After getting back from the Doctor's office this morning, I was prepared to hit the treadmill, but looked outside a few minutes ago, and realized that the lawn, just mowed on Sunday, is in need again. Funny, a month ago, you couldn't get the grass to grow, and now it's back at the April and May levels, where you need to hack it down a couple of times per week....so today, no treadmill, just the lawn, and then the opening of the regular football season tonight....at least the Junior High variety, as I work a Celina/Lima Bath 8th grade game at the High School Track here in Celina.
Zocor and other delights_____
After getting the call about my blood tests on Tuesday, I realized that changes, that I had re-instituted over the past weeks, were probably not going to be enough to offset the reality that I had hit 62 years, and that my family, at least the Houseworth side, has a history of heart "issues". My brother Mike nearing 65 and me at 62 had for the most part gotten farther in life that most of the males on our side of the family, without a heart attack or multiple attacks. After all, my dad, Stan, had his second and fatal attack just after his 55th birthday, that occurred on Christmas Eve, 1972...his older brothers, Smokey(Forrest) had died at 54, and Uncle Furl(John), although living till 75, had heart problems throughout his life, and had a major attack while in his 40s. Furl's son, Gary, a week younger than Mike, had died just before his 62nd birthday, back in December of 2008 at his home in Venice, Florida.
I took the onset of pre-diabetes 2 in stride when I found out about it two years ago. I went on the prescribed diet, and lost 25 pounds. I continued to take the prescribed blood pressure medication, and saw my BP drop to normal, or close to normal numbers. But reality was still out there, somewhere. When I began, a month ago, to take the pills for a toenail fungus and dermatitis problem, I felt no side affects. But I was told I would need another blood draw to make sure the Terbinafine didn't have an adverse effect, especially on my liver. Once that was drawn back on Monday the reality of High Cholesterol was on the table.
Turns out my LDL levels(that would be the bad Cholesterol) was at 160...it needs to be below 100, preferably closer to 70. Now my doctor is not one to over medicate, but I wasn't with him 5 minutes and I knew that there would be no BS...he put me on a pretty good dose of Zocor, the LDL lowering drug...I wasn't going to start out at the low dose, so I knew he was serious. Not the top level doxe mind you, but the next level down....which means more blood tests, more liver tests, etc, within the next month.
It will probably go something like this...."less red meat, fatty anything, cheese is out, other than Cottage Cheese, just freaking wonderful....so eat more "Chickin", more Tuna(gawd I don't know), more fresh veggies...the rest of the bad stuff, fried foods, etc, I had pretty well dumped two years ago when I took the dietian's advice, and started to balance the carbs and calories...which resulted in my 27 pound or so weight loss. It also appears that I will have to cut back on beer consumption, doc didn't mention that, but the paper work for Zocor does....beautiful, just freaking beautiful!
back later>>>>
Photos-Stan Houseworth 1917-1972, as he looked when in the Army Air Corp in 1942....oldest son Sam with the beer and pops cans we collected along the shore and roadway on Coldwater Creek Road in 1983...Me(looking like some kind of warped porn star) and youngest son Hal during the summer of 1986, and finally the 3 decendents of the sons of Sam Houseworth(1877-1928) and Wilda Waldron Houseworth(1883-1975)...Pat Houseworth, Gary Houseworth(1946-2008), and Mike Houseworth...along with dad's old Walker Coon Dog, Skip, in Grandma Houseworth's back yard, Scott, Ohio, Summer of 1956.
6 comments:
It seems that you are doing a lot of good things [diet and exercise] to keep the bad cholesterol levels down - but it gets harder as you get older.
I've had problems with bad cholesterol for about 20 years but I've never been put on medication yet - but, I haven't been checked in a while either.
Eating less red meat is a good way to lower the bad cholesterol [and lose weight] but for me it has presented another problem[s] - a protein deficiency. Not sure how that happened...I found that out last month...Plus, Edema. Now I know why my legs and feet have been cramping and why I've lost muscle mass.
I had to go to GNC and buy a can of powdered protein, drink a shake everyday, eat red meat at least twice a week, until I correct the problem. Peanut Butter, beans, and Protein Bars are also good - try not to forget this if you cut back on red meat.
Mom takes Zocor too - she hasn't had any problems so far.
One of my best friends worked for Pfizer and called me back tonight, he's pretty up to date on the prescription drug thing...he's been on zocor for 4 years and says it is a clean med...and told me if you have problems with it, you will know right away. So here we go, I'll give it a try, and see what shakes out.
Pat, for the toe fungus, I've found that a mixture of tea tree oil and oil of oregano applied carefully like nail polish works very well. Beats the heck out of having to take another med, too.
If they are worried about your liver, chew on a few milk thistle seeds before-thirty.
Sounds like you have the same heart genetics as Terry's family. His cousin said "Yeh, any time after 30, start looking for the first attack." I am glad that you aren't ignoring it and keeping it to yourself.
Sigh ... 2nd paragraph - supposed to read as "before beer-thirty"
Lin: "Beer Thirty"? It's five o'clock somewhere....yep, the toe nail was an after thought, didn't plan on taking it, but since it did a great job on the Dermatitis, I figured ''''What the Hell"""? Once the supply is done in 6 weeks, I will not renew that....
I did get some good news, along with some not so good news on the Zocor and I will talk about that on today's blog...
I am agree with your ideas please keep updating your blog.
Thank you for post.
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