Getting Old Sucks
 

I've probably mentioned over the years that I am sort of a walking science experiment...no colon, bypass surgery...not a big deal, cuz it is me.

My wife has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She's been struggling with fibromyalgia for a decade or so already, and probably has some cumulative cognitive/expressive issues related to at least three concussions in her life.

Existence, survival...even the littlest things one used to take for granted...like grocery shopping or walking to the bathroom from the other side of the room...is harder now.

Really? Getting old makes life harder?
Well, I'll be damned. :smack:

Drugs used to be fun, meds are not, even though half promise blurred vision and dizziness. Most say avoid alcohol, some avoid Nitrates, and one even avoid real or artificial sunlight.
Next summer I have to get my battery changed, and I don't have a Tesla.

Spode you did say in the other thread that you don't know age... except in this way we all do

I feel the same way; I don't want to act old, except that parts of me have started failing.

Yesterday night a band I love played downtown, and the only reason I didn't go is that it was standing only, and I don't think I can really do that for 3-4 hours. Being the only old person there was not really a factor.

But yeah the hardest part is that people around us have also started failing, and have started dying. That's the part that really sucks, that a lot of our loved ones are starting to feel pain and death.

There doesn't seem to be an easy glide path to the grave. Death I embrace, all the little humiliating cuts between here and there not so much.

You guys had your chance to avoid all this by joining the military. Die young, go out looking good, that's why men have wars. Of course, if you don't do it right, you eventually end up being around a bunch of old people complaining about their aches and pains anyway. I had a chance to be a dead hero but messed it up. Now I'm paying the price. Not complaining though mind you. :D

Damnit, now you tell me.

As if you hadn't tried with that mountain biking. :rolleyes:

so fix it!

the next video might be more on point

Oh boy, videos! Just the thing to take old people's minds off their ailments.

Good thinking. ;)

My riding partner and I have informal instructions regarding dnr.

Ha ha ha, good move, Griff. :thumb:

Do I want the to extend my life another 40 or 50 years? Hell no, not in this condition. If they could restore me to when I was 40 or 50, yes go for it.

Thinking 'bout Bruce:

Attachment 62469

:crone:

I never feel any older although when I look in the mirror I notice more grey hair and a few more pounds. But I mainly notice the body takes longer to heal after injuries.

I tripped a few weeks ago and bruised my left knee, the joint was stiff but has been improving. So, Wednesday I decide to get back into my walking workout, about a 4 mile loop from my home mostly on asphalt trails through the forest. The last 1/2 mile my left knee joint starts hurting and by the time I get inside the house I can barely walk. Now I am on crutches and hardly able to put weight on it, I think I really irritated the tissue in and around the joint. Sucks.

Are you sure you didn’t tear something?

Stop doing those drugs and maybe these accidents won't happen. :D

Actually two of my granddaughters, aged 8 and 10 were at my house on a day off from school and wanted to play some baseball in the back yard. They asked if I could pitch and they could practice hitting and running the base line. I agreed and at some point picked up a grounder and tried to beat the 8 year old to 3rd base to tag her out. I tripped on some roots from a nearby cypress tree that have popped up in the lawn with all the flooding rain here in Houston this past year. I fell flat on my face, my knee was bruised and sore. The 8 year old ran over to see if I was ok and asked if she should call 911. :sniff:

I don't know, might have damaged the meniscus or one of the ligaments that hold the knee in place. I went to the local emergency clinic the day it happened and the Dr. did some xrays and said no breaks but normal osteoporosis for a man my age. :eek:

Had an appointment to see an orthopedic Dr. yesterday but he had to cancel as he went home sick. Now supposed to go tomorrow. So far I am just resting it, wearing one of those spandex/velcro knee braces and using the crutches. It actually feels better today but I'm still trying to rest it.

I'm having a hard time with all the people your age advice...

They gave me a CD with the X-rays in it. While X-rays don't show tissue damage or a torn meniscus because they generally only show bone, it does look like the space between the joint is still pretty good, not too worn down.

that's some good thigh gap

My dad was super active most of his life. He played tennis until he was 88 and loosing his vision to macular degeneration. But by the time he was 70 he had a lot of issues with one of his knees. It slowly got worse over the years and I remember seeing an X-ray when he was in his early 80's, he had literally worn down the cartilage to the point that bone was rubbing bone. He should have had a knee replacement but he was my mother's main caretaker as she had the onset of Alzheimer's. He was worried about the recovery time and who would take care of mom. I think he was also afraid of surgery like that.

Knee replacement is a sorry cure. No one seems to be in a rush to improve what is on the table. My wife slipped off the toilet on one knee. She went back to surgery to replace it all again. Poor thing can't go through it again, because of the arthritis there won't be anything to attach it to.

Just got back from the orthopedic Dr. A nice young guy, he checked the X-rays and inspected the knee. He felt I may have just bruised the bone and meniscus. Might even be some micro fractures that will heal over time. He suggested a shot of cortisone, continuing with the Meloxicam anti-inflammatory, ice packs as needed and just letting it heal. He said the shot should help reduce the swelling and get me back on my feet sooner. He said I could quit using the crutches and knee brace bandage as soon as I feel like it and bicycle ride for exercise for now as it is less stressful.

The shot felt weird, he spayed some kind of cold stuff on the spot where the injection was so I didn't feel much. Just some pressure and the first prick of the skin.

I reckon that cortisone shot hurts like the dickens. Popdigr got one for his shoulder. I asked him how it went, and he looked me directly in the eye and said "It was not a pleasant experience." This is a man who DOES NOT bitch, moan, or complain. EVER. I can recall exactly 3 times he called in sick to work in 39 years.

If that man said it hurt, I do not want one.:headshake

Shoulders must be tougher to shoot than knees. The first cortisone shots were amazing, they let me get a lot of delayed projects done, however when they wore off in about 7 weeks it was obvious I'd done more damage as they were bone on bone to begin with. The second set 6 months from the first, were not as effective but helped.

I don't know what he sprayed on my knee, I shut my eyes and tried to relax. Whatever it was it was ice cold but not like the nitrogen a dermatologist uses that actually burns the skin. He did the injection on the outside in that soft spot in the joint to the outside of the knee cap. I guess the injection is just into the soft tissue in the area, the syringe part had quite a bit of cortisone in it.

He told me to keep taking the Meloxicam, AKA Mobic. I didn't realize it is only an anti inflamatory so he said Tylenol for pain but I have noticed the pain has gotten better every day, especially when I get up in the morning. Not sure if sleep allows the joint to heal since my weight is off but it does feel pretty good for a while when I get up.

He also said if it doesn't improve after 2-4 weeks he might have me do an MRI but for right now. I liked that he was not too aggressive and thinks the tissue can heal over time.

It's called skin refrigerant (vapocoolant). You can get it OTC at drug stores; or, buy it online. Some is made specifically for injection sites and used by people who self inject as well. Others are made for cooling sore muscles and other minor injuries.

Thursday update. I feel much better today. I had noticed that I had decreased pain and unsteadiness in the morning. Not sure if it is because the knee gets full rest when I sleep and has no compression or weight on it. Didn't even need the cane when I went to the bathroom and back at 4am.

I got a phone call from my granddaugters this morning at 6:30 asking if I could give them a ride to school as it was cold and rainy. I agreed and got up and went. I took the cane but didn't need it much. I think the joint is generally healing as swelling goes down and the oral NAIF and the cortisone shot seem to be helping. Everything I have read said just don't jump back into a lot of activity and overdue it or you may do further damage to the joint.

My cousin is a chiropractor and a pretty successful one, he recommended adding some supplements like Glucosaminem with MSM as well as Magnesioum Glyconate and Calcium Citrate. Both help bones stay healthy and heal from damage.

Well, today is December 12th and it's been almost 2 weeks since I damaged my knee joint and a week since getting a cortisone shot. I'm glad to say I do feel better. I am not needing a cane or crutches. I just take a moment upon standing up to slowly put weight on my left leg and get my balance. Going up and down the stairs is still a one step at a time thing with the left just following the right and waiting for the right to move on, no bounding up or down as I used to do.

I am taking some supplements that are supposed to help bone growth and healing. I have a cousin who is a chiropractor and swears by these:

Glucosamine HCI 1500mg with MSM 1500mg 2 per day
Calcium citrate 1000mg 3 per day
Magnesium Glyconate 400mg 2 per day
Move Free: Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid 1 per day

That being said my wife won't allow me to get up on the extension ladder to put lights on our house which is the one decoration I still like to do. Probably best.

Getting old is just FOR ME living with more wisdom. Yes, I've had my share of "crap" and a couple messed up surgeries, but I manage and unlike a LOT here so far as I can tell, take a lot of supplements which I started in my early 50's...and now at 82 I'm doing good and have a lot of good memories from my good life with all it's bumps....

Change one's mindset can do wonders.....I did a lot of that too.

Just thinking we can get old "in the ground", over the sea, in the sea, etc" or right here on earth's grounds...

I wonder what supplements you take. Well, really, I suppose, I am wondering why you don't trust doctors but are perfectly willing to take advice from someone whose only qualifications are a from a two-week carpentry course when they were sixteen and sells their 'health' products from an unfurnished office above a brothel?

oh, unfair! Qualifications are clearly all from big pharma and a plot against the stupid and gullible. Just like the whole tobacco thing. Some people smoke their whole lives and surpass the average life expectation. So it clearly wasn't the fags that killed the rest of the smokers who died from cancers and heart problems. It was failing to do something else.

Oh Big Supplements are giving Big Pharma a run for their money..more and more are working to help themselves and many many more are living with damage from pharma drugs and failed surgeries.

Ever read the numbers on deaths from drug interactions and botched surgeries, probably not, I would not think that of the members here.

And it's true I have a strong distrust in docs starting in the 80's, have my reasons.

Funny, two week carpentry course !!! Selling from a brothel, where do some of these wild comments come from.

And I'd bet more are dead from smoking vs living long lives....

A good reply Jamin!!

And why are you able to read about those numbers? Because in medicine/science it's all recorded and analysed for improvement of outcome.
If you give 100,000 people a bonbon a certain number will choke on it, a certain number will choke to death on it, that's the way it is.
But it's recorded and bonbon design is altered if needed, if it will help.

All these heath supplements skirt the law because they are not medicines.
So nobody knows how many people die from quacks and you supporters of quacks, singing their praises.
You're 82 and doing well because you've taken grapeseed oil for 25 years.
My Mother never took grapeseed oil and made 95, does that prove anything?
No, it does not and neither do you. It might even be doing harm, you don't know, but it's your choice and your right to do it.
However when you start telling people that they should do it because it's doing wonders for you, that's a lie and irresponsible.

I remember reading this training advice in a book on bicycle racing: "Never follow another athlete's training regimen; you don't know if they are a champion because of or in spite of their practices."