Doctor Livingstone I presume

[hollyking]

Yesterday I went to see a new doctor. I haven’t been to see one in a very long time but we have insurance coverage now so it was time. In some ways I liked this doctor a lot. She took her time and answered my questions. She wanted detailed information about why I had concerns and didn’t hesitate to order some tests that I felt were needed.

On the downside she wouldn’t order other tests that I wanted. The big one being the A1C test. I can check my blood sugar levels but that’s only a spot reading. The A1C value gives a much better indication of how I’m doing at controlling my diabetes. I know the value is going to suck right now but I would like to know the starting point so I can see how I’m improving.

One of the tests the doctor ordered is a sleep study. The doctor asked if I thought I snored and I had to laugh as everyone knows I snore. The people next door and down the block know I snore. The guys in boot camp used to kick my cot to make me roll over and stop snoring. So in late February I’m going to go talk to a specialist and see if I can sleep while strapped to a lot of machines.

The good news is that I’ve lost another 14 pounds somewhere. The last time I checked I was about 295 and yesterday I weighed in at 281. Not where I want to be but at least it’s going in the right direction.

The bad news is that my blood pressure was too high. Of course stress from work and life has a way of doing that. We’re going to keep an eye on it.

Comments

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Ditto on sleep studies not being too bad. The one I had, the room was completely dark, and the machines weren't too bright. They work the wires so that it's the least pain in the ass to you; the only sucky part is having to call the nurse to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It's a 5-minute process to get you unhooked, and then 5 more to hook you back in.

The things I did that made it easier for me to sleep was to bring my own pillow, and (because I like snuggles and sleep with 3 cats) a stuffed animal to have at least something of home in the bed with me. If you're a person who normally goes to bed later (I typically shoot for midnight), ask for a later start; they assume everyone is going to bed much earlier. Me, I can't go to sleep earlier, so a 9pm bedtime would mean 3 hours of staring at the ceiling.

Make sure you can wash your hair the next morning before you go into work. The glue is nastier than I anticipated, so I had to go buy some shampoo (I showered at work).

One avenue you might want to check out with the blood pressure is biofeedback training. It really does help; I can actually make my blood pressure and pulse go down if I concentrate and do the things they taught me. It's more being wired up to a machine, but it's only an hour a week.

Good to see you're taking charge of your health and going to a doctor. I wish more people would.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

There's a good idea. I'll be sure to bring in a stuffed animal, my sleep shirt and if I'm lucky something that hollyqueen has worn for a bit. ;)

We have showers here at the office so I'll bring a bag so I can wash up good after the goop.

Thanks!

[hollyqueen.livejournal.com]

No taking my panties to the study!

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Awww....