Category Archives: health

Exercise, allergies, broken limbs, dentist appointments, anything that fits.

I found the drugs

I found the medicine that I purchased at the farmacia the other day in San Jose that I couldn’t find later. I really have no idea why I put them where I found them, it was definitely a stupid spot. The powder is similar but the pills are different (I guess they could be the same).

Although, if I had remembered, I’m sure be have been thinking it was an excellent spot.

This might not seem like a monumental post, but had I found it, that might have been enough to prevent me from my hospital visit a few days ago…

LATER: Actually, I’ve taken another look at the powder I found and it’s not the same. The one is electrolytes and the other is an anti-diarrhrettic. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have helped, just that I now know it’s different…

Still on the mend…

Haven’t blogged much, since not much has been happening around here. I’ve been sick for the last two weeks (missed a week of work) with bronchitis with a nasty couch and even nastier congestion. I feel like I’ve been eating lots, but I’m down about 15 pounds from where I’m usually at.

Life’s pretty good otherwise, Work hasn’t been too cRaZy so I’ve not fallen too far behind. And I’ve got my next Costa Rica trip to look forward too next month.

With the snow today it seems like an extra beautifully sunny day and that always has magical healing properties…

Taking Things For Granted…

Pict1918-1So there are somethings we really take for granted but it just isn’t the same everywhere else. For instance:

  • Medicine – While I was at the farmicia (drug store) I saw a family come in to get a single (1) Allegra tablet (the are actually individually wrapped). Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see how much one was. With my insurance, which I’m very thankful for, I get a three month supply for only $2 (via mail-order). I don’t have any idea what they paid, but I’m sure it was more than two-and-a-half cents, but maybe not, you never know. I’m assuming they cost enough to where you don’t keep a jar of them at home.
  • Coleman cooler – Here’s what we would consider to be a normal sized Coleman cooler (one of the larger ones, not the small ones that just hold a 5 pack). It’s about $63, that’s a lot of money here. We talked to a waiter last night (at a the nicest restaurant I’ve ever been to in Costa Rica) and he makes about $30 a day including tips, now remember things cost less here but that’s still two days wages here. At minimum wage it’s probably a 1/2 days wages, and remember that’s minimum wage.
  • Health care – so many of the places are remote it can be hours to a hospital, and that’s only if you have a way to get transportation to where you are when you need the help. I don’t think there’s even one here in Jaco, you probably have to go to Punteranes or San Jose (about 2 hours, maybe a little less).

    I’m sure I’ll add to this list as I think of more…

  • Lots of water…

    So three weeks ago I started making sure I was drinking at least a half-gallon (2 liters) of water a day. I hear I don’t drink “enough” (whatever that is) and I drink lots of soda and juice (mostly Coca-Cola and OJ). I do drink more water now than in other points of my life (which used to be never). It was one of the items on my 101 in 1001 things list. After 3 weeks I’ve got some results/conclusions:

  • When I drink that much water, I drink less soda (which is probably good).
  • It makes me need to go to the bathroom more (duh!).
  • I think generally got to sleep earlier (maybe to to lack of caffeine or at least it being washed out of my system).
  • I think I slept better (although I attribute this to the lack of other caffeinated drinks more).
  • My neck/shoulders probably bothered me just as much as normal (I think OMT and Chiropractors recommend lots of water).
  • I have very mild psoriasis (dry flaky skin) which comes and goes and thought the extra water might help, but if anything during that period it’s gotten a little dryer.
  • My stomach seemed more (slightly)sensitive to spicy and junk foods than normal.
  • I think slightly overall, I did feel a little better.

    Once again it was only 3 weeks and I didn’t expect any miracle in terms of changes. And this wasn’t a double-blind experiment or anything, it was just me drinking lots more water. I didn’t intentionally cut out other drinks but as a result I probably drank less (but I know of some days I drank lots of soda and then I had to force the water down later). Some of the above could be attributed to being tired or stressed from work (it was the start of the school year). So no big results other than the sleeping I’ll be keeping an eye on that.

    I will continue to drink more out of habit (I already am today), but I won’t be forcing myself to catch up in the evening.

    Continue reading

  • 333 – I’m halfway there

    So it’s been a relatively bad week. I’m still sick (two weeks now) and they can’t figure out what’s up. I haven’t been sleeping well (got about 3-4 hours last night). I’ve had numerous overlapping appointments and meetings that made the week pretty goofy. I got a phone call from a buddy in the emergency room who wrapped his car around a pole (literally). Spent lots of time in the hospital and checking on things. I’ve been driving around with tin cans in my car since Monday and haven’t had time to take them back.

    All I wanted to do after work was get some Thai food, go home, watch some TV and crash. So I get home and realize the cable is out and so is the Internet. (It’s SciFi Friday! How am I supposed to watch Galactica?!?)

    So why did I decide I’m halfway to hell? The cable went out at 3:33…

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    So the brain finally misfired…

    So it finally happened, after being there for days (and days) my buddy’s brain finally misfired. This is a good thing, the whole purpose of him being there is for this to happen and them to observer/record/monitor it so they can “fix him”.

    WirebraidThey still want to keep him for a bit more (they want more data). The doctor had noticed some (very) slight activity on the left side of his head earlier in the week and I guess this all centered in that general area (data good!). Not sure how long they’ll keep him, I guess they generally like 3-5 occurrences of the problem before they let you go and he’s nowhere near that. Usually, if it’s a bad one (and I guess this was a kinda bad one) he can feel some after effects (aftershocks) and not so much with this. So we’ll just have to see…

    How is your brain wired…?

    WirebraidSo my buddy is in the hospital for the week (or maybe two). He’s under observation for some concerns revolving around his brain misfiring. I’m not going to get into the specifics of the “brain issues” but it involves some memory lapses (so if I ever murder anyone, I’m going to pin the whole thing on him). The thing is he’s wired up (see photo) 24/7 on a 20-30 foot connection and under video surveillance. And to top it off, he has no internet access :(

    So he’s probably bored out of his skull, they’ve weaned him off his medication, have sleep deprived him and he hasn’t had any problems. No problems mean nothing to measure, which means nothing to solve. And to top it off the other five people under observation have all had occurrences of whatever problems they are “in” for…

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    Sick. Yuck!

    So I’ve been sick the last few days. Some kind of bronchial bronchitis (or something other -itis thing), the doctor gave me drugs in case it’s viral it’s not viral. Congested, stuffy, fuzzy brain (when a piece of silverware hits a glass it just sounds so loud. I’ve been way bored. Caught way up on television. Men's Health for Dummies Charles B. Inlander, People's Medical Society (U. S.)Obviously I haven’t been doing too much on the blog (or the ‘net in general). I’ve got a half dozen posts from weeks ago (heck, I’ve got posts from six months ago I haven’t finished) so it’s not for lack of topics, just sitting in front of the computer has had no interest for me (so you know I’m sick); my grandma and mother used to offer me home baked chocolate chip cookies to see how sick I really was.

    Today it’s the ears and throat (these are much worse, but the conjestion/breathing seems better), if it’s worse tomorrow I might run up somewhere to see what else they can give me. The annoying thing was is I’ve been taking extra care of myself the week before this. Less soda and junk food. More vitamins, other health stuff and more sleep. So it’s kinda annoying.