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Health Update
Doctor's appointment yesterday. Cholesterol is better than it was in December, but still not where it should be (according to the AMA), and nowhere near where it was three years ago when it was great. In fact, my profile now is remarkably similar to what it was before I switched to non-fat, no-cholesterol dairy and egg products, and stopped eating fast food every day for lunch. If anything, it's actually a few points worse, although the HDL is a bit better. It's as though my liver is going out it's way to produce more cholesterol to replace what I've removed from my diet. Bother. On the plus side, my triglycerides were 169 four years ago, and have remained under 125 since, which I suppose means I'm doing a decent job of not going overboard with the fats. I've also lost more weight, so the doctor is sort of encouraged. I'm really more annoyed than worried by all this, because there is no history of heart disease on either side my family. Good genes do help.
The asthma situation is less encouraging. I'm still coughing every day. For the most part, it's productive coughing, i.e. once the obstruction is cleared I stop, as opposed to the ticklish cough that keeps me up all night, but I can't do things that require me to expel large amounts of breath, like laughing or singing, without starting to hack. The Advair doesn't seem to be helping much, despite being at the highest allowable dosage, so he's having me take a pulmonary function test to see if I actually have asthma. I'll try to schedule it for the week I'm taking off prior to leaving for the F2F in May.
He did suggest that I check the A/C system of the truck for mold, because I mentioned that I always seem to cough when I'm driving. I'll check it, although he also said that the levels of allergens in my blood are normal, which sort of argues against there being a point source for my problems. This does have me worried. I really would like to be able to laugh out loud again with no consequences.
Fun asthma fact: It turns out caffeine is used an anti-asthmatic in places where there is no access to things like Flovent and such. Which means I can get totally wired every day and claim it's for my health. Woo!
The asthma situation is less encouraging. I'm still coughing every day. For the most part, it's productive coughing, i.e. once the obstruction is cleared I stop, as opposed to the ticklish cough that keeps me up all night, but I can't do things that require me to expel large amounts of breath, like laughing or singing, without starting to hack. The Advair doesn't seem to be helping much, despite being at the highest allowable dosage, so he's having me take a pulmonary function test to see if I actually have asthma. I'll try to schedule it for the week I'm taking off prior to leaving for the F2F in May.
He did suggest that I check the A/C system of the truck for mold, because I mentioned that I always seem to cough when I'm driving. I'll check it, although he also said that the levels of allergens in my blood are normal, which sort of argues against there being a point source for my problems. This does have me worried. I really would like to be able to laugh out loud again with no consequences.
Fun asthma fact: It turns out caffeine is used an anti-asthmatic in places where there is no access to things like Flovent and such. Which means I can get totally wired every day and claim it's for my health. Woo!
no subject
Asthma bites. I'm glad to hear it's not bad enough to bring out the big guns of supersteroids; I had a college friend on those and they made her insane (and didn't stop the acute attacks). Deep breath vibes.
no subject
BTW, did you ever get your connectivity issues fixed?