When people ask me how I'm feeling, I tell them the truth: I feel great! My symptoms are under control. Even with my continuing mobility issues, my heart is doing great. I have great energy, and I continue to use all of my alternative practices, including some new ones by Ann Marie Chiasson that I discovered recently. There's only one area of frustration and I have shared it with my physician: he still has me taking water pills twice a day which keeps my schedule somewhat limited. I cheat.
When I asked the cardiologist how she felt about my cheating by taking only one pill some days or none at all, she said, "I don't like your doing that. I don't want to get a phone call one day telling me you're in the hospital with pneumonia." I don't want her getting that call either! I also don't want to live my life where every decision is based on how close I am to the ladies room. So, some days I cheat. It is planned cheating.
When I cheat, I immediately resume my normal schedule the next day so the drug stays in my system. So far, it is working for me. I keep written records of what I'm doing and share those with my PCP when I see him so I'm not hiding this. He seems okay with it....
Meanwhile, of course, I am working with my heart and entire system to get to the place where I don't need the drug - my doc seems to feel I will need this the rest of my life and I fully intend to prove him wrong. But I do ask myself if I am playing with fire or if I am being smart. So far, so good. We'll see what happens from here.
Last week, I spoke at Everett Unity and led a meditation. If you want to listen to either, you can find them here:
http://www.everettunity.org/audio-archive.html
You can always muscle test and ask your body whether it needs the pill or not. Your body knows the truth.
ReplyDeleteTrue....I already know my body isn't ready to give them up yet.....my plan is to wean her off of them as my heart gets stronger.....Love, Krysta
DeleteI think almost every mature adult who is on long term maintenance medication learns to tweak and modulate the dosing and schedule to achieve reasonable functioning. This tends to drive Doctors nuts, who are taught to stick to rigid dosing and schedules.
ReplyDeleteWhether this is smart or playing with fire can, unfortunately, only be learned in retrospect.
I agree that it can only be learned in retrospect. It seems to me that any good medication maintenance routine has to contribute to the quality of life of the patient. If it doesn't, then one has to look at it and make some decisions. I am taking baby steps in the direction I want to move and then seeing what happens. Knowing me, I will get bolder and bolder as time goes on......
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