Embracing Old Age

Gaga - 'much publicised troubles' - not kind!!

The difference as I see it is that if you have had to manage chronic pain ( or any other chronic illness) from a young age you have two choices - you become a moaning martyr to it all and nobody wants to know or you just get on it with it, you don't moan, you manage it in a variety of ways which minimises the problem but means you are denied lots of opportunities and experiences that your fully able bodies friends naturally take for granted. You value your friends who you know are aware of your physical limitations and handle it a a quiet way that doesn't draw attention to you and you thank your lucky stars if you are bright, intelligent and well- educated as you have a range if interests and opportunities (including employment) that are open to you and can be enjoyed without physical effort. However, you have had years/decades of this and so when the natural ageing process
catches up with your contempories, it can produce a wry smile.

bluebell there's a bit of pot and kettle in your comment! Jingle is not being nasty but you do seem to like to have a go at her a lot. Why is that?

JO8 - what was that nasty little dig about? Trust you - clearly back on form now!

Bags I think that most people would empathise with anyone who has had to manage a chronic illness from an early age. However the fact that I know
other people may have the same or similar situation to me does not make my discomfort any less painful /difficult/upsetting!

Hope you are not having a painful day today. [tea]

Yes Bags darling. And we hope your --much publicised- troubles are not too bad either.

I suppose I'm just saying that things do start to go wrong in old age. That's what aging is – things getting past their best. Acceptance makes annoying but inevitable stuff easier to deal with, I find.

I'll bugger off now. Wouldn't want to put a damper on things. Not for long anyway!

I hope everyone's aches and pains and dissatisfactions are not too bothersome.

Yep. It's a nasty shock when you're nineteen as well and it happens overnight. It stops being a shock after a few years and just becomes a pain. So to speak.

Thanks for the cake(s). I'll make some

bags I think it makes us even more sympathetic to the pain that you and others have to bear, it's just a nasty shock when it happens overnight, as it were.
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And anyway, I believe in embracing age with a smile on the whole.

True, petallus, about how it works, but I'm allowed to be grumpy too sometimes.

Doesn't pay to be usually upbeat. People are shocked when you complain.

Nah! Sod flowers! !!!

It's good to have a jokey sort of moan together. No doubt we have all had other stuff to put up with in our lives. Younger people usually just get on with it, as, indeed, older people have to.

Some of these posts make me realise how lucky I am. Loads of sympathy all round.

I woke up this morning having slept unusually well read this thread and think I will stay in bed . Seriously, it is good to know I am not alone and that we can laugh at ourselves to everyone.

I don't think it works like that thatbags

It would be like saying if you lost a leg you couldn't complain because someone else had lost two, and they couldn't complain because someone else lost both legs and an arm.

I'm sorry you have had to deal with pain for so long though.

whatamess

This thread is amusing in a way, but part of me just wants to suggest that those of you who don't have daily pain to deal with until you are getting old should stop moaning and thank your lucky stars you haven't had to deal with it since your late teens. Sorry, but...

I've an hourglass figure, me.............except the sand has all drained to the bottom.

My son rang up at 5 p.m. asking me to go and pick him up from work as his car would not work. My grandson was here so he came with me. Half way there I suddenly realised that this was the first time I had driven anywhere with my grandson since I was in hospital in April. The other good thing was my son trusted me to do it.
My grandson was my map. When we got there my grandson said,"Well done, Granny, you got here!" That cheered me up.
Mind you, my son drove back, but he usually does, and obviously he wants my car tomorrow to get to work.

glammanana; you've hit the nail on the head there. About 4 weeks ago I felt great; since then I feel as if I've aged 10 years .

Quote petallus " My upper lip has that line of vertical wrinkles on it, hidden to some extent by my moustache"

Lololol !!!

I'm still waiting for the Va Va Voom to kick in! I was prescribed tablets for an underactive thyroid two weeks ago.
Previous blood tests had indicated that there might be a problem but I had not been put on medication then. When I queried this with my Doctor she said:
'As you get older the body doesn't self regulate so well'
I just wish my older body would perk up a bit!
Gracesmum and and to all the other grans who are 'fraying around the edges' as I am!

Why oh why do all our aches and pains start to appear as the nights are closing in we could do with a good few days of sunshine to give us an end of summertime boost I think ?

I am feeling 100% better today...I saw a consultant haematologist who said I had nothing seriously wrong with me!

So I am happy to manage my persistent sore throat, hot flushes, aching joints and occasionally dizzy head, 24/7 tinnitus, balding eyebrows and hairy chin, saggy body and increasing wrinkles today!

for everyone !

Getting older is a total pain in the backside. Just when you feel you might at last be starting to grow up, your body (and your partner's) starts to give you hell.

Every day I have: pain in broken foot (walk with crutch), pain in arthritic hip, heartburn, back pain, knee pain, problems with various bits dropping out down below, the need to evacuate my bowels by means of glycerine suppositories (in order to minimize above-mentioned droppings out), the need to patronise the Tena-lady company due to urgency in the pee department, migraine, poor balance, a husband with PD and all that this entials......I could go on.

I may have lost lots of things, but what I have not lost is my sense of humour, and that has to be the only way forward. We can change very little of this, so above all else we must avoid being a pain to our families by being grumpy and moany. Here on Gransnet is the place for our grumps and moans and we can support each other.

GC love cuddly grandmas, so enjoy the cushioning - they will!

In other ways I am very lucky - my paternal grandma died at 92 with skin like a babe's and I have inhereited this, along with long dark brown hair with not a jot of grey from my maternal grandma and mother. I carry no extra weight, although it has slightly redistributed itself! People are always telling me I look about 40 (I am 65). But, I do not judge others who have not been so lucky - I really do not care what people look like - I care about who they are. So, even if bits are on the slide, I think we should hold our heads up high and give two fingers to anyone who belittles the look of ageing bodies. Tell them all to go hang.

It is enough to struggle with all the aches and pains and limitations of getting older without being expected to look like a blooming supermodel too!