Health Update

[ellyssian]

Been awhile since I posted anything health related (or, at least, that I remembered to tag as such), so I figured it was worth a mention.

I misremember exactly when I stopped taking my three blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, and four asthma meds, but, with the exception of two or three inhaler hits and five or six Flonase sprays, it's been awhile.

The one asthma med ran out early January, and the health insurance gave me trouble about the last refill I had on it. Based on that experience, I didn't renew anything else.

January and February saw the last of the pills, even as I began to space them out from one a day to one every other, to every third, to ease the transition.

I have a cold now, so I can't exactly say I am all healthy, but:

• My weight prior to getting on the meds a little more than three years ago was around 220. When I started actively watching it while on the meds it was 230. I stopped when it went over 240, although I did check it once and was appalled that it was over 250. I expect it reached at least 270, if not more, over the last year. It is now 240.
• I have far more energy, and far less drowsiness and lethargy. Even with this cold stuffing me up, I am still more functional than I was on average on the meds.
• When I do physical activity - such as the yardwork or going out on 2 mile + walks at lunch time - I no longer give up part way through a task, out of breath and worn out. Even after an abusive session pulling shrubs out of a mountainside in the hot sun, the only soreness I had the next day was in the half dozen or so scratches from branches.
• I eat less, and I'm okay with that. I had been starting to eat less and not missing it before getting sick, and then I noticed that food intake pick up. Now, when Subway talked me up from a 6" to a 12" sub (it was BOGO, so I paid for a 6"), I realized after I forced it down that I would have been happier without that second half, and I know I won't make that mistake again. I also no longer feel I need to eat at least one Whopper a day in addition to my regular meals - in fact, I have no desire to have one at all.
• I am sure, though, that my blood pressure is not within the parameters of normal human operating levels. My asthma and allergies have not been kicked yet.

Considering weight is a key factor either causing or increasing the problem with *all* aspects of the health issues I'm dealing with, I'm fairly confident that the best way to control those issues is to control those key factors.

While the doctor could tell me to control my weight even as he loaded me down with - literally - hundreds of dollars of medications, each providing him with a healthy kickback in perks if not cash, I think the evidence is fairly clear that those meds actually had a disastrous effect on my weight, and no amount of knowing I should lose weight actually helped to reduce that.