Medical Update

Sawadee Khrap

For everyone following my medical adventure  – things have settled down.  Blood pressure seem to be stable 125-145 for the last month and kidneys functioning regularly.   No operation planned.    feel 20 years younger  —   Latest daily meds taken:

  • 1500 mg. Turmeric  – aides in clearing arteries.
  • 3000 mg.  Fish Oil   1000-Blackmore Omega Memo, morning,    2-1000 Regular Fish Oil other meals.  –   blood thinning, stroke control, Omega 3 control.
  • 5 mg. Folic Acid – kidney function.
  • 225 mg Irbesartan – Blood pressure control – relaxes arteries.
  • 7 mg Cialis – relaxes arteries, prostrate help, erection assist.

I have drifted away from the vegetarian regimen I was holding in Pattaya and am starting to feel more sluggish so I will try to go back to largely eating fruits and vegetables – greatly reducing my meat intake.   In addition,  I have increased my exercise program on the Elliptical cross country machine to 15 minuets at level 2 speed at 4-5 MPH – getting much better now – planning to get to 1/2 hr. at level 4-5 at 4-5 mph with intermittent high-intensity speed bursts.

So again I would like to add – if you are planning a medical vacation to Thailand – make sure you check out the Gov’t hospitals to see what their prognoses are before you commit to any treatment at any hospital – – insurance or not.   Do not be taken down the surgical operation path without looking at other alternatives – I am just very glad and blessed that I did not have insurance and had to explore other alternatives  when I was presented with the first findings at Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya.    It turned out that with exercise, good food, proper meds – I should be able to stay healthy without any surgeries.

Ciao

Slient but new medical news

Sawadee Khrap

I haven’t posted in a long time – very busy for my first days in Chiang Mai.   Immigration for my 90 days – change of address caused some delays – several trips to the office. , but now done.   Broken radiator hose on the Mira – that happened on a weekend and had to wait till Monday – Glad that’s all it was – 500 B fix — 

And the Medical situation – changed blood pressure medicine 3 times trying to find the best one for me – Tried the “ACE” class drugs – Lisinopril – but had terrible stomach pains and constipation –   only the “Sartan”  ABR  class drugs seems to work but each has their own side effects –  Olmesartan – upset stomach,    Azilsartan – Erectile Dysfunction – and this is totally unacceptable,      Valsartan – not good pressure control —— and now Irbesartan – seems to be working without the other side effects – but only taking it for 5 days now – need at least 2 weeks to be sure it is working correctly — everything else seems to be ok for now.

I have not been looking for a condo so far  – don’t feel the urge to rush and I have been using the exercise room’s treadmill – walking 1 mile a day in the mornings.  They have a elliptical machine too – and I will test it out before I leave and plan to buy one for my condo.

Meet several new friends, and got to visit many old friends still living here – Chiang Mai is very quiet right now but there is a large population of Chinese here  – and the locals are right  – they are a pain in the ass – most don’t know how to act in a foreign country and are very rude.  What’s really bad is their driving – either on motorcycle or car – they haven’t the slightest idea of what they are doing and causing slowdowns everywhere or worse yet accidents.  And this is the slow season – it’s going to be a bitch later on in the year as tourist increase and so will the traffic.

I am amazed that the 3 new Shopping Centers are doing badly – no customers – Maya, Central Festival, Promenade.  Maya the smallest and Promenade about 3 times as large – almost empty ——- but the old Kad Suan Kaew Shopping  Center is still bustling with customers and offers the best eye candy if you know what I mean.   I went one time to Adam’s Apple Club to see the show and see if I knew anyone there  – all new except the managers – I knew them – have been invited to do a photo shoot review so hope to be doing that soon and have some images to show – good show.   Haven’t been to any  of the other clubs so far but now in a great hurry to so so. 

Anyway just checking in – post later

Ciao

A little Cinnamon will do ya

Sawadee Khrap

Mark Hand was telling me about the benefits he has gotten from a small amount of cinnamon with his oatmeal every morning – so I tried it too – great success – it lowered my BP by about 10 points in about a week.  I have been adding one shake of  Durkee – Ground Cinnamon to my cup of oatmeal every morning – about 1-2 grams along with 1 Tablespoon of Honey.

There are 2 major types of cinnamon – Ceylon which is grown in Sri Lanka and Cassia or Chinese from Indonesia.  Cassia has extremely high concentrations of Coumadin, a blood thinning compound, and is the major commercial product such as is in Durkee’s , while the Ceylon variety has very little Coumadin.   This would make a big difference and be much safer, particularly since I am also taking Fish Oil ( Omega oils) to reduce Cholesterol levels, but fish oil is also a major blood thinning agent.   So I have ordered 250 grams from Ceylon Cinnamon – should be here in about a week – in the mean time I will continue using Durkee’s.  I am hoping I find a major difference in aroma and taste – first impressions – then see what benefits taking the Ceylon every day will give.

I’ll post the results after about a month after making sure the effects are genuine and lasting.  The best thing that could happen is that I could eventually reduce my Olemsartan dosage and lessen of any of its side effects.  Slowly I am getting rid of all the commercial drugs and using natural food stuffs to control my health – honey, cinnamon, fish oil, raw vegetables, CoCo -chocolate, exercise.

Ciao

Latest update on Blood Pressure

Sawadee Khrap

I’m beginning to think that my updates are undermining my recovery – every time I think my recovery is going great  – it backfires right after each update – hoping that is not the case this time.  I had to increase my dosage of Olmesartan to 20 mg daily, 10 Cialis or 10 Levitra, 3000 mg Fish Oil and 5 mg Folic acid.   I added the Levitra because the  Cialis was causing swelling in my feet (edema) and Levitra doesn’t do that but alas the erection strength is not as good.  So the best of both worlds is to alternate them.  Blood pressure running within the 125-138/60 now – going to have a blood test run again but the kidneys appear to be back to normal – so again No operation right now.

I do have sufficient moneys in reserve so I can set up the operation if needed but that’s not in the near future now and moving to Chiang Mai is my next planned adventure – too hazy now, maybe in a couple of months.  Going to start packing and getting ready - 

I was planning on visiting my friend in Cebu and also taking a trip to see and photograph Angkor Wat before I move from Pattaya but it’s really getting hot around here and so I will put them off until the weather cools again – I want to enjoy the trips and be able to do some off road photo shoots  – heat kills my ass and would just make the  trips miserable – so just wait.

Ciao

Origins–a movie not to miss

Sawadee Khrap

Here is a movie that you need to take the time to see – 90 minutes – make sure and watch it full screen – beautiful, informative and eye opening.  ORIGINS  -shared by www.Mercola.com

Origins

 

The film “Origins” shows how our modern lifestyle has caused us to lose our connection with the earth, resulting in so many of our global problems from environmental destruction to hunger and disease
   
The US is now producing and importing 74 billion pounds of chemicals each day that are poisoning our bodies and polluting our planet
   
If we ever hope to heal, we must address how we eat, move, and live symbiotically with the earth

Ciao

Latest Twist in the Artery Saga

Sawadee Khrap

Over the last 2 weeks I have been preparing to go to Sirirja Hospital to restart the procedure to get a new stent operation scheduled.  First, I wanted to get some funds transferred from my US to my Thailand account to make sure I could fully cover the deposit needed and also have a blood test done to see where the kidney status was before I went to set the appointment – don’t want to ask again and then for any reason have to cancel – I am sure they won’t start it for me again a third time if I don’t follow through now.

At the same time I was told to reduce my Olmesartan dosage by half as I was having terrible ringing in my ears and not good control of the BP – so I cut it in half – 40mg to 20mg and amazing all bad side effects dropped in half – after 2 days my BP started dropping again – so I decided to cut it to 10mg and see what would happen – worse would be like missing a dose – next morning my BP was at 130/60 and I felt much better so I have continued this for the last several days – to my amazement my BP has been a steady 124 – 135, day and night – ringing is still there but less, and still some swelling in the feet – Blood test back and everything seems to be normal – need to monitor further to see if this is going to be a steady thing, – so for now don’t run to try and set the appointment until I am sure .    From this I can only guess that the high level dosages of meds they were giving me were based on my high anxiety levels and now with that under control the high amounts were causing more problems than fixing them. -  So now  10 mg Olmesartan, 7mg Cialis, 3000 Fish Oil and 5mg Folic acid —  everything working as I would want. – will see what the next month will show.

Perhaps it’s God’s intervention again – just received notice that my Mother is seriously ill in hospital and so I may need to return to the States to see her – at 94 her condition is really bad and they expect she may not make it past another month.   My stable BP now would allow me to return have still time to reset the stent appointment if still needed it later.  Checking into that now and we will be hopefully setting up a Skype call so I can talk to her face to face.

Ciao

Latest set-back in medical situation

Sawadee Khrap

Now in communication with the cardiologist in Chiang Mai – went there 2 weeks ago because my BP was starting to raise again – slowly but still rising – He changed my meds to a newer version of the same stuff – Olmesartan  40mg – seemed to do the trick for the first week but now the BP is raising again – apparently the blockage to my left kidney is just at the critical point and almost anything can cause it to react irregularly – up- down – up- down.  

It’s starting to looking like the only way to get it to a better control is to have the angioplasty and possibly, if needed,  a stent.  He’s checking on that possibility now – put it off for a year, but maybe now it will be necessary – I believe it can be done in Chiang Mai, making it easier to get a hospital surgery time – at least I hope so – we will see – really don’t want to go through the red-tape again at Siriraj to get in line again – that took 3 months the last time – should be faster in Chiang Mai and same cost. 

I am told it’s a common procedure – 1 day, overnight just for checking,  -  the CAT scan showed 5 arteries with some blockage, and the first time they were worried about the blockage for my upper left arm side and deemed that it was to complicated to do there in CM , had to go to BKK  – Cardiologist in BKK said it was not necessary to do this one – just the left kidney artery to control the BP would be needed -  In Chiang Mai, they weren’t looking at the kidney artery – that one should be a simpler procedure and they can do it – at least I hope so  – so just waiting for his results to come back.

NOT over yet –

Ciao

UPDATE on medical condition

Sawadee Khrap

Just starting out the new year – all seems to be in good shape – meds at minimum, strength excellent, blood pressure 128 average,  feeling great.  It’s been a very harrowing “2014” – first the thought of needing a 800,000 Baht  ($25,000 US )  operation, and massive meds for the rest of my life – feeling like shit,  back aches making it unbearable to walk and most of all unable to preform in bed – Wow – not a good year –

But then came God’s help – Doctor at Siriraj – Mahidol University Hospital – no operation – blood pressure controlled with Valsartan, Cialis, Chocolate and Fish Oil.  Cholesterol controlled with Oatmeal, high DHA fish oil and Daily Exercise.    Posture corrected , no back pain, using Sergey’s “Flying Step” arch supports -  and you guessed it, bedroom performance back again.    Monthly medicine cost, 1000 Baht – approx.  $32/mo. US      You can read all about the experience in the blog  under the “Hospital/Medicines” category and I’m just hoping others will benefit from my ordeal.   If you have any questions – please drop me a note.   Glad to help you if I can  – Medical Vacation in Thailand – excellent – if you know where to go.

HAPPY NEW YEAR             SAWADEE PEE MAI

Ciao

Ted — be sure you subscribe and watch

Sawadee Khrap

TedWe all need exercise and exercising the brain is the best way to say alert and healthy.  Best way is to regularly listen to “TED talks” – Amazing information that will astound you.  For example:Smart Animals - Ted

Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: The gentle genius of bonobos – this is amazing –

And I am sure I have seen some early ancestors right here in Pattaya – maybe you have too – we are not that far from their evolution – watch the next time you venture outside.

Vets and Doctors

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz: What veterinarians know that doctors don’t

And this one – check out my category on medicine and hospitals  – we just throw drugs at any ailment  without really talking to the patient or checking to see what the real underlying cause is – These are 2 great “talks” – check out the rest –

Ciao

Back from Chiang Mai – doctor report

Sawadee Khrap

Just got back from Chiang Mai to see the doctor about my Blood Pressure.  He cut back my Valsartan morning dosage by half and approved the Cialis as a lowering agent too.  I do feel 100 % better at the lower dosage and don’t have the dizziness like before and no ED.  The report has my cholesterol levels within the acceptable range and they appear to be getting better – I attribute that to the oatmeal every morning and the High DHA Fish Oil I have been taking – so little adjustments to the  med. regime I was taking is working. – Just reduce the Valsartan and continue as before – Oh Ya.  I did add back the Folic acid for the kidneys.

CBI stayed at the B2 Green Santiham  while I was there  – a short 20 min walk to Sirphat Hospital and/or the local shopping centers – great location, great place to stay just off Huay Kaew Rd on the Northeast corner of the Old City.  And they just built a new restaurant right around the corner from the B2 – “Corner Bistro” – Owner Kevin Lo,  a US-Thai who used to live in New York has a GREAT menu, staff and excellent tasty food – open at 7 AM  – great for breakfast – only one in the area open that early – breakfast and a short walk for exercise – beautiful.  Dinners are great too –

citylife fairAlso went to the City Life  JJ Market Garden Fair – Met a lot of old friends there and had a great time – excellent food, booths and entertainment – Steve , reporter for CityLife Mag, snap a picture while I was getting a foot massage – and for the rest of the trip everywhere I went they knew I was in town – I just searched and I can’t find the photos but they must be there somewhere – Thanks Steve

Ciao

*** DANGER *** Doxazosin

Sawadee Khrap

Actually I should say danger with Doxazosin and Cialis combinations.  From my last trip to Chiang Mai the doctor prescribed 2 mg Cardoxa (Doxazosin) in addition to my 160 mg Valsartan to get my BP down to the 120’s.  I found that I could not tolerate 2 mg and had to reduce to to 1 mg each morning – just couldn’t get used to it and was just too dizzy all day.  So I took the stuff for about a week and seeing that they warned about the possibility of getting extreme erections I did not take any Cialis during that time.  After the break-in week, I found that my morning wood was actually diminishing and any erection was a thing of the past. – That’s not acceptable – I’m 74 but do not want to be cut out of the game this early – so I tried adding 2.5 mg Cialis to the formula – 1st day  OK,  2’nd  day better – but the 3rd day – WOW BP dropped below 90 and I had to sit for about 2 hr.  before I could do anything and felt bad the rest of the day —–  Had I taken a larger dose it could have been DEADLY.   This combination really affects me.  Checking the literature on the Web – Warnings – don’t combine – and they are right.   (2.5 mg)  1/8 tab Cialis is the smallest I could take but at any larger doses I could have easily overdosed.

So now, using just Valsartan – I increased my Cialis to 5mg ( 1/4 tab) daily and seems to be working – Valsartan + with only Cialis  – BP in the 120’s and back on track – will have to wait to see what the long term effects are – all literature point to a safe combination and seem to solve my problems.  So far so good.  I’ll check with the doctor when I get back to Chiang Mai again.

Daily – 160mg Valsartan,  5mg Cialis,  3g Fish Oil,  81mg Aspirin – seems to be the winning mixture.   BP  120’s and feel OK, erections back.    God I hope this works long term.

I will keep you informed so you don’t encounter the same problems or deadly combinations.

Ciao.

Got rid of the Plavix

Sawadee Khrap

Just got back from Chiang Mai – 2 days of doctor and friend visits. – Plavix out – but they did add another blood pressure reducing med – Cardoxa – “doxazosin”   this stuff is a inexpensive mild blood pressure reducing Med. which relaxes the blood vessels and also relaxes the muscles in the prostate gland and bladder.  I needed a little boost for the Valsartan to get me to 120 without the Plavix.  I started back on 1 baby aspirin for blood clotting and will continue to take the Fish Oil – standard twice a day but substituting Blackmores concentrated every other day at lunch ,  I hope for better cholesterol control.  The doctor also commented that my latest cholesterol reading are probably not accurate – because they show it as “ideal”  which he thought was too good to be true – so I’ll have those tests run again.

Love this Cardoxa -  warnings state “inform our doctor immediately if you experience an erection that is painful or that lasts for several hours” –  several hours !!!!    damn right  I’ll call him up and thank him.  Hopefully wont need the Cialis any more –  but we’ll see how that will work out. Not supposed to mix the two.  But is I get one that lasts over 15 min you can be assured I’ll be on the phone calling someone to get their ass over here as soon as possible. – haha -  pardon the pun.

Trip was great – flew both ways  – had dinner with friends each evening and met a old friend from San Sai – young man but old friend – so back to the old routine now but taking it slowly till I get used to the new meds.  Now gott’a see if the hip pain, while walking,  is going away – maybe take a couple of days but should be better without the Plavix.

Ciao

Plavix update

Sawadee Khrap

I just walked back from lunch  – actually I felt I wanted  to walk back from lunch – what a difference from just 3 days ago – walking was a strain and something I dreaded.  Every morning I would eat my oatmeal, take my meds and then go for a 1/2 mile walk around the buildings – usually with aching hips ( actually I am told its my gluteal muscles that are aching).  I wanted to increase the distance but the hip pain would get too great.

Since I hadn’t had a stent placement and Plavix is usually recommended after operations to eliminated buildup in the stent – I thought it was probably not necessary for me to continue taking it – but had read that to just stop cold could be dangerous and everyone recommended weaning off it.  That would also cut my meds cost.  I am taking Aspin and that should have been enough thinning to eliminate possible strokes.  So I started cutting down on it,  weaning off the Plavix  (blood thinner) by extending the days between doses and had really started feeling better but found that my morning “wood” was diminishing – couldn’t have that – so I started taking it again –  what a shock that was – hip pain back.

WOW – this stuff was causing all my butt muscle pain – I have now stopped for 3 days and already my desire for walking has returned – little and/or no hip pain, getting better every day -  but this means the “wood” problem will have to be addressed in another way – but it is apparent that having thinner blood is allowing better erection response.  So after a week free of Plavix I will check to see how the erections are going and look for an additional blood thinner that will help – preferable natural, maybe garlic, turmeric, or better yet the Blackmores fish oil that I’m taking now will also help in this area in addition to the cholesterol control.   I want to cut my meds down to as little as possible and hopefully to only natural food sources if possible.

But for now – NO PLAVIX – this stuff is poison for me, as was all the earlier heart medicines that had been prescribed before -  I have also found out that I need to take the fish oil at lunch – giving it all day to take affect because taking it at dinner was affecting my sleeping  – probably because the evening kicker dose of Valsartan and the fish oil were combining and that made it hard to fall asleep.  Anyway I am now taking the fish oil at noon and so far blood pressure seems ok – I’ll check sleeping problems tonight – I’ll also have a blood test next week to see if everything else is where it should be or getting better – I’m also planning on having another CAT scan done, about  Feb – almost a year from the first one,  to see if there is improvement or not……  Should be interesting.

Ciao

Blood Pressure update

Sawadee Khrap

Blackmores Omega MemoJust found and started taking Blackmores Omega Memo – this stuff is a concentrated Omega-3 nutritional oil capsule containing  500 mg DHA.  DHA being the most important Omega related to “good” cholesterols.  It is supposed to increase the level of good cholesterols while decreasing the bad, while also thinning the blood, and reducing the blood pressure.  I find that I can reduce the Valsartan from 240 mg/day to 160mg/day and my blood pressure is running about 120/60 all day.   Before I had to take 3000 mg standard fish oil to get the same 600 mg DHA – too much daily consumption of oil for the same benefit. 

So my pill regiment has become :  160mg Valsartan, baby aspirin, 1/8 Cialis tab, and 3 squares of 73% Coco after a large Oatmeal breakfast – then a 1000mg Omega Memo after dinner – this combination has been keeping my BP almost steady at 120/60 all day and also allowed me to eliminate the Plavix I was taking for blood thinning.  Of course the 2 mile/day walking work-out has a lot to do with the equation too.  Don’t forget the exercise.

Now my monthly cost is running about 1000 Baht (US $31/mo. ) for all my meds.  Far cry from where I started out in this nightmare being told I had 5 blocked artery’s and needed 800,000 Baht   (US $25,000)  operations and would need to take roughly 4,000 Baht/mo. (US  $125) meds for the rest of my life.   I supposed if I had insurance – well I don’t.  God Bless.

At the end of Sept I will once again check my cholesterol levels and kidney functions to make sure everything is still on track – but so far I feel great and that should be the best indicator. Although this combination is working for me, I have just talked to a friend that the Blackmores product didn’t work for him – so I put this up here to show a example of what could work -  I have done numerous trials and checks to determine what is working best for me and I’m just hoping my experience can benefit others.

Ciao