First... until certain things get resolved, I went ahead and deleted the prior post... sorry about that, but part of the job.
Otherwise...
Spent a long, but useful day at the VA seeing the rheumetologist, getting new x-rays and blood work & all that other fun. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring a book for the various waiting periods.
The nice part is, that the doctor agrees with what the other had said on vacation & we have pretty much reached a definitive diagnosis on what is actually going on. This takes it from the "we know you're in pain but can't really say why" realm into something solid; additionally it lets us move treatment from a pain management side into actually treating the disease - a very nice change after 8 years of progressively worse attacks and having to use stronger meds to even function daily. We have to wait for these final labs so that she is sure of some things, but hopefully everything will soon be under control.
The bad part is that the medications in question are some rather potent stuff, although not in the higher doses that things like cancer would see; and that I will most likely be taking them for the rest of my life. Meaning that along with having to make sure we keep an eye out for side effects, that I will also have to forgo the pleasures of beer, wine or any other alcohol to ensure my liver stays functional :(. I've been told that yes maybe like once a year I can enjoy a drink, but basically this is my last week enjoying the fruits of the vine...
Oy.
No more quality microbrews. No more nice Australian wines. Not even a sip of Glenmorangie now & then on a cold night.
On the other hand, I'll be healthy and pain free hopefully, so it should be worth it.
But I definitely plan on enjoying a few samples in the next week as work permits!
Man, this is going to put a serious dent in my Celtic street-cred...
4 comments:
Celtic street cred?!
Dude - sorry about the departure from imbibing...a sad thing, indeed, but I hope that you'll feel better.
I will try to take up the family slack...
That sucks big time. I hope it does work for ya, it must be bad if your willing to give up drinking. I feel for ya.
Celtic street cred, eh? Wanna compare?
I haven't had alcohol for the last 8 years. It gets easier to resist and say no thanks. Trust me.
I haven't been able to eat potatoes without some weird body reaction in the same time period, and I'm fairly certain that's some class of crime in Ireland. ;-)
I can't eat high sugary foods either. Same weird body reactions.
I'm sulphite intolerant, I'm lactose intolerant and I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a thyroid disease called Hashimoto's.
Even if I wasn't sulphite intolerant, I still couldn't drink because of the Lipator for the cholesterol.
There are many of us in the same boat despite the differing reasons. I have been where you are right now in regards to the alcohol ban. Really, is sucks monkey butt. Especially at my family get togethers where that's the one thing I looked forward to to get me through the guilt, the bile, the anger and the rudeness that is my family Christmas highlights. :-)
To compensate, I moved away and stayed away. I no longer can bare my family sober. Hee.
Stay strong. You have a very good reason to say no, and don't let yourself waiver from it: your health.
Stacey
strangeaddiction.com
Very true Stacey, and thank you for your thoughts.
And, although it IS a big lifestyle change it wasn't a hard choice at all to make -
give up beer
or
give up walking, working and normal life.
No challenge there.
Post a Comment