And so what now

It's been two months since I wrote the last entry about why some medical tests fail, for the obvious reason the preparation remove much of if not nearly all of the signs of any abnormal condition and the proceedure is looking for both the obvious and the abnormal. This means the test will miss the obvious when normal is abnormal, it's something they're not looking for and not seeing.

But that's aside from the conundrum between my digestive condition and my pulmonary artery condition. What's good for my digestive system, meaning food which it will tolerate, and what's good for my artery, meaning drugs, namely statin drugs to reduce my cholesterol and hopefully begin to remove the plaque on the artery, a 20% blockage if you don't remember. It's significant but not enough to warrant further proceedures or surgical intervention.

What's left on the table now is that I'm at the age, and have the genetic predispostion, to have additional problems from a higher than normal cholesterol level (in the mid 200's), such as additional plaque and late onset type-II diabetes, which my father had later in his life and really wrecked his one hobby, cooking and food.

In the time since the last entry, I've been on full dosage of a statin drug (Simvastatin) and off it, several times and then permanently when it crashed my digestive system and my body. I became a couch potato and did very little else. Everytime I went off I started to feel better and every time I went back on it, even at half and then quarter dose, I crashed.

So I went off it permanently and about a month later felt almost good again. Ok, but not great. Then my cardiologist prescribed another statin drug in the form of a health supplement (Red Yeast Rice similar to lovastatin). Well, less than a week into it, ditto, the same thing, my digestive system and my body started to crash. I went off and am slowly feeling better again.

And that's the conundrum. The two aren't compatible for successful treatment for both. One has to get and be better and the other suffer what happens. The digestive systems seems to be getting better with time, and watching my diet to avoid foods which cause temporary problems, or just get through those periods when it does. But it's a matter of the body solving itself.

We know the artery problem won't get better unless somethings happens and I change. I'm working on the latter, but it won't be enough, that's obvious. It started and happened when I was in my best health and fitness so anything less won't make it better. But I can slow down or stop making it worse, and then hope the body can and will do something to help, all by itself, at least keep it from getting worse.

So that's the tale to date. It's the old adage, if the illness doesn't kill me, the (drug) treatments will. So, it's choose my own poison. And so far I've chosen food and living than being a nothing on a couch.