I had a regularly scheduled follow-up Dr's appointment yesterday at 9:15 am. The last time I was there I was trying to stop smoking and I went back on my blood pressure medicine.
I felt good when I went. I gained a little weight - I was up to 172 (which is actually less than I was last week). My blood pressure, however, was fantastic. 118/76. I was happy about that; as was the doctor. I forgot that I'd pretty much given up caffeine a week ago.
He was also very happy that I had quit smoking completely. He said in a couple years my body would be like I'd never smoked at all again.
I asked about getting off the Zoloft. He was like, "Oh yeah, whenever you want." He said I'm on a starter dose now anyway, so I could just start skipping a day and then after a week or two quit altogether; or if I wanted he could write me a prescription for a lower dose and quit that way. He said that was fine with him whenever I wanted to.
We had a good visit. Kinda just chit-chatting. He had planned to have me do some blood work (cholesterol, etc) after this visit, but he said, "Ah, heck, let's just wait until summer to do that." That was okay with me.
Afterward I stopped at the Southtown Walmart to pick up the prescription I forgot had been waiting since Monday. I then celebrated the good dr. visit with a coffee and burrito from McD's. I got to work at 11 am.
2 comments:
Quitter! Haha... Congratulations on quitting nicotine once again, and your milder BP. I'd even congratulate you on what may be a "contentment belly"; a term which I just this instant made up. And given all that good news, re: the Zoloft I would say it's important to know what contribution it has made to all this, if any. I guess that stuff is pretty widely used, I know a guy at work who is taking it for stress headaches, which makes me wonder if it is helping your BP and other things. As you've said, on occasion you don't WANT to be all warm & fuzzy all the time and that is part of your personality, which makes you complex, as most people with any brains are. You may not be on the dark side, but choosing to sit in the dark for a bit. All that said, given my past with my gf I am compelled to once again say if you're changing so much as 1mg of something that can affect your personality/mood you should weigh Jane's opinions very heavily on the subject and, as stupid as it sounds, even ask periodically if things are cool. I'm a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" guy in all things, but if you feel the real Dan has yet to stand up, it would be worth finding out if the Z is making a contribution for better or worse so long as you're receptive to outside suggestions. In the case of most people, they don't communicate well and nobody wants to even bring up the subject. In your case, you communicate tremendously, which helps to counter-balance your complexity, so add the polling and the receptiveness to that and you've created a safe environment in which to experiment.
Interestingly, my health has been better in many ways since I stopped trying to function as a Pastor. I suspect that I was burned out but lacked the self-awareness to realize it.
Post a Comment