Taking My Results To Heart

Yesterday morning I visited my cardiologist at Boston Medical, Dr. Ballady, to check the progress on my sky-high tryglycerides. I was expecting to have made some fair progress, but nothing spectacular. The results for my last test were good, but not as good as what I had expected.

As of the 21st, my tryglycerides are now down to 703 (normal is between 40 and 200). Before you gasp in horror, take into consideration that a month ago it was 988, and the month prior it was over 1700. At that level, your blood seems to have the consistancy of maple syrup. (I shouldn't have said that... now I have a craving for pancakes).

My Niaspan has been titrated again, this time to 1500mg. I am tolerating the niacin very well, so there doesn't seem to be a problem with me taking such a high dose.

Despite my protein (and muscle loss), I'd say I'm at 90% of my usual energy level. And let's talk about those legs: my edema has been holding, more or less, for the last few weeks. Typically, being on my feet during the week will force me to slowly gain fluid, and I then need to take a higher, maintenance dose over the weekend. I think that it is getting better, on a long-term, month-by-month basis. However, I'm still very sensitive to sodium consumption. If I am not careful with the salt, I'll gain a couple of pounds of fluid, and then it takes three or four days of high-dose Lasix to get it back off. Not fun.