Horse Pills

I am the worst pill taker. Even as a kid I had to have orange juice to take anything. And that practice continues to this day. I still marvel at people who can pop a pill without so much as a sip of water. So for someone who is taking some very hefty calcium pills to help prevent osteoporosis and even heftier looking fish oil pills to help with high triglycerides, it can be daunting. Add to that the high blood pressure pills and water pills and hormone pills and prophylactic aspirin. I used to think it was unusual when I saw all my mom’s pill containers in the zip lock bag when she came to visit. Now I do the same thing. One of the ways I have approached this pill taking dilemma is to make it more palatable by having the pills with a meal instead of in the morning or evening. So when I went for an annual check up this week, of course my triglycerides are higher and the bone density osteoporosis test was not as good as the previous one. So instead of two fish oil horse pills, I need to take four; because the vitamin D level was a little lower, I need to take more; and because the bone density wasn’t as good, add another calcium pill. I know things could be a LOT worse, and I have nothing to complain about. I just find it ironic that I get stuck with so many horse pills. 

Blood Screens, Horse Pills, and MORE Exercise

We had a bit of a scare when my glomerular filtration rate was askew. I could see a kidney transplant in my future. So last week we went for a repeat blood screen to see if it was really what the last report showed. Aside from that, I stopped taking thyroid pills in November because of side affects, and started simvastatin in February, but has to decrease the amount because of more side affects. Since cardiac surgery and high blood pressure runs in my family, I've been taking pills for that for over thirty years. My doctor called yesterday to give us the good news about the kidney function. That turned out to be okay - BUT! I need to start taking thyroid again, increase the amount of Vitamin D capsules, and exercise more - oh, and watch the sugar intake. Even though the cholesterol was ok, the triglycerides are not. I'm the kid who always had to take pills with orange juice and barely could get them down without choking. I used to marvel at the amount of pill bottles my mom had to bring with her when she visited us in Milwaukee. Now my medicine chest is beginning to look more like hers. We already walk every morning at an average of 2.4 miles per day, I do 50 sit ups every evening, and use our little exercise bike in the afternoon. Since I had a frozen shoulder diagnosed in March I've been doing shoulder exercises daily. Our diet already is very Mediterranean. A lot of this is hereditary I know. We are just thrilled the results are as good as they are, but the horse pills are hard to take. Things could be a lot worse and I am so thankful for what we have. I just wish the pills came in smaller sizes!