Dave's Body
My Organs
My brain has a chemical imbalance. It causes obsessive behaviour and difficulty with anger management. I take a pill called Paxil, which is known as a seratonin reuptake inhibitor. My layperson's understanding of the mechanism indicates that seratonin is one of the chemicals in the brain that jumps between neurons as part of the thought process. Once they've jumped, they tend to jump back again. This is what casues a thought to get re-inforced, and "stick around". I have a little too much of this. My seratonin is too easily picked up, causing a loop. The Paxil inhibits this, keeping my obsessive behaviour and the associated anger in check.
Paxil also can cause withdrawal symptoms (even though its maker denies it), causes sexual dysfunction and weight gain.
Paxil has a half-life of 24 hours. That means my body is able to purge 1/2 of the dose inside of 24 hours. Any change to my meds takes about 4 1/2 days to fully take place.
I have near-sightedness or myopia and wear glasses to see distance. The curvature of my cornea is too great for my lenses to compensate to bring light to focus on my retina. Instead, it focusses slightly in front of my retinae. My glasses correct that.
I have allergies. I am allergic to many atmospheric allergens, such as dust, smoke, pollen, mould, and animal dander. Technically, this is not a sinus problem, it is an immune-response system. My body over-reacts to these perceived threats by releasing a glut of histamines into my blood. It is the histamines that
stimulate my sinus membranes to increase fluid production and swell shut
stimulate my lymph system to release fluid into my tissues, causing swelling
constrict my bronchial tubes, causing wheezing
I often take Chlortripolon as an antihistamine.
I have high blood pressure, or hypertension. About 140/85. I take a medication called Altace, which keeps it under control.
I have childhood asthma. My bronchial tubes are overly-sensitive to stimulation. With a small amonut of irritation, they slam shut, causing tight chest, shallow breathing and wheezing. This is a bad combination with allergies. I have a puffer containing Ventolin, a beta-blocker that relaxes my bronchial tubes.
I have diabetes mellitus (Type II, or adult-onset, or food and pill-managed). My pancreas does not produce enough insulin to allow my cells to take in the glucose in my blood stream. For this I take Metformin, which uses up the excess sugar in my bloodstream.
I am overweight. My BMI is 31.3 (your BMI is equal to your height in metres squared divided by your mass in kg.). At ~200 lbs. (as of autumn 2003), I could stand to lose about 25lbs. This exacerbates many of my other conditions. It is also a risk factor for Diabetes II - particularly the type of weight known as 'Syndrome X' - the strongest indicator of which is a 'spare tire'. I am working on this.
I have chronic swelling. This occurs mostly in my ankles. It is mostly a result of my weight, but apparently there's a heredity factor as well. Fluid in my lymph system is not adequately circulated up from the lower portions of my body. I take a water pill called Hydrosomethingorother for this.
I have excema. Parts of my skin, particularly a patch on my right foot, and occasionally my right shin, get a rash during times when my body is compromised. Stress exacerbates it. The rightmost two knuckles on my right hand occasionally get a bit dry and scaly too. This is also an auto-immune over-reaction, not a skin ailment. I treat this with shampoo: Selsun 2.5% (zinc).
For a diabetic, the Hemoglobin A1C is the gold standard of how well your diabetes is under control. And my A1C is 24K...