Learning things from my doctor
Aug. 30th, 2007 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI checked off another thing on my list of 100 things to do this year: get an annual physical. My doctor again declared me "perfect." Woo hoo!
I'd been wondering whether the blood pressure measuring device that my dentist uses, which goes on one's wrist, was accurate. I've been getting oddly low readings: 100/50-ish. I used to have 90/60 but then went up to 120/70 and have been making my way back down. But a diastolic pressure of 50 was really weird. My doctor measured my blood pressure at about 100/60. And she actually took it twice because she thought it seemed very low. So I guess my diastolic really is significantly below 70. After doing some reading, I decided that even if my diastolic pressure really is that low, it's not scary or anything. There should be plenty of pressure during my heart beats to get my blood into all the places where it needs to be.
Another cool thing is she answered a question I'd been wondering about but didn't quite ask properly last time, and I didn't ask at all this time. When you're on birth control pills, you have a period every month. So how do you know when you've hit menopause and no longer need the pills? You don't. What you do is switch over to progesterone-only pills, which are almost as effective as the regular kind but don't force you to have periods. My doctor says this isn't something I should worry about now, since the average age of menopause is 52 (over 7 years away), but I should start thinking about it. Or whether I'd like to do something more permanent. (Surgery! Invasive! Painful! Risky! Scary! I'll stick with the pill which, although also risky and scary, turns out to lead to no bad side effects for me.)
I said I could ask my mom when she hit menopause, and maybe switch over a bit before that age. And then I asked whether that was something passed down by the mom or whether it was one of those weird things where you inherit that from your dad. She said, no, asking your Mom is a decent way to make guesses about yourself.
I also learned (from a poster) that there's a new vaccine for shingles. This is a painful rash you can get basically as a side effect from chicken pox, decades after you have recovered from chicken pox. It's painful for a while, but then goes away, except for some people in whom it recurs. People like my brother. Currently, however, the vaccine is only approved for people who are age 60 and older, but once you have a weakened immune system and are thus more at risk for shingles, it's too late to get the vaccine. I'll get it as soon as I can.
I love vaccines. Love, love, love.
Although I haven't gotten the ones against hepatitis. I seem at low risk and just one shot isn't enough and they're not cheap. I should probably think about that again, though.
I'd been wondering whether the blood pressure measuring device that my dentist uses, which goes on one's wrist, was accurate. I've been getting oddly low readings: 100/50-ish. I used to have 90/60 but then went up to 120/70 and have been making my way back down. But a diastolic pressure of 50 was really weird. My doctor measured my blood pressure at about 100/60. And she actually took it twice because she thought it seemed very low. So I guess my diastolic really is significantly below 70. After doing some reading, I decided that even if my diastolic pressure really is that low, it's not scary or anything. There should be plenty of pressure during my heart beats to get my blood into all the places where it needs to be.
Another cool thing is she answered a question I'd been wondering about but didn't quite ask properly last time, and I didn't ask at all this time. When you're on birth control pills, you have a period every month. So how do you know when you've hit menopause and no longer need the pills? You don't. What you do is switch over to progesterone-only pills, which are almost as effective as the regular kind but don't force you to have periods. My doctor says this isn't something I should worry about now, since the average age of menopause is 52 (over 7 years away), but I should start thinking about it. Or whether I'd like to do something more permanent. (Surgery! Invasive! Painful! Risky! Scary! I'll stick with the pill which, although also risky and scary, turns out to lead to no bad side effects for me.)
I said I could ask my mom when she hit menopause, and maybe switch over a bit before that age. And then I asked whether that was something passed down by the mom or whether it was one of those weird things where you inherit that from your dad. She said, no, asking your Mom is a decent way to make guesses about yourself.
I also learned (from a poster) that there's a new vaccine for shingles. This is a painful rash you can get basically as a side effect from chicken pox, decades after you have recovered from chicken pox. It's painful for a while, but then goes away, except for some people in whom it recurs. People like my brother. Currently, however, the vaccine is only approved for people who are age 60 and older, but once you have a weakened immune system and are thus more at risk for shingles, it's too late to get the vaccine. I'll get it as soon as I can.
I love vaccines. Love, love, love.
Although I haven't gotten the ones against hepatitis. I seem at low risk and just one shot isn't enough and they're not cheap. I should probably think about that again, though.