath of fresh air!
Glad to hear you're ok mate .. look after yourself.
Thanks a great start Rich glad its been positive let us know how the tests go and thank goodness you found this doctor sounds like a good person.
Thanks Buddy... he's great I saw him before and I really like him!
I was scared at first. But, if I understood correctly, was it a false alarm? I'm glad to hear that you are better now.
Not a false alarm, but a warning. I have to take the meds and follow up. I have a good cardiologist so I'm optimistic... Thanks!!!
Great to hear you're ok Rich.
Thank you my friend!
my personal experience has been that there are 'standard causes' to every ailement.
"do you smoke'?
"you're overweight"
If either apply then the doctors pretty much stop looking. They consider it to be self inflicted and aren't very interested until you're fit as a fiddle...in which case you no longer need to see a doctor.
I'm only half joking.
regarding BP meds...I considere them to be the prime cause of all my health problems...and they were mandated by the government in order to bring my BP down from "normal for my age" to 'artificial low set by regulation'.
Things went down hill from there.
I heard that! My BP is typically around 95/73... at my age, that's pretty good. The problem I had was that "croaker" that dispensed pain meds stressed me out so bad it was 120/95 so they put me on meds I really didn't need. My BP would get artificially low and I'd pass out. It was bad, I'd get up in the morning and fall flat on my face.
damn.
mine was 140/something.
140 used to be considered normal for middle age...then they wrote a regulation saying that was bad...
suddenly BP meds were in high demand.
Funny how that works! My heart doc that I'm going to be seeing is the guy that told me about salt and BP. He said that the whole thing was based on 1 study that was debunked in the 70's, but they ran with it anyway. He said: "You have to eat salt- your body is made of salt too, if you don't eat it, you die!"
yup.
I find it highly disturbing when I know more about something than the specialists I pay on that subject.
Have you noticed that almost all doctors now days are children?
they look like it anyway.
also cops...
I suspect that patting them on the head and saying 'there, there' is contra-indicated.
I've noticed! Another thing is that none of them are American (doctors). The VA hospital here in AR is all foreigners few of whom even speak English!
I got pulled over a few years ago because my brake light was out. The cop looked like he didn't even shave yet! He also had his gun most of the way out of its holster. I remarked about to a friend on the force and he said that's how they're training them now... it's the Us vs Them mentality- makes it difficult to support the boys in blue!
I fear the boys in blue.
the fact that there are so many boys.
and so few men
is one of the reasons.
Nice to see you in good spirits. Don't worry too much over diagnostics with fancy names, your body knows what it's doing... take the damn meds and get on with your life!
Nice suit :)
That's pretty much my approach... I always wanted a Zoot Suit!