Tag: cholesterol

Medical update

Because you all want to know, I’m sure.

:>

My primary physician didn’t think my cholesterol was a big deal. He said that I need to exercise more and eat a little better.

Duh. I’ve been eating crappily and sitting around all day ever since the fire.

Brooke and I went for a good walk on Thursday, and hopefully we’ll start doing that and other physical stuff on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. I’ve also been a little more careful about what I’ve been eating in the past week, and I’m once again going to quit drinking caffeinated drinks. The migraines just aren’t worth it.

My primary physician did say he was fine with me taking thyroid medication, so I got that prescription. He also gave me a new prescription for the same blood pressure medicine I’d been on, since my BP was a lovely 150/100 when I saw him on Friday.

I quit taking my hormones when I ran out sometime around October 1. I’m supposed to wait 8 weeks and see if I have a period, and if not let my endocrinologist know. At that point, I’m also supposed to have more bloodwork done.

I don’t know if it counts, but since Thursday afternoon I’ve been having a period-like phenomenon. I’ll try to spare you the disgusting details, but suffice it to say it’s mostly similar to the first period I had after five years of not having them, except it’s much, much lighter. Like, extraordinarily light.

If it is a period, it’s very early. I just had my last period on September 23 (birthday of people who apparently hold “esoteric”, “secret” knowledge, like Sean), and it lasted about 5 or 6 days. That makes this…whatever it is about two weeks early. However, the menstrual cycle is actually lunar; when I was on the hormones, I was artificially aligning it to the solar calendar. So this could be the proper time for it to occur. (Pseudoscience!)

Of course, if this little dribble is all my body can manage, then I guess I’ll be on some sort of hormone therapy for the rest of my life.

We’ll just have to see, I guess.

In the meantime, I’m hoping the thyroid medicine, which I’ve been taking for two days now, will give me more energy like Mom said it might. I’m tired of being sluggish. “The more you do, the more you are able to do. The less you do, the less you are able to do. The more you do it, the more you are able to do it. The less you do it, the less you are able to do it.” I learned that back in kung fu. It basically means I need to get off my ass :>

At least she didn’t say I have diabetes.

I got a call from my endocrinologist today. I’d had some bloodwork done to see how my FSH levels are, and to run some more normal tests. Well, the FSH is back up to 40, which means there is pretty much no chance it’ll ever get down to where it’s supposed to be. This isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that I’m not even worried about it. Maybe I’ve been doing a good job of preparing myself to deal with being infertile. Or maybe I’m just overwhelmed by everything else. Who knows.

What I am worried about is the rest of what she said, the part about my cholesterol being high and something being wrong with my thyroid to the point that she wants me on medication. She said that I need to have an appointment with my regular physician concerning my cholesterol as soon as possible. I’m…not actually sure what the deal is, but she’s going to mail me my lab results, which I will promptly fax to my mother.

I’ve quit taking the hormones, because I ran out of them and we were going to have me quit them anyway. If I don’t have a period in eight weeks, I’m supposed to call and tell the endocrinologist so. With my luck, I probably won’t, right?

I have been really stupid about my health since the fire. I haven’t exercised at all, and I’ve been eating like a pig. Plus, I’ve been drinking lots of sodas, including stuff with caffeine. It’s like I flushed all the hard work (well, I guess it wasn’t all that much, but it was still better than nothing) I’ve done over the past who knows how long completely down the toilet.

So, I need to rectify this situation. It is really hard to cook properly when I don’t have access to a full refrigerator and freezer or my own cookware, but you know, I just need to deal with it. And I need to hurry up and get Yama so I can start biking again. Being this unhealthy is simply unacceptable.