So yesterday I spent two and a half hours in a doctors office for a follow up to some blood work I got done earlier in the year.
They originally called me to schedule the follow up when I was on vacation in Disney, but I didn't get that call and only heard the voice-mail about a month later, not sure how I missed it. Since then I think they have called me once a month to have my follow up and so when I finally answered the phone the last time they called I scheduled it, and yesterday was the date.
So, 2.5 hours to be told that I'm severely Vitamin D3 deficient and they want me to take pills to raise my levels and I should probably just take them for the rest of my life because, you know, it's good for you and shit.
Then she asked me a series of questions which led to the "bad news."
I'm genetically pre-disposed to heart attacks and there isn't a whole lot I can do about it except "eat healthy and live healthy."
Diet and exercise.
It appears as though there are chemicals that your body makes and if they make more of those chemicals than what the doctors consider acceptable then you are pre-disposed to the possibility of having a heart attack. My body makes a lot of those chemicals.
The one, she said, they find acceptable production to be anything below a 3 and they prefer a 1. I asked where I sat on their scale and she told me an 11.
Wooo, yay genetics!
I asked if there was anything I could do, anything I could take and she said that there wasn't. It is in my genetic make-up so she recommends eating healthy and living healthy in order to minimize the risks.
I guess it's a good thing that I choose the path to eat healthier and live healthier last year and have dropped 75+ pounds already. I'm on the quest to shed the next 20+ and we'll see next year if my healthier lifestyle has made a difference.
Blah
Fuck Doctors and their good news
the reason i dont go 2 the doctor lmao. keep up the good work thou
ReplyDeleteYeah - I'd never go but I need my scripts refilled!
DeleteMy wife and I both got the vitamin D deficiency story. It seems to be pretty common. I got a pill to take once a week for a few months. Haven't been back to the doctor's office since for a blood test. It appears that the extra weight is likely a factor in the problem.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it might sound shocking to hear what you did about your heart, the key is what you mentioned -- proper diet and exercise. You have hopefully caught things early enough so that you will spare yourself the medical issues chumps like me have had.
Hopefully it's not a case of too little too late.
DeleteI've been majorly overweight a good portion of my life.
Either way, I am feeling a lot better now. Have more energy, etc. So, I'm not quitting any time soon.
No sense worrying about the future when today is here now!
Use this as motivation to keep on doing what you've been doing. You've been doing a great job getting healthy and in shape!
DeleteOh yeah - I'm not losing my motivation or focus - I was just really annoyed that I had to go through the whole routine to be informed of things I already knew - just in a more technical way.
DeleteWho knows though, maybe hearing it out loud from someone else will help kick me into over drive.
Also, I found out if you leave the vitamin D pills in a car that's over 110 degrees they swell up and stick to themselves.... Now I get to play a game every morning when I go to take one :)
I know how you feel. When I worked for HP I had to take a health screening, and I failed the health history part when I told them my father had a quadruple bypass and my mother had colon cancer. The next year I failed again because I hadn't improved my history.
ReplyDeleteIn general my whole life I've not had an issue with any type of health screening.
DeleteI always got the "you seem to be perfectly healthy, but you're pretty damned fat and need to lose weight" but in more polite terms.