I haven't been to a general practicioner since I was in college the first time. This means no physical, and in my mind, nothing wrong with me. I went in to the regular doctor to get a referral to an allergist as my allergies have become overwhelming. Thanks to the wiles of insurance, that is the necessary order to get to the allergist. I wish I could have just gone to the allergist, but whatever. When I went to the regular doctor, she insisted that I have a physical. This included being weighed, measured and worst, stuck (ow) for blood to be "tested."

Now, I am four doctor visits later and went from taking one pill prior to going in, to five pills and a nasal spray steroid. Turns out that I have severe allergies to dust, dust mites and hickory and pecan tree pollens. The severity is in the dust mites. So I get to take two pills and a spray for that. My regular doctor found out I had acid reflux (thanks to Dad's side of the family) and high cholesterol (thanks to Mom's side of the family). So now I have two more pills. One once a day, one twice a day. Yes, I have two wierd dysfunctions that normally don't happen until people are members of AARP.

The diagnosis that trips me out the most is the high cholesterol. Turns out that a high LDL count can lead to arteriosclerosis, which my grandaddy had, aka hardening of the arteries. So now I am eating a double portion of oatmeal in the morning (on a daily basis to lower cholesterol), cheerios for lunch, snacks and dinner (takes three portions of cheerios, instead of two like oatmeal), fruits and vegetables and other sterol induced products and taking a one a day vitamin that has Niacin (B3) and rigorous exercise which includes weights 2-3 times a week, to get back to normal. Ideally, I would love to be tested again and startle my regular doctor by having normal levels of LDL. Yeah, I don't actually expect that to happen, but I am going to give it everything I've got. I don't know that it will work, but I am going to try.

Now here's the craziest part of all: every pill I take is a different shape. I have a trapezoid, a circle, a square, an oval, and a rectangle. Then there is the vitamin, but I don't know what shape it is. Super huge, is that a shape? I can take all five of the pills together in one swish of water, but I have to take a whole cup of water to get the one a day vitamin down. Stupid. I am never going to the doctor again.

Okay, maybe I am just not going to the doctor until my next appointment.