And it's up and it's up and it's up and it's up in Vulnerability

I saw my doctor this morning.

Last night was a rough night, my God. The vertigo was quite intense and didn’t seem to be leaving me alone. I was watching Youtube videos on exercises to try and I still wasn’t sure if I was doing them right, but it must have done something, as I eventually managed to fall asleep. Falling asleep while dizzy isn’t easy. I think these exercises will have to become a thing for me.

Anyway, doctor-time. First of all, he gave me my blood test results. Everything was good except for the one that mattered - the LDL-c (bad cholesterol) reading was 3.6, which is three times as high as it should be. Dammit!
Oh well, at least I know. And I’m glad I do. My doctor asked me about my family history, and I couldn’t really tell him anything, as basically I don’t really talk to my family much. I only really see them once a year at Christmas, and even then sometimes I don’t (as my little brother has to travel 2 days to get here from Mt Isa, which is in the same state!). All I knew was that my brothers and dad have high cholesterol. My doctor said because it’s in my family, dieting won’t do me a whole lot of good, so thanks heritage!
So yeah, I now have a prescription to try and get those levels under control, and I may have to be on it for the rest of my life, according to the leaflet. Thankfully they are only $8.99 a box. I’ve just gotta figure out a good time to start taking it. According to my mother, the worst side effect that both my dad and brother have is sore joints. So, great! Another thing I’m not looking forward to. Mum said dad takes Co Enzyme 10 which helps him, and I mentioned that to the doctor and he just said to me, “Don’t listen to pharmacists” LOL. I definitely think I’d wanna take something if I’m getting sore joints though, since mine already hurt sometimes haha. I was thinking krill oil though. Anyway, I have an 8-page thingy to read about it all.

Now, on to the vertigo! The hospital had sent my doctor the details, so he already knew and didn’t need my discharge form (makes sense). I told him that last night was very rough and I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, and that I’d done the exercises.
My doctor was surprised that they diagnosed me with BPV though, as he thinks I am too young for it to be that (Google tells me people than younger than 45 can still get it though). He is used to seeing it in men from age 45 but mostly 50+. He got me to stand up and do a test where I had to put my feet close together, look at the wall behind him and close my eyes. I felt dizzy immediately. He was like, “whoa whoa, okay” and got me to sit down.
I now have two different diagnosis’ for what this is now. He thinks that it is something called ‘Viral labyrinthitis’, so now I have another fun afternoon of researching what that is all about.
He couldn’t believe that the hospital didn’t give me anything for my vertigo (or whatever this is) though. He has prescribed me with ‘Stemetil’. I have taken one since I’ve gotten home and I didn’t think it was doing anything, but now that 40 minutes have passed, I think it may be? This one the pharmacist said to just take whenever I feel an episode coming on, so that’s good. There are only 25 in the packet and I kinda wish they gave me more, but the doctor did give me some hope by saying that if this is what he says it is, it should go away after 7 to 10 days. LORD I HOPE SO!
At least I have something to take for it now thank God. And upon Googling about this drug, apparently it is also good to help anxiety! Yay! Double whammy.

As for the cholesterol medication, he told me to put off start taking them until I find out some more information from my family. My mum’s grandparents died of heart problems and the men in my immediate family are on meds for it, so yeah, I guess I was a sitting duck all along. I just need to think about when would be the best time to start taking it, and get used to my new medicated life. I’m to get re-tested in February to see how my levels are going.

Edit: I’m just editting this entry, since I wrote not long ago. I have picked up some krill oil in the event that I have the sore-joint side effects, as I’ve decided I’m going to start taking my medication tomorrow. I know my mother says that my dad used Co Enzyme 10 and that helps him, but the packaging doesn’t even say anything about joint health on that, plus my friend Steve swears by krill oil for joints, so that’s what I’m going with. Man there are so many brands to choose from at the chemist. One of them was $96, no thanks. I paid $22 for a 60-day supply, and I suppose I will only need to take the vitamin if my joints hurt, right? Most of the brands read on the packaging to take between two and four a day, so I went with the one that says to just take one. I’m already going to hate taking a pill every day. I’m going to have to use my trick of getting them down, but it looks like this is my life now.

The cholesterol script says there are 5 repeats, so I guess that means 5 months of supply, although I will get tested again after only two. Man, being medicated is expensive :( I really don’t want Medicare or the PBS to be axed, because they are really a great thing about living in Australia.

The anti-world-spinny medication seems to be doing it’s job, thank fuck. I’ll probably take another in a few hours.

I did manage to go to gym though, and I actually spoke to the hot manager guy lol, but it was only to tell him about my vertigo and how I can only do exercises where I don’t have to move a lot (so my rowing warm-ups and my sit-ups are both out at the moment), and I asked if he’s ever experienced it. But of course he’s like in his 20’s or something, so he said he hadn’t. He was like, “Does it ever go away?” and because of my duel-diagnosis’ of BPV by the doctor at the hospital and Viral Labyrinthitis by my GP, I was like, “Well I’m not sure but I’m hoping it’ll go away after 10 days.” Doh! Well done Matt - playing it smooth with the hot gym manager by telling him about your health issues lol. Such a catch here! Not to mention he’s probably straight haha.

Last updated November 20, 2023