welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Monday, July 22, 2019

is this what its like to get old

IS THIS WHAT ITS LIKE TO GET OLD
thats what i was thinking on saturday afternoon as i laid down for my afternoon nap
a benefit of retirement
am i getting old
is this that decline starting

8 now almost 9 years ago when i retired i was on no meds except for a baby aspirin each day to help keep a stroke or heart attack away
now im not sure im suppose to be on it anymore
i sure wish medicine would make up their minds on that aspirin a day deal

now
each morning i go to my medicine container
you know the one with the days of the week on it
i have two of them
one for prescription meds
the other for supplements i take that may help ward off alzheimers symptoms for awhile
not proven but maybe they said
so the total between the two is 18 pills a day

do i need them i asked myself this weekend
so
i picked out the definite ones
my blood pressure pill
my cholesterol pill
my vitamin b12
my vitamin d3
my stomach pill
my alzheimers pill

so i looked at those pills

i have to have my blood pressure pill or my blood pressure goes up
i dont want to die from a stroke a heart attack maybe but not a stroke
so ill keep taking that one

the cholesterol pill now that one im wondering
when is the time that that one wont make a difference anymore
when is the sweet point where that one wont really matter anymore
i will request that my wife she have them take me off that one

my vitamin b12 pill i want to keep taking that one since im not absorbing the b12 like i should
if that level drops too low my memory will deteriorate faster
so far now ill stay on that one

my vitamin d3 keeps my vitamin d2 levels up since for some reason i cant maintain a normal level without supplement
for now ill stay on it
i will request my wife she have them take me off that one when i fall off the cliff

my stomach pill well i have to have that one as long as i am eating since i get marked indigestion if i dont
when i stop eating well just stop that one ill tell her

then there is my alzheimers pill
the aricept
when do you stop that one

i wish i knew
since
its the reason for my issues i have every day
like
upset stomach abdominal pain
fatigue
lack of sleep
leg cramps
i know if i stopped it that one those symptoms would all go away and i would feel a lot better every day
but
there is a possibility if i stop it that my symptoms will take off down hill
but
i will tell you there are days i want to stop it and just not look back
but
then i see my two grandkids ms b and mr h and my two sons and their families and my wife she
i look and think about them and my life as im living today
and
i say
nay
im not ready yet to do that and take the chance
so
ill just put up with it

so then
im down to maybe
my blood pressure pill
my vitamin b12 pill
my alzheimers pill
my stomach pill

maybe
i can live with that regimen

so if you take the view of well i just want to take the scientifically proven pills that will make a difference in you health
these are the ones

the rest
well they are just maybes
ie
maybe they will help we just arent sure but maybe
well
maybe i dont want to deal with maybe anymore

i want to be like joe friday from dragnet
just the facts mam
just the facts

so i laid there saturday with my pillow under my knee with my hip flexed to relieve the aching in my hip and to slow down my muscle fasciculations and leg cramps
having just put my steroid eye drops in to control the iritis that has been flared now for 6 months from my two cataract surgeries on the same eye
having taken off my glasses since my glasses sit on part of the scar from my mohs surgery for basal cell cancer on the nose
having just took some indigestion chewables
having not gotten much sleep the night before because of the aricept

yes i laid there thinking about all of this
then
i fell asleep

when i woke up
i felt refreshed
there was no hip pain or calf discomfort or indigestion
my energy felt renewed
i put on my glasses
and
hopped out of bed

on for the rest of the day
having forgotten all that stuff i was thinking as i laid there

im not getting old i said to myself

the organicgreen doctor

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for your hard work at the Blondes vs Brunettes fundraiser for Alzheimer's on Saturday. You are a great role model and please keep up your good work.

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