Stopping Things From Getting Worse

Helpful for me, this time. 

If it seems to be a "normal" cold or flu I don't like to go to the doctor. She'll just tell me to get bed rest and drink plenty of fluids.

In this instance, after two weeks of coughing and mucus (too much information?)--but without a fever--I finally went to see her. She prescribed an antibiotic. After 21 days I finally feel better.

Older friends and relatives have put off seeing a doctor until their condition became much worse than it had to be. I have to face the fact that now I'm one of those older guys.

It's not about being hypochondriacal, just being realistic about my age. It's not about not being able to tough it out; it's stopping things from getting worse.

Information Costs and Benefits

The line between hypochondria and health fanaticism has been blurred for a long time. From the Foundations of Personality, 1922:

The faddy habits [hypochondriacs] form are the sustenance of those who start the varied forms of vegetarianism, chewing cults, fresh-air fiends, wet-grass fanatics, back-to-nature societies, and the mild lunacies of our (and every) age.

A 1-sq-inch sample (in bag) was sufficient for testing.

An acquaintance is very health-conscious and insisted that a ceiling repair be tested for asbestos, which had been used in post-war construction and is a known carcinogen.

[Aside: according to a conversation I had with an expert, California banned the purchase of asbestos in 1976.

Lobby display

A grandfather clause made it theoretically possible for a contractor who made a large purchase of asbestos-containing material in 1976 to still be using this inventory in 1984, when the subject building was constructed. Such a contractor who possessed such poor inventory management would be unlikely to be in business 8 years later, but the acquaintance insisted that the materials be tested].

And so it was that your humble blogger, who had a business interest in the matter, found himself in Berkeley to have the ceiling tile analyzed. As expected, the materials were asbestos-free.

The result was good, but even prior to the excursion I knew that the half-day trip wasn't worth the time and expense. (I wouldn't have gone if it were my ceiling.) We take greater risks every day--we live near the San Andreas fault--and this was one risk that wasn't worth obsessing over.

Negative results were a positive thing.

The silver lining is that I learned useful information for future dealings with this acquaintance and the name of an efficient testing lab that I will be happy to use again.