Medical Ignorance

The Medical Ignoramus Committee got three of their pseudo-nutrition-minded wunderkind together to write a report on the dangers of egg yolks and sure enough there they were trying to shoot down egg yolks as a danger to the heart because of their cholesterol content.
Don't the poor boys know after all these years of beating that old drum that any cholesterol you stuff into your mouth has to be processed by the digestive system, if any of it is to wind up in the circulatory system, or any where else, no matter what your genetics are. Cholesterol can be made from other nutrients beside cholesterol and usually is. Even pop has a cholesterol potential, because of it's sugar content.
Surely, these Docs do not believe that eating a radish leads to rosacea because the skin of that little old radish somehow escapes the digestive system and just pops right up to the face and there you've got it. Rosacea!
If that's true, I wonder where the white part goes? Ever think of that, Docs?
I never did believe that egg nonsense, but I do not drown myself in fats either, so I digest my eggs quite well except that the sulphur component gets me some times, especially if I eat too much coleslaw, as well as my whole-egg omelet.
I gotta tell you Boys that an egg yolk also contains lecithin which is a powerful anti-cholesterol controlling nutrient.
Anyway, if you get your vitamins from foods with lots off anti-oxidants, your plumbing will not get compromised and need your liver to manufacture all that LDL cholesterol to reinforce those creaky arteries to the point where they clog.
The body needs cholesterol to manufacture hormones and renew the brain as well as patch compromised arteries. So, go ahead and eat your egg yolks. They contain an antidote for the cholesterol in them that gets the medicine people all revved up.
I'm not practicing medicine here, and you guys don't know enough to practice nutrition, either.
Get some good books on Nutrition and Biochemistry and then sit down with Dr. Google and see what else you can learn. Apparently you have lots of room for real nutritional information.
I hope you guys are not teaching another generation of doctors because you don't know that you don't know, apparently.
Telling people to eat egg whites instead of egg yolks is ignorant of the nutritional facts. Egg whites can present their own nutritional problems...
But then it was a dietitian who came up with the egg white idea in response to the doctor's report on the news. That does not absolve doctors, as some of them are also silly enough to imagine that an omelet can be made with egg whites.
You've got egg on your faces, Boys.

Plans?

So much for my plans to hop onto the Master Moves and rotate judiciously.
When the frost got all the plants and the front of my white porch showed up again, the bottom board was a startling spring green. Some kind of fungus had taken it over. I could just picture that leering out of all the snow all winter, so I gave it a mould and mildew treatment and when it had hopefully dried by yesterday, I went out in gale force winds that could stand a paint stick perpendicular in a paint can and I covered the whole cheerful green mess with sparkling white.
I was almost finished when I sort of slipped on a fern root and kinked my back. I was saved by a Manitoba Maple I'd spared from my dreaded pruners. I got out of that danger zone very carefully.
I went out to do the job standing upright. I struggled back in stooped over like a rheumatically challenged 90 year-old.
Bed was pretty much a waste of time last night.
My liver was not happy because of the Master Moves from before and my back and neck were thoroughly ticked from my painting misadventures.
Typing this is painful. I quit.

Start Slowly

No cramps last night.
Today, I've forgotten the pills with breakfast. By the time I'd taken my enzymes and ox bile, I completely forgot the Spirolactone.
I must get one of those pill organizers. I really must.
My feet are all puffed up with fluid and the ingrown nails the chiropodist is supposed to have fixed are bugging me.
Maybe I should get some toenails off like she suggested. I have my doubts that I'll be wearing sandals in the future, any way.
I did not have a happy day yesterday. I got too brave when I first used my new Master Moves exercise disk on Monday. True I was just holding onto a chair and twisting on it, but I did it for too long and right where my liver hides out, I have a pain.
It's not as bad today.
I got Koch's Master Moves to get some more circulation to my liver and I guess I overdid it. I didn't do nearly what they were doing on the Shopping Channel demo, but it sure hurt. Tomorrow I shall hop onto that contraption and twist a minimal amount.
Now, I get to go clean the windows outside and then paint the window sills and touch up the front of the house before winter gets here...
That gives me a window of three hours today.
Up and at it. That activity should make up for skipping the Master Moves today. And yesterday.

Talk To Your Doctor

Yes!

I was right.

Those miserable leg cramps and spastic hands were a withdrawal symptom. I had a perfectly peaceful night last night...good sleep with no getting up to use an ineffective massager on my feet and legs, or to take a Magnesium capsule that didn't work very well.

I've already forgotten the pills at breakfast today, so I'd better remember at lunch. Otherwise, I might soon be very uncomfortable.

Even a diuretic can screw up your system so you get withdrawal symptoms.
I suggest that you try diuretic teas rather than pharmaceuticals if all you're trying to do is fit into your jeans or weight in at the local weight loss club.

If I find a way out of Spirolactone requirement to deal with Ascites, you can bet I'll be decreasing my intake of that drug very gradually. When they say 'don't stop taking a drug with out talking to your doctor first' I suspect they mean that I'm going to have withdrawal symptoms.

What might that infer, I ask you. Addiction?

Cancelled

I hope I drew the right conclusion.

I've been extra vigilant for the last three days or so, about taking my three Spirolactone pills. The night before last and last night, I had no leg or foot cramps. So, in spite of the pharmacist thinking it was not a case of withdrawal symptoms that I was experiencing with the Spirolactone being forgotten perhaps, I decided that I was going to cancel the clinic appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I was certain that I had taken the Spirolactone the days previous to the crampless nights sleep.

Having done the cancellation, I hope I do not get cramps tonight. I rather appreciate a crampless night of quality sleep.

Here goes...nighty-night.

Spirolactone Withdrawal Symptoms?

While I'm waiting for an appointment at the clinic next Tuesday, I might as well still consider all possible causes of these leg cramps at night. There is no point in changing diuretics if this is already the best choice and it may well be the best choice.
I've been considering some possibile causes for cramps other than the build-up of Potassium in my system. Once I tried to stop codeine which I was taking as a cough suppressant/'asthma' control, cold turkey when it got so that it was no longer effective at levels I was willing to put into my system.
I think everything but my heart and my brain went into a cramp during that experiment.
The doctor told me not to do it, and just like that time in the Garden of Eden when God said, "Thou shalt not..." They/I did it anyway.
If the Doctor of the Day had only told me why, I would have paid attention to that, but he was not into 'why'. Just think of all the problems Humanity could have been saved if we'd only known 'why'.
So much for Theology!
I began to wonder if I'd simply been having Freudian slips and forgetting to take my Spirolactone. Maybe that was why I was getting the leg cramps.
I asked the Pharmacist if it was possible to get cramps from forgetting to take the medication for a day or two.
He asked if I'd forgotten to take it.
I told him that if I was capable of forgetting to take the medication and could not remember taking it, perhaps I could not really say whether I'd forgotten to take it or not, but the pills did not appear to be getting lower in the bottle.
I guess I'd better get one of those pill organizers and fill it up first thing every morning so I know when I've taken my pills. I need to figure this out by Tuesday at appointment time, so I'm not asking for a change of diuretic that I may not want.
I think I'll try to get a blood test for my Potassium levels while I'm there.
I could save the Gov't. a lot of money if I could just get an App for my communication device that I could stick my finger into, have it take a drop of blood and process it right on the spot.
How economical and convenient would that be!
Maybe Santa could bring it, if it's not down-loadable.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Potassium Sparing Diuretics

Could Hyperkalemia result if you take Spirolactone and eat a lot of high Potassium content foods?
Today I called the clinic and got an appointment for Tuesday afternoon to discuss this choice of diuretic. Some tests would be good, too. It would help to know if it was actually an overload of Potassium that was causing the bruising and painful night cramps.
If it's a Potassium overload unbalancing my electrolytes, I want the Medi/chemical set-up for that to stop. Otherwise, some of my favorite foods should go off the list. Some of them, I'm not willing to take off my list of possible healthy food choices.
It says, "Avoid foods that contain high amounts of potassium, including bananas, oranges, lentils, nuts, peaches, potatoes, salmon, tomatoes, watermelon."
Watermelon is a good diuretic. When the Spirolactone fails to deal with my fluid load, eating watermelon and/or taking ginger tea, or parsley tea does a pretty good job. Cucumbers are also diuretic although harder to digest. Perhaps I'll take a vinegar pill first when I eat cucumbers. Vinegar can make cauliflower edible for me. Bananas, I don't eat a lot of and I'll be careful what I eat bananas with. I'll certainly avoid eating them with meals where there are a lot of potatoes.
I've practically lived on potatoes for the last three years and I still love them. At this point I'd rather change diuretics (I think) than give up mashed potatoes with cheese. Maybe next Tuesday my thinking will be ironed out after I learn the facts of that preference.
Also, I'm starting to get excited about seeing Mandarin oranges in the stores. I adore Mandarin oranges as much as I do raspberries and blueberries which are not on the sin list. Unfortunately only frozen berries are economical now.
And that's not all I'm not supposed to eat. One thing I like that I can have lots of is water. If the Town officials would just smarten up and not put fluoride into it, my kidneys would be happier with my water-drinking.
If people want to poison themselves it should be a personal decision, not foisted on the whole town by some itsy-bitsy by-law.
I don't want night cramps, but I 'm not giving up my mashed potatoes with cheese, either.
So, Doc, what's up?