I have an in-person meeting with him on Thursday, I’ll keep everyone updated. We just had a brief discussion on the phone today.
Yeah, I was actually gonna use this as an excuse to get prescribed a coronary calcium scan.
It’s funny, my wife is a nurse and that was the first thing we talked about, how my blood pressure is low, yet I’m supposed to be minutes away from a heart attack lol.
Look into a better cholesterol screen that looks at particle size and not just count like the standard annual bloodwork.
You can also find a way to start monitoring your pulse wave velocity and HRV as ways to monitor heart health in a more early warning way.
It might be too expensive for our Canadian healthcare. I might get prescribed assisted suicide instead.
Maybe, LOL. Here in America it just costs 3 car payments to find out if my heart is a ticking time bomb every year.
Pulse wave velocity and HRV are easily monitored by yourself outside of any doctors office for reasonable amounts of money compared to the cost of a doctors visit in the US or foregone income after an assisted suicide up north.
Waste of time. I personally wouldn’t even do the scan but it’s one way to get your doctor off the subject. Could also be a learning opportunity for the doctor but I doubt it’ll work.
There is a difference between wanting knowledge about your own health and believing every single outdated idea your doctor has.
Every metric I mentioned is a useful measure unlike total counts.
Another example is that I ignore my doctors warnings about my weight but I do track my strength and body fat levels.
I never said they’re not useful metrics. But in his case, it’s likely a waste of time. He’s generally healthy, exercises, and has no other indicators of a health problem.
If I can get him to prescribe the CAC test, I wouldn't have to pay for it. Honestly, I have no issue doing more testing. Last time I did one was 5 years ago. It'd be interesting to have that data and see how it changes over time.
What happens in Canada if you have a serious issue and the doctor won’t prescribe it? You just die?
Drs so prescribe suicide here lol.
Honestly, I'm not sure. The rules are weird here. Preventive tests have to be paid out of pocked.
If I want to get my testosterone levels checked for future reference, I need to pay for it. If I believe I'm trans, they'll take an affirmative care approach, and provide me with hormones.
It's kind of a mess. Some of it depends on your doctor.
I have the same situation: high cholesterol, low blood pressure (except when I’m at the doctor, so I take photos before I see her to prove it), not overweight, don’t smoke or drink.
It was the calcium scan of zero that made her stop recommending statins, which I’ve been refusing to go on for years.
Best wishes! 🫂
That’s the gameplan right now, to ask for a calcium scan. If the test shows issues, I’ll be open to solutions. Unless there’s an issue there, I won’t take any concerns seriously.
