Originally Posted by vienna
(Post 2717596)
I'm sorry to read about your current health problems, Sailor Steve, and I hope and wish for a betterment of your condition. Getting old isn't easy in any case, and it is particularly difficult when one's health is in question...
I know the extreme difficulties gastric disorders or conditions can impose on a person. I've lived all my life with gastric problems and they have become particularly acute sine I turned fifty and my system seem to have been less able to cope with the effects; this has been especially true since I had to undergo emergency gall bladder removal due to acute pancreatitis back in 2004 and my gastric problems became even worse, with the pancreatitis becoming a chronic, recurring condition for a few years after the surgery; I even spent some time on the Cholestyramine that Eichhörnchen mentioned in his post. One thing I did take notice of during recent years is the need to do certain things to manage one's medical treatment; always look carefully at the nature of the medications being prescribed since one medication may conflict with or adversely affect the function of another medication; I like to read all the notices/warnings that come with my medications and will look them up on the internet to be better informed; one of my medications actually had as a possible side effect gastric problems that another of my medications was supposed to solve; I alerted each of the doctors who prescribed those medications and, once they conferred and realized the meds may have been causing a lot of my gastric problems, they took me off those meds and my problems significantly lessened, so it sometimes pays to be as informed as possible...
The situation with the two doctors is also another area of concern in dealing with one's health; if you are seeing more than one doctor or specialist and/or your care is handled in sort of clinic setting where you might not see the same doctor each visit, it is a good practice to ask the doctor you're seeing at the time just exactly how aware he/she is of your record and condition(s); a lot of the clinic doctors and not a few of the doctors otherwise often don't take the time to thoroughly revise a patient's current records and miss changes in medications, procedures, etc., done by other doctors; they tend to gloss over the details and just see the bigger points, sort of like reading a newspaper by just reading the headlines and not the articles; unfortunately, with the doctor's and hospitals being stretched thin, even before Covid, medical professionals often have to move rather quickly and sometimes have to cut corners; one of the things I found more than a bit annoying is the tendency of doctors to ask me what another doctor had to say about my condition or meds; my response has now become one of "Well, I don't think I am capable of accurately and fully answering your question(s) since I might leave out or misstate another doctor's diagnosis, so it would be best if you two talk to each other and decide amongst you"; it is important to make the doctors take more than just a passing, mundane attitude to your condition...
Always ask questions and make sure they listen. When I started to take notice of loss of memory some years ago and I brought it up to the doctors (most of whom were younger than some of records in my collection), they tended to brush it off as just a function of aging, even when I pointed out that even for an old geezer like myself it seemed a bit out of the ordinary; I even went through a period of the sort of 'wobblies' you describe; it wasn't until I told a doctor that I had made inquiries into participating in an Alzheimer's/memory study at a local university's med school that the doctor began to fully realize just how serious I thought the situation was and ordered a cranial MRI scan; the scan initially detected an accumulation of white brain cells indicating irreversible brain damage and possible Alzheimer's or MS; a later more extensive and thorough MRI of my brain and spine showed I had been through a series of "silent strokes" over the years and that I also had nerve damage in the form of spinal stenosis, which will require corrective surgery, although that is on hold for now with concerns about the effect of spinal surgery on someone of my age until my other conditions even out or the spinal conditions become too threatening to defer; the good news is the Alzheimer's and MS are pretty much off the table, but the not so good is I am now considered to be at high risk for more "silent strokes' or even a massive stroke in the future and, even without the Alzheimer's or MS, the net effect on my memory and/or function will likely be similar to if I had either of them; I may not really be keen about the prognosis, but I'd rather know than guess, and if I have to be a PITA to a doctor to be told the truth or get a straight answer, well, hell, I'm old, I'm mean, and I don't really have a lot to lose by being insistent...
You've been through a lot and you're still here, and, as the saying goes 'if you're going through hell, by all means keep on going'; my grandfather was a tough old Navy guy and he smoked ciggies, cigars, pipes and chewed tobacco, and was an indulger in beers and hard liquor (hated wine, though; thought it too 'girly'); he was one of the toughest guys I've known and, when he retired to the Veteran's home, the doctor's eventually took away his tobacco and drink; his health soon declined and we were told he died cursing and swearing at the doctors; I don't recommend a life of hard drinking or heavy smoking as a lifestyle for anyone, but there is something to be admired about about someone who goes down swinging, who doesn't "go gently"; I'm not far behind you in years, but I know we've both seen an awful lot in the years we've already had and the prospect of seeing what around the next corner or over the next hill is a pretty good motivation to keep slogging on; keep going and fighting and know you have a lot of supporters and friends in Subsim and, even if you aren't able to fully participate as you or we would like on the forums, you are still thought of and missed. Make those doctors earn their pay and hasten you to better health...
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