wavesoflife

I used to say that caffeine didn’t really have an effect on me. And I mean the caffeine in soda or tea…I don’t like coffee. A month or two ago I stopped drinking soda and wasn’t really drinking any tea (I drank chocolate soy milk, OJ with seltzer, and mainly vitamin water type stuff). I stopped because of the sugar in soda and I’m trying to cut back on carbs (trying being the operative word…I know the other stuff I’m drinking still has sugar). I really wasn’t trying to avoid caffeine, but I ended up not having any for almost a month, except for a few fast food drinks. Then we got bought some soda during my birthday week for at home. Coke. And we had some last week. It seems like whenever I have one I feel a lot more jittery. I suppose it could be the sugar, but I feel like it might actually be the caffeine. I’m going to try some caffeine free Coke and see how that makes me feel and then I’ll know. And if it is, then I’ll be avoiding it from now on.

I’m on less medication currently than I’ve been in the past three years. Right now I am taking Zyrtec, Singulair, and Advair. Plus some vitamins and melatonin. I do need to be on one more: a blood pressure medicine. I’m only taking an OTC potassium pill and I’m not sure if that’s enough or I should be taking a prescription one still (guess I need to ask one of my doctors for a blood test for it). This is much less than the 7 or so I was on last year at this time. I may go back on a birth control pill in January after I see what my liver enzymes are.

I wish I could just stop all the medication. Unfortunately, with the asthma and high blood pressure that’s not an option. Maybe I’ll be able to stop the allergy medication after being on my allergy shots for longer. I’ve been on allergy medication since I was 4 or 5.

I told the nurse at my allergy shot today that the Symbicort wasn’t really working so she told me to go back on the Advair till my appointment (Dec. 8). She also said that after my next shot, I’ll be getting them every two weeks instead of every week.

This is good news, especially since we’re heading into winter and bad weather. It snowed a couple inches today.

The bad news is that now we have a $250 yearly deductible for our health insurance, starting Dec. 1. My shots are $35 or so each and I also have blood work done pretty often so I’ll be having to pay it fairly soon. The specialist office visit co-pay has also increased from $15 to $30. Considering I see about 4 different specials several times a year, this is depressing. I guess I’m fortunate to just have health insurance though.

Today I heard back from the cardiologist again (really…3 days for a “high priority” message?). Her nurse called me and said that the doctor wanted me to take double the dose of clonidine I had been taking before. I mentioned that it had made my blood pressure higher the last time and the nurse said that the message the doctor had read had mentioned that. I was confused and surprised so I didn’t say much else.

I also didn’t think to ask if she wanted me to start gradually, like I had when I first when on the pill (half a pill for a week). If I did that, the date of my appointment would be here before I even started the doubled dose. I already know that the original dose increased my blood pressure. But I don’t think starting at that dose would be good either.

I don’t understand her logic in increasing the dosage. I’m seriously considering switching cardiologists after this whole fiasco. I guess I’ll go to my appointment Dec. 4 though before deciding. But I’m not going to be taking the clonidine. I did not like that drug. It made me feel “drugged” and physically and mentally sluggish and was affecting my job performance. I didn’t mention that to the people who took the messages though because I thought “it increased my blood pressure instead of lowering it” was enough of a reason to switch to a different drug. Apparently not.