Disenchanted

I am so disenchanted with our US healthcare system. I had to switch insurance back in January and I’ve been paying $480 a month for a health insurance plan that I haven’t been able to use it all, because I haven’t been able to get in with a primary care doctor to talk about my concerns, and none of them are so urgent that I feel like I need to go to an urgent care or emergency room over.

So I have just been left to my own devices, to do my own research and try to figure out things on my own. I am thankful that my plan is a high deductible plan that qualifies for a health savings account so I was able to put $4150 (pre-tax) into my health savings account at the beginning of the year when I started the plan, and I’ve been able to use that money on things like a gym membership, vitamins, and supplements, and even some tech related items was like a heart rate monitor and smart scale.

The reason I qualified to make those purchases with my health savings account is because I’m obese, according to medical standards, and I’m really trying to lose weight, but it has been quite challenging. 

I remember hearing that once you’re in your 40s, it becomes a lot harder, but dang, I didn’t expect it to be this hard. I joined Orange Theory Fitness in March and have been going 3-5 times a week since tax season ended on April 15th.

I’ve also been tracking my nutrition and metabolism through an app called Lumen, and have been trying to pay close attention to my macros and making an effort to get plenty of protein. This has helped curve my appetite and reduce sugar cravings and overall I feel like my diet has been pretty good lately, yet still I’m finding it a struggle to drop any pounds and while I do understand that muscle weighs more than fat, my clothes don’t really seem to be fitting any better either. It really feels like my body is just at a standstill or a plateau.

So I started exploring other things that might be affecting that and about a month and a half ago I started hormone replacement therapy, not just to see if it would help with weight loss, but after doing some online quizzes, I’m hopeful that it will help with some other perimenopause symptoms I have been experiencing lately as well, but so far, no major changes on the scale.

Another health issue of mine that I’ve struggled with for years, ever since having babies, is heartburn. It seemed to get increasingly worse with each pregnancy and for the last 10 years or so I think I’ve been on a daily heartburn pill, because even when I go one day without it, I get such painful heartburn that it makes my quality of life really miserable

I started wondering if maybe that medicine was interfering with my guts ability to digest food and absorb nutrients in a way that is beneficial to my body. I’ve wanted to be able to stop taking that medicine, it’s the only prescription medicine that I still take, but each time I’ve tried to come off of it the heartburn comes back, despite paying close attention to my diet, and trying to eliminate all the usual culprits (caffeine, citrus, tomato products, fried food, fatty meats, energy drinks, soda and sparkling water, chocolate and peppermint, spicy foods… Tenley saw my list on the fridge and ask what I can eat. Lol.)

Last night, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Steven Bartlett, Diary of a CEO. He was interviewing a doctor who specializes in plant-based healing by the name of Simon Mills, and at the end of the podcast, he mentioned omezprazole, which is the heartburn medicine that I take, and said that it is the most prescribed medicine in the US. He went on to say that it can have long-term health effects, and that it’s hard to dose off of.

It just made me so upset to hear this. Why is our healthcare system prescribing this drug to almost everyone, instead of looking for what’s causing so many people to have heartburn and digestion issues in the first place. I believe it could be traced back to our unhealthy American diet, the fact that we allow additives and dies in our food that other countries have made illegal, the fact that we spray pesticides (poison essentially) on our crops, and who knows how these genetically modified foods are going to affect us. It’s frustrating. I really try to eat healthy and make good choices but when I’m constantly surrounded by processed food, sugar, and things that purposely have addictive substances in them, it makes it really challenging.

But I really don’t want to have to keep taking this omeprazole prescription anymore. So I’ve asked ChatGPT for help dosing off of it, since I can’t get in to see a doctor until October. Right now, I am just taking my capsule every other day (since it’s not a pill that I can easily break in half) and on the days in between I am using famotidine and calcium carbonate chewable tablets, while also watching my diet to avoid problem foods, trying to eat small meals, and not eating for at least a few hours before I go to bed.

So far, I’m only on day four, and it’s been challenging, but I am hopeful that I can find some alternative solutions and not need to keep taking this prescription medicine. I’m also hopeful that by going off of it and focusing on a more healthy diet, I can improve my gut health and microbiome and start to see some weight loss progress, since that’s also something they recommend to help with heartburn.

I realize that the extra 50 or so pounds that I’m packing around (most of which is in my midsection), is probably creating extra pressure and limiting space for food digestion and could be a contributing factor to the heartburn.

If you have also struggled with something similar and have any tips, tricks, advice or encouragement, I would love to hear from you. 

I have ordered something called Gaviscon from Amazon to also help with heartburn while I try to dose off of omezprazole, and yesterday I did a “garlic intensive” which Simon Mills talks about in the podcast I linked above. I’ll try to report back on how things are going.