16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Cor 4:16

Rosuvastatin, 10 mg, Metronidazole forte and Cefuroxime are the latest pills prescribed for my health issues aside from the maintenance drug Levothyroxine for my thyroid, and Caltrate plus and vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis. The statin which the cardiologist always prescribed since 2019 but I had refused to ever take, has finally earned a slot in my pill box.  This requires an adjustment of the budget for medicine, which currently covers only the multi-vitamins and the thyroid pill.

The side effects of a statin drug according to ‘concerned’ YOUTUBERs are muscle pain and weakness. Proponents of the Keto Diet argue that taking this lowering cholesterol drug will actually cause an imbalance in the body’s cholesterol levels, and will make it worse.  Yet my doctor insists that I take it because my blood pressure stays up at 140 over 90 and goes even higher.

Should you panic about your current health condition, considering how it has been in the past?

Walking from ST. Luke’s Hospital to the Uptown Mall takes twenty minutes. I paced normally, with no issues, no dizziness, no nausea, no muscle pain, no nothing. This time of blogging [9:06-10:25 PM] attests to my feeling healthy, because while crafting this article was slow and tedious, I had enough energy to stay awake and write to the end.

As a teenager, I often fainted because my meals were not full enough to carry me through the school day. In my thirties, I was hospitalized twice due to episodes of benign positional vertigo. Thyroidectomy, Polypectomy, Mastectomy–I had these in my late forties. Now in my pre-retirement years, fainting has never re-occurred, my vertigo has not acted up. But new spasms in my stomach pressure me to avail of the health card’s executive check-up benefit.

Three days of pain on the right side of my belly was a cause for panic, but I took no drug until after I saw the gastroenterologist. By the time of my appointment, the spasms had faded and my bowels had returned to normal. I regretted buying all the prescribed medicines for the spasm. Hopefully there won’t be a relapse of the gall bladder issue, but just the same, I had bought the drugs and they were expensive.

Why do you panic?

Panic is not programmable as if clicking on some buttons will heighten or prevent it. But it happens when the budget allocated for medicine suddenly increases. The stress is caused more by limited finances rather than bad health, especially if the pathology results demand rare expensive drugs. My mother used to say that were it not for the medicines prescribed for her cervical cancer and its complications, my brother’s remittances could have purchased for her some new assets or afforded an inter-Island tour. But yes, she did not at all panic because she had a health card, an allotment for medicines, and a daily allowance for food and other basic needs.

How not to panic when your vital signs show you are not that healthy?

The safest recourse is to make sure that there is an allocation for all the cost of ill health, even if you are asymptomatic. Manage the proceeds of your government health insurance. The time has come as well to apply a portion of your stock dividends to medical contingencies. Don’t hesitate to initiate a dialogue about your financial emergencies with your nearest kin to give them an opportunity to give back. Be honest about your needs to those who can support you.

But other than these, the best safeguard against panic is still a renewed commitment to a healthy lifestyle. Eat better food, walk more blocks, pray all the time, sleep early and read more. These don’t even cost that high.

For the elderly, panic is a useless reaction because every moment must count and panic is a waste of time and energy. Worrying about our health will further shorten our days which have become shorter. And although we can still dream, we can count fewer opportunities of chasing those dreams. Since our future is here, let us then perfect the art of numbering our days. Instead of panic, we must spend our less than robust days in quiet meditation, to prepare our mind and body for the inevitable.