The good, the bad and the ugly

DH and I had our doctors appointments Friday afternoon. He had to see a new doc, because his retired last summer. Bummer, because DH really liked him, and that's a tall order to get DH to the doctor. This has always been a great doctors office for very little waiting time. We have never waited much longer than 5 minutes to get called back to the room and then after the nurse does their in-take info, the doctor is usually not more than 5 minutes after that. That's how it was with my doctor on Friday......DH spent almost an hour waiting on his new doctor to come into the room. Not good for a guy with not much patience and then this new doc (a very young guy) wants to change up what appears to be working for DH. DH has been managing his cholesterol at right around 200 with a half dose of Crestor. Since statins can cause muscle problems (and Simvastatin did, when tried) his old doctor put him in a low dose of Crestor. Now new doc wants to double it to 10mg/day to try and bring down even below 200. Let's hope there are no extra side effects. I was just happy that his cholesterol was still down at 200. A few years ago, when he was first checked it was 294.

Me, not so much good news. My cholesterol is up to 264. My bad cholesterol is bad, my good cholesterol is bad and my triglycerides are bad. Obviously the red yeast rice natural thing I have been taking for a few years is not working anymore. So, now I am trying Simvastatin. At least it doesn't cost $172, like dh's cholesterol med does. It's like $20 and with my insurance I pay $15. We also discussed my acid reflux problem I have been having the past couple of months. I have to burp (or feel like it) most all the time. I tried Zantac, which didn't help and then was finishing up a 2 week try of Prilosec, which helped a little, but not much. Doctor has prescribed Protonix to try for a couple of weeks. If that doesn't help I have to have an upper GI :/

I'm also considering finding a new doctor for myself. Actually, who I have been seeing for about the past 6 years is an ARNP, not an MD.  I have gone in every year for my annual checkup. I have been on atenolol for like 15 years, prescribed to me by my previous doctor (of many years) for "Supraventricular Tachycardia" - ie. my heart would start racing for no reason. The medicine has worked and I really have no problems, as long as I take it. Of course I gave her all that history (and my chart sent to her when I started seeing her) on my very fist visit. She renews the prescription for me every year at my annual check up. So, at my visit the other day, as she is telling me about high cholesterol dangers, she comments "and well, you are on a beta blocker, so you must also have hypertension". I said no....I'm on the beta blocker because of the tachycardia". Honestly, as long as I have been seeing her, I felt that is something she should have known. She should know why she is treating me with a beta blocker! The reason I stopped seeing my other doctor was because the office (of several docs) was SO slow - always. It was usually an hour wait out in the waiting room and close to that in the exam room. Plus it was a dumpy old place. I really like this doctors office (DH goes there too). They have a very nice facility are quick and other than DH's visit, we have never had any waiting time. I think I might switch to an MD there. The office is just 2 miles from our house, so very convenient. Maybe there are other doc offices in this large medical complex, I'll have to check.
 
This getting old stuff is for the birds.