Fuzzy Head: Day 37

I’m pretty sure that my doctors think I’m nuts. Since my head has been “fuzzy” for a few weeks (and has progressed to the point where it was getting difficult for me to get anything done during the day), I decided that I better try to find out what was going on. The fist stop was at the optometrist:

Optometrist: “What seems to be the problem?”

Me: “My head is fuzzy.”

Optometrist: (giving me a funny look) “So, you’re not seeing well?”

Me: “No, I can see perfectly fine.”

Optometrist: “You can see fine?”

Me: “Yes.”

Optometrist: “So, why exactly are you here?”

Me: “I think I can see fine, but my head is fuzzy, so maybe I think I can see fine, but in reality I just think that I can, but I really can’t, and that is why my head is fuzzy.”

Optometrist: (with a look of complete confusion on her face) “I think that we should test your eyes and see if we find any issues…”

This is the first time I think I have ever been to see an optometrist in my adult life. I had no idea all the tests that they do. The results of the tests were that my right eye has 20/20 vision and me left eye has a slight astigmatism, but that overall I see fine and don’t need glasses unless I want them. My eyes were not causing the issue.

I next headed to my regular doctor and once again explained that the reason I was there was because I had a fuzzy head. After me trying to explain exactly what was going on, she said that she didn’t know what exactly was causing it, but had a few ideas of what it might be. Although she didn’t think it had anything to do with my heart, she wanted me to get an EKG just to make sure it was working properly. She thought that it was likely a thyroid issue, a vitamin deficiency issue or sleep apnea. She wanted me to get blood tests to see if it was the thyroid or vitamins, and if they both checked out, then do a sleep apnea test.

I took the EKG and the results came back a few hours later showing that everything looked normal with my heart, so that was ruled out. I took the blood test, but the result from those won’t be available until tomorrow.

I really don’t like going to the doctor unless I have to. While in theory I am all for preventative medicine, I’m not likely to go to the doctor unless there is something really wrong with me. The problem here was that the fuzziness was something that I could live with. I finally made the decision that spending the money was worth it because I realized how much it was affecting my productivity. It ended up being a financial decision in the sense that it wasn’t allowing me to be as productive or do all the things I wanted to do. Now, I realize that this isn’t the best reason to go to the doctor (I probably should have gone in earlier as soon as I noticed the fuzziness to be preventative), but it explains why I don’t mind spending the money in this case, especially if we can ultimately fine the culprit. The optometrist and doctor visit both came with a $25 copay, and I have a $10 copay for both the EKG and blood tests setting me back $70 on my minimum wage challenge.

Today’s Spending

Food: $0.00
Car: $0.00
Housing: $0.00
Travel: $0.00
Health: $70.00
Misc: $0.00

Total: $0.00

Total Spending

Food: $27.89
Car: $0.00
Housing: $0.00
Travel: $0.00
Health: $555.00
Misc: $19.00

Total: $601.89

(Photo courtesy of Plutor)

Jeffrey Strain

Jeffrey strain is a freelance author, his work has appeared at The Street.com and seekingalpha.com. In addition to having authored thousands of articles, Jeffrey is a former resident of Japan, former owner of Savingadvice.com and a professional digital nomad.