Don't trust doctors.

After a few good years in college, part time but good, my blood pressure became an issue. After discussing options with my doctor, a doctor I like and have worked with for years mind you, we decided to try a pharmaceutical approach. The next year and a half, we tried 6 different hbp regimens. The last two worked to lower my blood pressure, however, they also completely exhausted me. I would sleep 14 to 18 hours a day. We settled on a the 6th regimen, but tried to find an anti-depressant that might help with the exhaustion. Oddly, that only made the condition worse. With each anti-depressant I tried, the exhaustion continued and increased no matter which anti-depressant I tried. On both types of medication I could not stay awake more than 2 to 4 hours at a time and lost the ability to concentrate altogether, needless to say, that put a crimp in engineering college which is now on a hold until I am up to speed again. I wasn't actually depressed in the classical sense, I was just perpetually tired, so perhaps that is why they didn't work. I stuck with this group of meds for 2 years hoping that I could work my way up and out of the side effects. Finally, I just dropped the meds cold turkey (don't do this at home, leave this to professional bonehead stubborn guys like me). The withdrawal was much more sever than I had anticipated, but I kept with it and have made it back to a semblance of normalcy.

I had packed on weight on these meds, getting up to a high of 340. Even at 6'4" that is really big, though not as fat as it sounds (about half was fat from inactivity, half was water weight (didn't matter that I went to the bathroom every few hours even during sleep periods). After 5 months, the weight had only dropped to 320 and I was afraid I would be stuck there. Then, to my great joy, I lost another 50 pounds in the last month and a half! I am down to 270, and I think I am still dropping. As well, I have found a few hobbies that get me up and out, and I am energetic enough to participate. I have also started working out again, as energy that was sapped by meds is returning.

Now, I really like my doc, I think he has my best health in mind from a professional standpoint, yet he would have let me roll on in that condition indefinitely. I don't know what they teach doctors in med school, but I don't trust that it has a common sense aspect in many cases. Yea, I should have dropped the meds before. I suppose I can be a victim of sheep mentality too, which combined with my stubborn resistance to quitting can lead to gullibility. *sighs* I guess the moral of the story is watch out for yourselves, the medical community has not, does not, and will not in the future. You are a guinea pig and they will use you up if you let them. Every surgery, pharmaceutical regimen, and treatment plan is just and truly a biology experiment (which they track with paper work and statistics just as good as any NAZI camp doctor). I do have faith that they care in their way and I think they have some significant knowledge, I just think they really have a moral or humanity gap that comes with their doctorate. Word of warning. Don't do anything that isn't truly important to you or isn't absolutely vital to your next breath.