I just received the results of my latest blood test and was told that it is time to up the dosage on one of my medications. My first reaction was regret that I had not been able to keep my numbers in the range where they needed to be. My second reaction was disappointment in my own lack of discipline to eat, exercise and control my stress to the level where I could continue on my current medication regimen.
But my most dangerous reaction was to consider not complying with the recommendation and decide that I felt fine at my current level of medication. I believe that some of us measure successful control of our conditions by how we feel today, while others of us react with a renewed commitment to “make things work” and avoid heeding medical advice. In either case it is probably dangerous to deny the escalation of whatever condition we may have. Do we truly know how different we felt six month ago or are we numbed by the gradual changes that occur day to day? If our level of discipline and commitment was not enough to prevent the change that is now being recommended, what makes us truly believe that we can turn a worsening condition around?
Medication is designed to help our bodies regulate whatever it needs to in order to prevent further damage to internal organs. Conditions worsen over time even with vigilance to the actions that cause this deterioration. I am no doctor, but I have seen the long term effects of denial and non-compliance to medical orders and they were not good. Certainly renewing our commitment to the discipline we need to follow is laudable, but not without accepting that lab results measure the progress of the disease.
As we age and our bodies continue to be attacked by various medical conditions we must accept ongoing discipline in our lifestyles along with continued medical assessment. One without the other is a recipe for disaster and, as busy as we are, as frustrating as continuing discipline can be, we need to commit to working both hard and smart.
As I have written before, for some of us retirement is going to last a VEEERY long time and we have a choice of how we will live it. We can have good health which will not only allow us to physically do what we want, but also financially have extra resources not being spent on healthcare. Alternately, we can sit in our rockers and gripe about how life has treated us so very unfairly.
The choice is ours, to be a victim or to be a warrior.
If you would like to talk about your choices, please call us at Czajkowski Dumpel & Associates, Inc. – We are here to help!