Category Archives: Health

Getting Behind On Things To Do (or I Know I Needed To Rest)

Posted on February 8, 2023 | Comments Off on Getting Behind On Things To Do (or I Know I Needed To Rest)

I don’t think anyone has fun when they are sick, at least as an adult. When you are a kid, you get to stay home from school and most of us got to watch fun daytime tv. But as an adult, I think I mainly just worry about things I’m not doing while I’m not feeling well.

I’ve been sick for almost a week now. And while I’m still grateful it’s not something worse, having a bad cold really makes you not able to do a lot. I’m still working, although I know I’m not working as quickly as I normally do because of how I feel. But beyond working, I’m really slacking off on things that I know need to be done and it’s starting to pile up.

I’m glad there are a lot of things that make life easier when I’m not able to do as much. I’ve been getting groceries delivered and the stuff I have gotten are all things I can make quickly. I don’t like to just have microwavable meals, but that’s been a lot of my diet this past week. I don’t always feel like eating when I’m sick, so having something quick and easy to make helps when I do feel hungry. Since I didn’t feel like I could drive over this past weekend, getting stuff delivered really helped me get what I needed and make sure I wasn’t getting delivery food that I didn’t need. And I’m so happy that a friend was able to go to CVS for me to get cold medicine since that wasn’t something I could get through my grocery delivery but was something I really needed.

But I also have had to accept that other things just needed to be put off. I haven’t really cleaned since I started feeling sick other than putting dishes in the dishwasher. I know I need to do more cleaning than just that, but the fatigue from this cold has really hit me hard. Even making my bed makes me tired. Nothing is too gross or horrible, but my place isn’t up to my normal standard of cleanliness. I’ll get to cleaning again soon enough, but for now, I have to be ok with how things are until I have the energy to do more.

Besides not doing the regular cleaning that I do in a week, I also haven’t organized things that I’ve had delivered in the past week. I got both my new tv stand and my new tv, but they are both still in their boxes near my front door. I want to get those together so I can get those boxes out of my house, but just like with cleaning, I haven’t had the energy to do it. I’m hoping that by this weekend I’ll be feeling more like myself and I can finally get those accomplished.

I also had a list of things to do before my parents are here soon because my dad and I will be working on some projects. I had planned to do those errands this past weekend and only realized yesterday that I never got to do them and I have to make sure I get them done this weekend so that my dad and I can check all our projects off of the list we have.

I know I’ve had some bad colds in the past, but I think this one has been one of the worst ones I can remember. If I’m not feeling better soon, I am going to go to the doctor to make sure it’s nothing worse or something that I need medication to get over. But I really do feel like it’s just a cold and it’s a lot more severe than what I’m used to. And that’s why I’m ok with being behind on what I know I should be doing. Getting rest is so important when you are trying to get better. And that’s what my focus has been this past week and everything else just has to take a backseat.

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I’m Not Used To Being This Sick (or I Know This Could Be Worse)

Posted on February 7, 2023 | Comments Off on I’m Not Used To Being This Sick (or I Know This Could Be Worse)

Last week, I started to have a bit of a scratchy throat. That used to mean that I was about to get sick, but it usually started very soon after that feeling started and it was slightly different from what I was experiencing last week. So I thought maybe I was having an issue with allergies or something else. I honestly didn’t think that I was getting sick. But after a few days, it was clear that I was getting sick and I had to work on taking care of myself.

Fortunately for me, I work from home so I spent Friday working from my bed. I also had a friend who was able to run out and get cold medicine for me because my head was so foggy that I knew I wasn’t safe to drive. I also took a Covid test since I knew a few friends who thought they had a cold but it turned out to be Covid. And if that’s what I got, I wanted to get anti-virals right away. But the test was a very clear negative.

So I knew this was just a bad cold and not something worse.

But a bad cold isn’t great either. Over the weekend, I spent almost all my time resting. I wanted to get better, and I knew that resting my body was the best thing for me to do. I tried to eat a little since I know your body needs fuel to get over a cold. But between congestion and my sore throat, it was tough to even make myself drink water. But I tried my best and just did as little as possible. I knew I was pretty sick when just making my bed made me out of breath.

I hate being sick like this. I used to deal with this during the winter, but since the pandemic, I haven’t been inside with many people and when I have been around others, I’ve been wearing a mask. I still wear a mask when I’m inside almost all the time. I might be the only person at the grocery store who wears one, but I know it can keep me safe. But there have been a few times when I didn’t wear one, and I’m guessing that one of those times I was around someone who had a cold and I managed to catch it.

I know that I could have been more cautious and that catching a cold is my fault, but at the same time, this is a bit of my normal too. I know that at some point, we will be back to something similar to what our old normal was, and for me, that means I’ll probably catch a cold during the winter. I might take some more precautions now than I did before, but I also know that catching a cold isn’t something I can completely avoid unless I want to stay isolated.

So I just had to suck it up and work on fighting this bug. I had to skip my workout yesterday and as I am writing this, I’m debating about my workout this morning. I might want to take another day off to get just a bit better but I also know that there are studies that show that working out once you are doing better and not contagious can help to get rid of a cold sooner. I just have to find the balance between needing time to recover and being ready to start pushing to be back to my routine.

I am grateful that this wasn’t as bad as other things that I could have gotten. If it was Covid, I have no idea how much worse it could have been. Even compared to when I had vertigo a few years ago, this isn’t quite as bad. It’s frustrating when this isn’t how I want to spend my time, but it’s life and I’ll be fine soon. Maybe I’ll need to take more time off from workouts and other things than I would have liked, but this is a temporary thing and I’ll be back to my normal before I know it. And being better and feeling better is my focus for now and that’s what I have to be ok with doing.

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Not My Normal Workout Recap (or At Least I Was Feeling Ok During The Week)

Posted on February 6, 2023 | Comments Off on Not My Normal Workout Recap (or At Least I Was Feeling Ok During The Week)

This workout recap will be a bit different from what my normal ones look like. And that’s because I am currently sick. I’ve taken some Covid tests and they have been negative, so I think I just caught a really bad cold. This is something I used to deal with somewhat frequently, but the last few years have been better since people have been wearing masks and not really doing things around others. But I guess things are back to normal enough that I’m back to getting colds the way I used to.

Fortunately for me, I wasn’t really feeling sick this past week when I went to my workouts. I was worried I was going to be dealing with pain and nausea, and I also managed to mostly escape that as well. I did have some really bad cramps toward the end of the week, but that was a lot less than what I expected. And when I went to my Thursday workout, I had a bit of a sore throat but it wasn’t bad and I thought it might be allergies since it felt different from the sore throat I get before I get sick. But I guess I was wrong and now I know that was the first sign of me having this cold. Hopefully, I didn’t get anyone else sick in class. But there’s also a good chance that I got this from someone in class.

I’m glad that my workouts this past week weren’t affected by this cold or by anything else. Overall, it was a really good workout week. And I needed it to be a good week just for my self-esteem. I don’t know what will happen this week with my workouts. As I’m writing this post, I don’t know if I’ll need to take time off. If I don’t feel better than I do right now, I won’t be able to work out. I’m hoping I’m over this cold quickly, but I also know that if I am not fully better and I go to work out, I might extend this cold even longer. And I really don’t want that.

Plus, this week is likely to be one of the weeks where my pain and nausea will be really bad, so I don’t want that combined with this cold. I’m hoping I won’t need to take time off, but I’m also realistic and willing to do what my body needs. So if I miss a bunch of workouts this week, at least this past week was a good one for me.

I don’t have much else to write about my workouts since right now my brain is a bit foggy from this cold, but I’m glad that this cold didn’t affect how I was able to do. And hopefully, whatever workouts I can do this week will go well and won’t be too bad with everything I’m dealing with regarding my physical health.

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Another Challenge About My Schedule (or Hopefully This Month Goes Better)

Posted on February 1, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Challenge About My Schedule (or Hopefully This Month Goes Better)

As I wrote about halfway through January, I think I might have picked the wrong monthly challenge for my first one in 2023. I had so many good intentions to work on planning out a schedule and so many things happened that made that a lot more difficult than it should have been. I really did try to figure out at least something to have regularity in my week, but it was limited to only a few things.

I have a much better idea of when I can try to cook a meal since it’s really limited with my schedule. I want to try to figure out some faster things to make so I can cook after work and not feel overwhelmed or eat too late. And I’m working on prepping ingredients so they are easy to grab throughout the week. For example, I make my own pickled onions to add to salads and sandwiches on the weekend so I have them all week.

I also had a few small ideas about my cleaning schedule. There’s a lot more to work on with this, but I am trying to use my robot vacuum more so I don’t feel as much pressure to do vacuuming after work to keep up with things. I’m looking into other shortcuts to tricks I can use for other cleaning tasks, but I think I really should think more seriously about having a cleaning service come in once a month or so to do a big cleaning. I think that will help keep things in order so my weekly cleanings aren’t as big. I have to do some budgeting work to figure out if that’s feasible, but I’m making it a higher priority for me than some other things I was thinking of saving for.

Even though my January challenge about scheduling didn’t go that well, I have another scheduling challenge for February. This is a part of my big annual goals for the year, but this month I want to really focus on my sleeping schedule and making sure I get more sleep each night.

This has been something I have known I needed to do for a long time, but it really hit me hard this week. Last week, I was doing really well with getting to bed on time and getting an hour or more sleep each night than I have been getting. I know I still need more than that, but I did feel a difference and I was feeling a lot better. But this week, I’ve been getting back into my usual habits and I’m not getting enough sleep again. I’m actually getting a bit more sleep this week than I did a few weeks ago, but it’s still less than last week. And it’s making me more tired than I have been before. I wasn’t expecting it to be such a huge change, but I guess this is a sign that I really do need to focus more on sleep.

And that’s exactly what I plan to do this month. I know it’s tempting to stay up late to read to catch up on tv or other things, but I just need to remember that I can do that another time. Unless there is something urgent that has to be done, I want to really try hard to stick to a better sleep schedule even if I want to stay up later. I know this won’t always be possible, especially if I am meeting up with friends in the evening or going to dinner. But I can make an effort for all the evenings I’m not out and don’t have a good excuse to stay up late.

I’m curious if I’ll be able to do this since this is something I’ve been struggling with for a while. But I’m also curious to see how this makes me feel if I’m able to do it for most of the month. I want to see how it affects my physical and mental health. I know it will only have positive effects, but I don’t know how much of a difference it will make yet. But hopefully, but the end of this month I will be able to update you with the results!

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Medical Stability Is A Good Thing (or Yet Another Easy Check-Up)

Posted on January 24, 2023 | Comments Off on Medical Stability Is A Good Thing (or Yet Another Easy Check-Up)

I’ve been working with my dermatologist on a lot of different conditions over the past few years. Some have been ongoing conditions and some have been one-off discussions or resolved within a few appointments. I know I have said this before, but I’m lucky to have a doctor on my team who works with me to figure out solutions and listens to me and my concerns. I know not everyone has that experience or the ability to speak up for their concerns. But I made sure that the doctors I see worked with me and not just talked at me. Not all the doctors I’ve seen are like that, but if they don’t see us as a team I don’t go back to them.

This is so important with all my doctors, but especially when you are working with someone for an extended time. When it’s not just a few appointments and then you never see them again, you need to make sure that they really hear what you have to say. And I think the positive experiences I’ve had with doctors that I’ve had to see for years is because I am willing to say that I want to find a different doctor to work with. I probably should have done that sooner with other dermatologists I’ve seen in the past because I have wasted so much time trying solutions that weren’t working but I wanted to keep trying what they told me to do.

Even though I have a few different ongoing conditions I work on with my dermatologist, my appointments aren’t that frequent anymore. Most of the things I’ve working with him on are going to be things I have to deal with for the rest of my life. Or if they can go away, it might be years before that happens. With my autoimmune condition, I know the end goal is to be in some sort of remission. This isn’t always possible, but it can happen. But the things that can get you into remission can be more extreme than what I’m willing to do at this point. There is a surgery that I could have that would help me significantly, but the recovery process would be very lengthy and painful. Maybe one day I’ll get there, but it’s not what I want to do at this point.

I had another follow-up with my dermatologist this past week and I knew it would likely be an easy appointment. I’m not in remission with my autoimmune condition, but things have gotten so much better over the past few years. I think I’m in a lower stage of the condition than I have been in years. I still have quite a bit of pain to deal with, but it’s more manageable now and that’s something that I never thought could happen. I know my doctor would have liked to see more improvement with me, but I’m happy that things are just stable where they are and they aren’t getting worse. It used to be stable years ago before things started to get really bad. And now, it’s stable but in a good spot. Maybe I’ll have some more regression and it will stabilize at an even better spot, but I’m not too worried about that right now. My main focus is hoping that it just doesn’t get worse again.

And because things are stable, my plan with my doctor is stable too. I’m going to continue the same medications I’ve been taking since they clearly are doing something to help manage this condition. I also use certain body washes to help my skin and I just need to continue to use that as well.

Having boring follow-up appointments like this is becoming more common for me, and that’s a good thing. I’ve had so many ongoing medical conditions for so long and to have them stabilize is so awesome. The more stable things get, the more boring my appointments are. I never knew that I was hoping for boring appointments in my life, but it turns out that it’s one of the best things and something that I continue to hope will happen in the future.

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Getting Through A Tough Week (or Rain And Pain)

Posted on January 16, 2023 | Comments Off on Getting Through A Tough Week (or Rain And Pain)

I knew this past week of workouts would be tough on me since it would likely be a week of bad pain and nausea. I didn’t expect the extra pain because of all the rain, so that just added to the difficulty of the week. And as much as I wanted to challenge myself in my workouts, I knew I just had to do what I could and hope for the best.

On Monday, I wasn’t feeling too nauseous but I was having quite a bit of hip pain. So I had to work around that and make sure that I didn’t do anything that was too painful for me.

For cardio, we had a long block that had pretty short intervals. We did a push pace to base pace and the each push/base interval was the same amount of time. So it was a 30-second push pace and 30-second base pace for the first interval. And they went up by 15 seconds each time. At the end of the block, we had a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, we also had a long block. We started with squats to front presses with a medicine ball and then we had a 200-meter row. Then we had the medicine ball exercise plus lunges before a 400-meter row. Then those exercises plus shoulder presses and then a 600-meter row. I actually didn’t get beyond that because my rowing was so slow, but it was a decent amount of work for what I could do.

And on the floor, we had neutral grip rows, sumo squats to upright rows, squats, and high rows on the straps. None of the floor exercises were too hard for me with the hip pain, but I did have to take some time with the squats because those were starting to bother me a bit. I wasn’t in pain, but I can tell when an exercise just isn’t feeling right and I need to make sure I’m not having sloppy form or something else that could cause pain later.

Tuesday I was definitely feeling nauseous plus still had some hip pain, so again I had to go easy and listen to my body. I knew that both of these feelings were temporary and that soon I would feel better, but it doesn’t always make it easier.

We had 2 blocks for cardio and both blocks had some incline work in them. We alternated between a regular push pace and a push pace with an incline with a base pace in between. I did go higher on my resistance levels to do the incline work, but I know I wasn’t pedaling that fast for either of the cardio blocks.

On the rower, we did stroke drills for both blocks. In the first block, we did a 12 stroke drill, rested, and then repeated the drill with the goal to beat our distance from the first one. And after that second row we had squats before repeating the pattern again. In the second block, we did 15 stroke drills and had lunges instead of squats.

And on the floor, we had one long block that had cluster sets. We had 3 exercises to do as cluster sets and we did each one 3 times. We had chest presses, tap squats, and overhead tricep extensions. For the sets, the first time was supposed to be 6-10 reps and then the second time was just to do as many as possible.

Wednesday’s workout was a benchmark and I knew it wasn’t going to be a great one for me. My nausea was pretty bad and I just wasn’t in a good mood because of how I had been feeling all week. This time, the benchmark was the 1 mile challenge, and I knew I had done really well on it the last time. This time, I just wanted to get through it and see what happened.

Our entire cardio block was focused on the benchmark. I knew I would finish in under 10 minutes, but I wanted to see if I could maybe do it in under 9. I didn’t put the resistance level that high since this benchmark is all about speed. I also knew that it would make things a bit easier on me since it wouldn’t take as much effort to pedal. And somehow, I made it just under 9 minutes so I was very happy. It was far from my PR, but I hit the goal I had set for myself.

On the rower, we had different row distances and we were supposed to do jumping jacks between them, but I knew I couldn’t do that. So for the entire row block, I just rowed as long as I could and then rested when I needed to. I wasn’t worried about distances or anything like that, I just kept going to maximize my time on the rower.

And on the floor, we had circuit work. We had 2 rounds of each circuit and then we did them as one long block after that. We had single arm rows and chest flys for the first circuit and step-ups and deadlifts for the second circuit. I was able to lower the bench so I could do the step-ups, but they did take me a while since I had to make sure I stayed balanced.

My hip pain was finally starting to be done by Thursday, but my nausea really kicked in hard. Plus I was dealing with very intense cramps so I don’t think my lack of hip pain helped me too much. But I knew this would be my last workout of the week so I wanted to just try the best I could.

Every section of the room had 3 blocks for this workout. For cardio, the blocks were always a push pace, an all-out, a 1-minute recovery, a push pace, and an all-out. In the first block, the push and all-outs were 1-minute, in the second block they were 45-seconds, and in the last block they were 30-seconds.

On the rower, we were timed the same way as cardio so we had the push and all-out rows. But instead of a recovery, we had the minute to do 10 overhead presses with a medicine ball and then we could rest for any time that was left over. I usually didn’t have much time to rest, so I just got my feet back into the rower and had a few seconds to breathe before doing the next set of push and all-out rows.

And on the floor, we had 2 exercises for each block. In the first block we had goblet squats and then we were supposed to do jumps to shuffles. I did squats to calf raises instead of the jumps. The second block had lateral lunges and skater lunges. And the last block was all core work and I really struggled with it with all my pain so I just did crunches for that last block to make sure I did something close to what we were supposed to do.

Considering how bad this past week could have been, it wasn’t too bad. I’m hoping that this week isn’t bad either and at least the end of the week should hopefully be ok for me. And even though I won’t have another benchmark to do this week, I can still try to keep pushing myself and making sure that I work extra hard when I feel ok to make up for weeks like this past one.

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A Follow-Up With A New Doctor (or I’m Just Going To Keep Doing What I’m Doing)

Posted on January 10, 2023 | Comments Off on A Follow-Up With A New Doctor (or I’m Just Going To Keep Doing What I’m Doing)

A few months ago, I had my first appointment with a doctor in bariatric medicine. That appointment went as well as I could have hoped and that’s when I started the new injectable medication I’m on. I felt so lucky that the doctor I met with understood where I was coming from and wasn’t trying to push other options, such as having surgery. I was nervous going into that appointment because I knew I might have to do some additional steps to try the options I wanted to try. But when that wasn’t the case, I knew that I would have the best chance to test this out. When I left that appointment, I knew my next follow-up would be a few months later to see how things were going.

And since that appointment, I think things have gone pretty well. I have been dealing with side effects and I had to deal with a medication shortage, but I am seeing results and I know that this is giving me the chance that I’ve been wanting. So I was expecting that when I had my follow-up with my doctor, things would go just as well as the initial appointment. But when I got the call to schedule my follow-up, I learned that the doctor I had seen before wasn’t there anymore and I would be talking to a new doctor.

Even though I had such a good first appointment, I was nervous again about what this new doctor might say. You never know how they might feel about progress or different medications. But I tried to just hope for the best and remind myself that this was another doctor in bariatric medicine so they likely had a lot of patients like me and it wasn’t like my case was an oddity. And I knew that having it be a phone appointment would hopefully be a bit less pressure and easygoing.

I’m so glad that my fears were wrong and everything went just as well with this new doctor as it did with the first. We did discuss the side effects I’ve been having and how it might still take some time before they really get better. Although I have been doing my injections in a different location and it seems to be making things easier for me, so that was helpful. And this new doctor seemed fine with me doing the injections in my leg instead of my stomach as long as I was still following the recommendations in the instruction packet. And even though I haven’t had insane results, I have been seeing results and that’s what matters the most. The first week I was on this, I had a lot of change, but I knew that wouldn’t be sustainable. Since then, it’s been a lot slower but it has been steady and that’s what my new doctor was happy about. There is a higher dosage I could take, but since I’m seeing results with the dosage I’m on, there’s no need for me to change things yet. Possibly in the future I would need to, but I’m not going to worry about that until that time comes.

And the new doctor said that could still be a chance I have to deal with medication shortages, but that hopefully if that happens they can be resolved as quickly as possible so I don’t have to miss too many weeks. If it becomes a bigger issue, I feel comfortable enough messaging this doctor and asking what the best options would be for me. But I hope that the medication company understands that there is a high demand for this and they will continue to increase production.

My follow-up appointment ended with us deciding that in a few months, I’ll have another follow-up. I don’t know if that next one will be another phone appointment or if it will be in person. I guess when they call to schedule it I will find out. And hopefully over the next few months before I have that next follow-up, things will continue to go as well or better than they have these last few months.

I know this medication isn’t a miracle drug and that I still have to put in the work myself, but it’s helping in a way that nothing else I’ve tried has. I’m so grateful that my first doctor allowed me to try it out and that this new doctor is going to let me continue with it so I can see even more results in the future.

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My 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats)

Posted on January 3, 2023 | Comments Off on My 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats)

As I have done each year for the last several years, I have set some goals for myself for 2023. I look at goals and resolutions as different things. Goals seem to have more of a concrete idea of what you want to get to versus resolutions that feel more abstract. I still have some goals that don’t have an exact thing to get to, but I still feel like there are better ways to track my results with goals than I do with resolutions. This might just be wording and the idea that resolutions typically are broken, but for me, I think whatever works is good. And for 2023, I have set 4 goals for myself.

The first goal is something I’ve done quite a bit. I want to make sure I do 200 Orangetheory workouts this year. This goal is the one that I feel is almost a guarantee I will be successful unless something crazy happens in my life. And if something does happen in my life that will prevent me from working out for a few weeks, then I’ll probably reevaluate this goal and make sure it’s still something I can get to. 200 workouts means I go 4 times a week for almost all the weeks of the year. I don’t have to go 4 times every week and I could have a few weeks of just going 3 times. But my plan is to go 4 times a week unless something comes up that make that impossible. But that’s why I have a bit of flexibility with having some weeks where I could go 3 times and still make it to my goal. Even though I look at this goal as something that should be accomplished with very little extra effort, I do like to have accountability.

My second goal for the year is to work on getting more sleep every night. I have been getting very little sleep for a while and I know it’s affecting me. I get up pretty early to be able to work out before work, but I haven’t really adjusted what time I go to bed with the earlier wake-up. There have been far too many nights where I get only about 4 hours of sleep, and that’s not something to be proud of. Since I can’t really adjust what time I get up, I need to work on going to bed earlier. That involves a few different things such as actually getting into bed earlier, not reading as late as I have, and not staying up late to catch up on a tv show or something. Nothing that I do late at night couldn’t wait until the next day, so I have to be better about not feeling a need to complete something at night.

My third goal is something similar to what I set for 2022. I want to keep setting up my condo. There aren’t too many things I have to do to get things set up the way I want to, but all of those things involve money. I want to get the furniture I want for my office since that will help move almost everything still in a box out of a box. I also am looking into redoing my closet since it’s not the best use of space for me. For my closet, I’m hoping this could possibly be something I do on my own to save money, but there are a few things that need to be considered first. But my parents and I are going to look into some options soon so hopefully I can have an idea of what that cost will be and when it can be done. I would love to say that by the end of this year, I won’t have anything left in a box, but I’m not sure if that will happen. But it’s something I’m going to work toward and see how close I can get.

And my last goal for the year is something I have talked about several times and just haven’t done it. I want to rebuild my acting life. I still have been pursuing acting and have been submitting myself for projects. And if I get an audition, I do everything I need to do to have the best audition possible. But I know that things aren’t going as great as they could be. Things still aren’t exactly where they were before the pandemic, but they are much closer so I should be at least closer to what they were like before. But I’m just not there. This will involve a few different things such as trying to get back into class or finding a group to work on scripts together, getting new headshots, and maybe looking into if a different agent could be a better fit for me. None of these things will guarantee that I will get more auditions or book work, but I want to do whatever I can that is in my control to feel like I’m not just playing around at being an actor but an active participant in that career. I know for the last few years I have had my focus on other things, but I’m ready to get back to what I love and hopefully see some results from my work.

I debated about doing some other goals this year and there are other things I might set as monthly challenges or just a smaller monthly goal so I can accomplish more this year, but I think for my big year-long goals, these 4 are really things I need and want to focus on and will help me to have a successful year.

And I hope in 12 months when I’m recapping how 2023 went, I will have a lot of success to share with you all!

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Posted in Acting, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

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A Delayed Dentist Appointment (or Still Trying To Not Panic)

Posted on December 28, 2022 | Comments Off on A Delayed Dentist Appointment (or Still Trying To Not Panic)

I feel like even though I still don’t do great at the dentist, I have been doing a lot better lately than I did years ago. I still have some tough appointments now that make me feel like I’ve had a setback, but I still think there has been some forward progress for me. So even though I still hate the dentist, I don’t put off going because I know I need to be on top of things. The only time I really was putting off an appointment in the recent past was at the beginning of the pandemic when they canceled all regular appointments and were only seeing emergencies. I did end up having an emergency so I went in for that and the cleaning that I missed. But I think having that appointment be delayed really reinforced the idea of not missing or putting off appointments because that was a much harder appointment than normal.

I was supposed to go to the dentist in November, but right before my appointment was when I got sick. I knew it wasn’t Covid and was likely just a cold, but I didn’t want to expose everyone at the dentist’s office, especially since there’s no way to keep a mask on there. I think that the staff appreciated my being cautious as well. When the rescheduled date ended up not working for me because of a work conflict that I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to have to move my appointment after already doing that once, but I didn’t have a choice. So I finally was able to go to the dentist yesterday for the overdue appointment.

I think knowing that I had this appointment about a month after it was supposed to happen made me extra nervous. I know I try to do everything right for my teeth, but my genetics make me have bad teeth compared to others. That’s why I go in 3 times a year instead of just twice. I have to make sure I get more cleanings than the average person to make up for the bad genetics. I know that this delay wasn’t as bad as the one I had at the beginning of the pandemic, but I was still worried that the appointment would be that much more difficult for me to tolerate and get through.

I also think it didn’t help that it was raining that day so I was dealing with hip pain as well as the side effects from my injection. I tried to tell myself that those would be good distractions, but it doesn’t always work out like that, and sometimes having other pain or issues just make everything else feel worse. But I did my best to not panic as much as I could and went into my appointment with a somewhat positive mindset. But as always, I was worried that I would be told some horrible news about my teeth while I was there.

When I finally got to my appointment, I encountered another delay. Another patient had an emergency and it was taking longer than expected. I told them I could just wait until the dentist was done since I didn’t want to put off the appointment any longer. I know that was the right choice even though waiting there for a while made my nerves kick up even more. By the time I was seen, I was really trying my best to stay calm but I knew I wasn’t doing a great job at that.

Fortunately, my appointment went ok. Things weren’t as great as they normally are, but I know that’s because my appointment was pushed back by a month. It really does make a difference in making sure you go on time. I know that I shouldn’t push an appointment back unless absolutely necessary, and this showed me yet again how true that is. But at least it was only slightly worse than normal and I wasn’t told any exceptionally bad news. I know that one day I’ll have another cavity or need a crown redone, but I’m grateful that wasn’t at this appointment.

I’m planning on going back again in 4 months like I’m supposed to. And I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure I don’t have to reschedule again since I think that makes things worse when they don’t have to be. And maybe if I don’t have a pushed back appointment and if there is no delay when I get to the office, things will be better for me next time.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

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Another Medication Shortage (or I’ll Just Have To Wait It Out Again)

Posted on December 20, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Medication Shortage (or I’ll Just Have To Wait It Out Again)

There was a medication shortage when I had to get the first refill of my new injection. I knew this was a possibility as I had heard rumors of medication shortages from people online who were taking the same medication or similar ones. There are a lot of reasons why there has been a shortage of this category of medication. The biggest reason is that so many people are being prescribed it now.

For so long, obesity and weight issues were treated as motivation problems or laziness. Or doctors assumed you didn’t know what you were doing. I feel like I know more information about calories than most people do. I know what is considered good and what is considered bad. I know what you can eat so you can have a large volume of food for very few calories. And even though I do have an eating disorder, I have known for a long time that there is something else wrong with me. That’s why for so many years, I was going through a ton of medical testing to see if it was a thyroid issue or if there was another imbalance in my body. But doctors never could find what was wrong and I just was treated as someone who had a weight issue and that it was completely my fault that I am this weight and am not losing weight.

But finally, I think more doctors are understanding that obesity is a disease and not just a personal issue. You could ask so many people who have struggled with their weight and they would probably have similar stories to mine. They have tried so many things and maybe only the most extreme things have worked for them. There is just something else wrong with their body that nobody could figure out. But now, doctors are getting that and are working to find ways to work on this concern with patients instead of just lecturing patients and trying to scare them into losing weight by saying they will have all these other medical issues that may or may not actually be related to weight.

So since this is being understood differently, people can finally get treatments like what I’m doing. I know there are some people who are just trying to lose like 10 pounds and are finding doctors to prescribe this to them, but that’s not most people taking it. And I guess the drug manufacturer is just surprised that people would want to try something that is supposed to help with weight loss. I know there were other issues with the manufacturing that caused a slowdown, but I think the biggest issue was just them being unprepared.

With the first refill, my doctor allowed me to start the higher dosage early since that injection pen was available at that time. And since I was going to start that higher dosage eventually, it wasn’t a big deal for me to jump to the next level. And while I’ve had more side effects, they have gotten better from week to week and I’m glad that I’ve been able to do this.

But now that I’ve needed to put in my next refill request (at the dosage I’m at, I need a new pen every 4 weeks), there’s another shortage happening. There’s no estimate for when the injection pens will be available again and I’ll just be notified when my refill is ready for me. I’m hoping that since I have about a week before my next injection that it could arrive in time. Or maybe I’ll just have a single week off if it comes in next week. It’s frustrating because this is working for me and I am seeing results. They might not be as fast as I would have liked, but I also know that this is much more normal than other weight loss things I’ve experienced before. It’s still not a miracle or something magical, but it helps so much. And I am nervous about having to stop taking it again, especially when I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait.

I don’t have another option since I’m not going to pay full price for the injection pen at another pharmacy (which would cost over $1000). And just like the last time I needed to get a refill, I’m just going to have to be really careful and mindful if I have some time off between injections because I don’t want the hard work I’ve been putting in the past few months to go away.

I might be overreacting and I’ll be told in a day or two that my refill is ready. But I’m also mentally preparing myself for what might happen. And this could happen over and over again with the refill requests for a while. I don’t know when they will work on producing more injection pens to meet demand. So I might be going through this every month for the foreseeable future. But I don’t have another option right now and I’m just going to find a way to make it work.

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