I keep a pair of reading glasses in the car and have another, smaller pair in my EDC just in case. If that fails, I have an embiggening program on my phone.
Stupid eyes.
That reminds me that I have 2 eye appointments over the next 2 days. Tomorrow, I get the drops that giganticize your pupils and make it hard to see the rest of the day. Wednesday is just a regular checkup.
Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned to the doctor looking over my bloodwork an ongoing problem that I’ve been dealing with for 40 years. It isn’t really a huge problem and a Pepto a day keeps it under control. Now, I have a colonoscopy to arrange.
Saturday I went to the doctor.
Feeling of gout and a pain in my lower back, just above the pelvic bone. It had me worried, and my google searches was all about kidney diseases etc etc. Self-diagnosis does not work. AI will never replace a real doctor with experience.
Doc reassured me that it was not kidney-related, so I’m glad for that. Took some blood for testing, so we shall see. Prescribed me a pill for the gout.
Doc suspects it may be some gland starting not to do its job properly… expected due to my age.
Luckily I’ve started to make some lifestyle changes - taking less sugar now, avoiding all sorts of fake sugar crap, no coffee, eating more healthier, cutting down on processed foods etc…
Of course the occasional “cheat day” may come when I would like some chips/burger etc, see nothing wrong with cheating once or twice in a month.
I’m glad we’re still blessed to have fresh fruit and veg at the shops still.
Oh, and drinking more water now. How many people are dehydrated, and they don’t know it?
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The FDA has started the process of getting feedback about removing it from medicines. In May when the comment period ends, they will go onto the next step.
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As soon as I stopped buying that crap and getting the real stuff my medicine actually started working. Between that and stopping getting vaccines, by doctor order due to cancer, I don’t get as sick for as long now.
Bit of a follow-up :
So the diagnosis was high cholesterol, way high. I did not had any money for a follow-up visit, so I decided to try out natural remedies.
First was cayenne pepper. While it helped a bit, my BP still remained high (between140 and 150)
After a week of struggling I decided to use google and a bit of common sense.
First hit was to increase my walking distance. At that time I walked, but average was 22000 steps a week, or 3000 steps a day, and it was not always a consistent figure.
So I decided (based on the findings via Google) to challenge myself and up my walking to 6000 steps a day.
It was also mentioned that walking trigger the release of certain ensymes which triggers your liver to process the bad cholesterol.
Last Sunday I started, and nearly hit my target. What I did was to walk for 5 minutes, take a rest, walk for 5 minutes etc etc. That evening BP measurements indicated a slightly lower reading.
So I decided to keep it up, and wallked on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And it is not that hard. Just take a break for 10 minutes at work, walk around the block and continue working. Just three or four times around the block is more than enough for me to hit my target of 6000 steps.
And it definitely worked. BP is now down to 120/80 (but still go up to 140/90 in the mornings when I get up).
So all in all I’m glad for that, it is a good start, and I’m definitely going to keep it up.
I’m planning to do another cholesterol test after payday, just to get a baseline, and then again sometime in December or January, just to make sure cholesterol is also coming down.
btw the distance I’m walking daily is more than 4kms (2.4miles). As time goes by and I’m getting acclimatized to this, I’m going to push for 6kms (3.7miles) a day.
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My old roommate Nathan did about 3000 steps on an active day. I kept telling him to walk more and eat less chocolate, but he wouldn’t listen.
I get about 2000 steps each day just doing my morning chores. During the winter I become more of a slug and only get about 5-6K steps per day. During spring/summer when I have projects I get closer to the 10-12K range.
My problem is that I eat too much and don’t eat enough veggies.
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Same. And I tend to bring my lunch back to my desk and eat while I’m working, whether or not I’m in the office. I really should be going out for walk instead.
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I’m lucky that my lifestyle gives me ample room for activity. Yesterday, for example, not only did I get my 1000 steps in doing my chores (less during the winter since I don’t have to water and weed the garden), I got another 3K or so shoveling the walks and driveway. Shoveling snow also gives me a good cardiac workout too.
Pokemon Go gets me to go for a short walk at least even during the worst weather. Luckily there are three pokestops within a very short walk for me.
I need to get back to playing Pokemon Go…
If you do get back in (and it’s been more than 3 months since you last played), sue this invite code to get a bunch of free stuff. As you complete milestones, you’ll get more.
7TJH2CF8Q
I get stuff when you complete those milestones tool 
If anyone else is thinking about starting the game, you can you that invite code too.
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I had to travel to the ass end of the province to get some MRI work done. My knees and back are feeling the effects of osteoarthritis and my doctor wanted to have a look around.
I find it baffling that the largest population in the province doesn’t have an MRI lab. There’s one, and it’s near nothing.
If I had the capital, setting up another lab would be a no-brainer and a guaranteed money maker.
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More than a month ago I did not feel well, and went to the doctor. Sky-high cholesterol and a BP that refuses to go down to normal.
Decided I’m not going to get stronger meds, and started to push myself by walking more. Apparently the number of steps I did previously was not enough, the recommendation is 30000 (or more) steps per week.
First week it was House Hufflepuff, but it started to improve bit by bit.
This week I managed to get closer to my goal of 6000 steps a day. Over the weekend I tend to slack off a bit, because it’s weekend…
Next week it will still be 6000, but the week after I’m gonna gun for 8000.
BP is already much better. Will go back to the doc for a new cholesterol test in January.
Also made some changes to my diet, less meat and more fish/chicken as well as fruit and veggies.
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YEAH! Screw you, doc! I’m gonna get healthy and live forever, just to prove you wrong!
Keep in mind this was done out of desperation. I don’t want to croak yet.
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Speaking of getting older, Elton John has lost his eyesight.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/02/sir-elton-john-lost-eyesight-david-furnish-failing-health/
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Fixed my BP through activity, drugs, and weight loss.
Now I’m fucking cold all the time. My feet hurt at night, and I have to wear a coat and a hat all the damn time.
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The heart is for the fixing of your BP. Losing weight does affect how cold affects you. I tell people all the time that I don’t get cold easily because I have an insulating layer of fat.
Turns out my feet getting cold maybe because I was overpumping blood to them before.
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You’re not fat. You’re just protecting your internal organs against thermal shock.
I haven’t slept much the last 3 weeks. My good knee has gone sour. My left knee had a bout of bursitis about 15 years ago, and it took close to a year to work that out. It’s mostly fine now aside from a lot of crunching and grinding every time I sit or stand or walk. No, this time it’s my right knee. It’s been 3 weeks since it swelled up, and my doctor told me today that it’s likely osteoarthritis and/or a puncture in the knee cartilage. The swelling has finally gotten under control, but the pain persists. I can walk without incident most of the time, but the pain comes on in the evening and is almost unbearable. There seems to be mostly zero positions I can get into at night that don’t bring on a punctuation of pain that doesn’t end. I’m getting about 3-4 hours of sleep/night. Driving is difficult. Walking more than getting groceries is difficult. Standing in front of a lathe for hours is going to be impossible. So, pain relievers and exercise are the watchwords for the near future, with the possibility of cortisone injections. I’ll see in the new year.
I recognize that I am a man and have no idea what real pain is or how to handle/manage it.
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