6 June 2007
Dr.’s Visit
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Fitness; being sick; exercise; late nights; sports medicine.
I visited my new “primary care physician” today. Like most men, I don’t go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to. In the last couple years I have visited the “sports medicine” specialists more frequently, but those probably qualify as “absolutely have to” visits… like for example being unable to walk due to a calcaneus stress fracture. So today, after about 4 weeks of fighting a cold that I believed had developed into something worse, I finally broke down to visit a “general internist”… a regular ol’ Doc!
The news was good… I mean relatively. First of all, I didn’t want him to just say “you have a cold, you whimp, why are you wasting my time?!” so the fact that he said I had a mild ear infection and an extremely congested ear canal made me at least feel better that I did have a reason to visit him.
What I didn’t like was his advice, and I will admit now that I think there’s very little chance I’m going to follow it precisely. Specifically, he had the audacity to suggest that I should “not exercise for the next week”, what?!?!?! you’ve got to me kidding me! It can’t be done.
I think I convinced him that if I “took it easy” that I’d still be giving my body a chance to recover, without completely shutting down exercise all together. Plus I will try extra hard to get a full 7 hours of sleep each day instead of my typical 4-5 hours.
He prescribed a 7 day course of antibiotics, and encouraged me to use the 12 hour (120mg) Sudafed, as well as a nasal spray decongestant. He also had the nurse/assistant do a deep ear canal cleaning to remove wax from my infected ear.
Here’s to hoping I can kick this thing soon.
2 Comments so far...
karlmccracken Says:
Ear infections are a total pain in the . . . um . . . ear. And something I used to suffer from a lot, so you have my sympathy.
Non-PC gag alert - look away now if offended . . . I’m not sure if it’s made it over to the US, but over here there’s a terrible bug going round called “Man Flu”. Basically if women are infected with it, the symptoms are little more than a slight cold, hardly hindering their ability to do chores. But if a man gets it, it’s full-on flu, necessitating confinement to bed, with a regular suply of hot drinks, sympathy, and being excused from all housework for at least a week.
The scary thing is that it’s got the medical profession baffled - I came down with it last year, and went to see my doctor only to b told to, “Pull yourself together and stop taking up space in the facility that a genuinely sick person might need”. He obviously didn’t want to catch it from me and wanted me out of there ASAP . . . .
Keep taking the tablets / get well soon.
eamuthard07 Says:
Thank you for the comment, and the graduation wishes! Its hard to believe the day is finally here. A little background… I have become somewhat of a serious runner the past few months, mostly gearing my training towards a half-marathon. However, I have been very active in strength training/lifting for about 4 years. I don’t have any formal swim training, I just love to get out there and do it. Same with cycling. I recently got to thinking about doing a triathlon, as I want to save doing a marathon for later in life. Anything fitness related and I’m sold. So, I figure, why not? Thanks again for making me feel very welcome here, and I look forward to reading your blog also, to gain advice from someone with experience!
Sincerely, Erica
