Had a visit with the doctor on Thursday.
He still believes I have a mild case of asthma. The asthma causes my lungs to be susceptible to viral irritation so if I get the flu the coughing can turn severe. Right now, under most circumstances coughing isn’t a problem but laughing triggers a series of coughs – the doc that’s typical and that cold weather might also trigger coughs – guess I have to move to Az or Fla 🙂 .
He told me to stay on the Singulair for the next few months – he thinks my coughing will continue to improve and will likely go away. Recommended that I continue to use the QVar inhaler twice a day like I have been (he says I am on the lowest dosage of the QVar) until we have had two frosts (which could happen very soon since we have a frost advisory for tonight). A couple of frosts will evidently kill any pollen that might be floating around causing me problems. After that he says I should just take the Singulair (thank goodness for insurance – the damn pills are almost $3 a piece but insurance covers $2 of it). Also suggested that I call him in a couple of weeks to get a flu shot.
Unless something changes for the worse, I’m not scheduled to go back to see him for almost four months.
When I first when to see him a month ago, my blood pressure was like 165 over something. He said that was “a little high” and I should watch my salt intake. I told him that wasn’t normal for me at all. When I went in to see him today, my blood pressure was 112 over 60 – the nurse said it was “perfect”. I confessed to the doc that I didn’t believe the first measurement so hadn’t changed my diet at all. He laughed and said “who knows, the problem might have been with the person taking the BP not you.” He’s going to run a bunch of blood tests just to make sure my vitals are alright – I suspect he won’t like my cholesterol when it comes back but I’m pretty sure everything else will be alright.