Health (and wealth) report

Yesterday afternoon found me at the Dentist as well as the Doctors. My gums seem to be fine now and the cleaning process was a lot quicker than in the past – must be keeping them much cleaner myself. The dentist X-rayed my three crowns at the front. They are 40 years old now and will need to be replaced. He gave me a quote for 2400€ (that’s $3140 or £2051). Unfortunately he’s not registered with my insurance company, so I would have to go somewhere else to get more money refunded. I can’t afford 2000€ at the moment - I don’t think that I can ever remember being able to afford 2000€! Fortunately there are two other Dentists locally that work with the insurance company.

The Doctor’s visit went better for me. It’s taken me a while (two years) to get used to my new Doctor after having the previous one for 22 years. My thyroid is playing up a bit. I’ve got to lower my dose of thyroxin (e) a little. He suggested doing it by alternating 150µg and 125µg every other day. I have noticed myself being moody recently – Rob has noticed too. Perhaps that is why. Other than that everything is tickity boo!

The sun is shining and it’s starting to feel warm at long last. Olivier went off to spend the afternoon at his friend’s pool.

Now I know why

Recently I haven’t felt like doing much. I haven’t felt much like blogging or visiting blogs. I’ve been falling asleep in front of the TV most evenings too. My blood test results came back and my thyroid has gone way out again. The Doctor has changed the dose of thyroxcine so hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be back up to full power.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Eyebrows and charcoal sticks

About 4 months ago In May I wrote that my eyebrows were dropping out. I looked as if I’d had an argument with the tweezers. On my next visit to the doctors I asked to have my thyroid medication increased. My eyebrows still aren’t what they used to be but the hairs are growing longer and stronger. I feel better too.

The man across the road set fire to a tree in his garden a year ago and since then we have had a giant stick of charcoal to look at from the kitchen window. He finally cut it down yesterday.

Blood sweat and pee

This morning was the morning I’d put by for my blood tests. I also had to provide 24 hours of pee; 3.5 litres, which is quite heavy to carry around in a bag, you know. As usual, after bood tests, Rob treated me to breakfast on the port. Since smoking has been banned in public spaces it’s very difficult to sit outside a café on a warm day without being kippered by all of the smokers. We sat inside.

I’m looking forward to seeing the results. If you read my post about eyebrows you’ll see that someone talked about thyroid problems in the comments. I have been very tired lately, but the worst part is feeling that life is one long set of chores stretching out before me. I had this feeling for a few years before I was diagnosed so I’m hoping to get that sorted.

Olivier and Dom tell me that the non-smoking rule emptied the night clubs at first. Not because people weren’t allowed to smoke. Apparently cigarette smoke does a lot towards masking the smell of sweaty bodies. The last I heard night clubs were going to introduce artificial cigarette smoke so solve the problem.

Health help
I’m going to write about health issues again, well I am getting old, so I think about my health more than I did 15 years ago. One problem that has concerned me lately is the menopause from the point of view of someone who already has a thyroid problem. The menopause can trigger thyroid problems too. Soy or Soya is not good thing if you are taking medicine for your thyroid. Soya is recommended as a good thing for the menopause. As it happens I managed to come across something in the chemists in town which contains sage and flax with no Soya. I’ve still got another four weeks before I can tell you whether it helps with hot flashes, there is definitely a reduction and I am sleeping a little better though I still have difficult nights from time to time.

The point of all this is that I’ve had to go to an awful lot of trouble to sort this one out. It would be nice to have somewhere like people like me could go to find things out and listen to others with the same problem. I think I might just have found a solution; Organised Wisdom is a website where professional and ‘user generated’information meets together for the benefit of everyone who wants to find out. So we can all Help others by sharing 1 piece of health wisdom at OrganizedWisdom.com I like the use of the word ‘wisdom’, it’s good to know that others share the same worries and problems.