Monday, February 02, 2009

Medicine sucks.

For as long as I can remember I've had sinus issues. Basically I grew up having "Day time nostril and a night time nostril", I was only able to breath through one side of my sinus. I always thought that was normal.

About 4 years ago I had a nasty sinus cold and haven't been the same since. During the day I'm lucky if I have 30% airflow at all and at night my sinus are totally shut down. I have wicked morning breath, post nasal drip, pressure and even sore teeth. My dentist agreed with my mother that it sounds like sinusitis. So I made an appointment with my doctor to find out for sure.

Today the doctor checked me over and said my breathing is clear and my throat looks good. She suggested I start using my nasal allergy spray daily as well as a saline nasal spray. It should clear me up in about 3 months. If it doesn't then I need to go back in and she'll set me up for a CT scan of the sinus'. If the sinus' aren't overly swollen it could be polyps in there. JOY!

I also talked to her about prostate issues. No, I don't think I actually have a problem but since both my grandfathers had prostate cancer I just think it's a good idea to check it. I've also had some dribble issues for the last year too. Unfortunately(fortunately?) she doesn't do the finger up the ass test right away. She said her fingers are too short to reach to the top of the prostate shoe she recommends a PSA test.

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is a blood test that checks the level of a certain antigen. Elevated levels don't always mean cancer, it can indicate prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (enlargement of the prostate). If the PSA comes back with elevated levels then she'll put the glove on... The PSA is a $30.00 test but it's free to get a finger up the bum? For some reason that seems backwards.