Sudden ageing

I feel aging is rather like walking down a flight of steps with frequent landings rather than a smooth slope.

I look as if I've bypassed the steps and slid down the bannister!

MissAdventure

I look as if I've bypassed the steps and slid down the bannister!

MissA ???

I look in the mirror and see my mum looking back at me!! Fortunately , despite being 67, I still have thick dark brown hair ( the fact that it has a complete life of it's own is a different story. ( I know there should not be an apostrophe in its but try telling my tablet that!). Sadly my jowls have sagged to the level that I look like an aging, miserable blood hound. But sadly it is my DH who has suddenly started to look old. He is tall and slim. He has a mass of white hair , it started being grey in his late 20s, and looks like a mix of John Major and Arsene Wenger. But he has no muscle tone and his legs and bum have started to look scrawny and he has started to stoop slightly. He thinks he still looks good for his age, 69, and dressed for work he still looks great but his jeans look saggy. So sad. And I dread to think what I look like to others.

It depends which part of me you are talking to. In my head I am about 26, able to run about and have many plans for things I want to do in my life when I have time and can afford to do so having lived abroad, plan to go to Ulan Bator and Macchu Picu. Unfortunately when I pass a mirror, I see a white haired,chunky , rather bent over (due to bad back) person. for some reason she seems to be walking rather slowly and its taking an effort to keep going. I am probably lucky to get to Scarborough!! But actually so long as I am clean and my hair and clothes are clean I dont worry about it . I can look very gaunt when I am in a lot of pain, but probably kid myself it is only the pain causing it not being old!! Dont forget looking old or being old is better than the alternative!!

My friend told me things go downhill quickly after you reach 75. Takes longer to do things you have always done easily (changing the duvet cover, carrying shopping, walking upstairs, remembering the names of people and things). I particularly noticed how younger people treated me, speaking louder, offering to help me and being extra kind which made me feel older. Didn’t help as a few friends my age still swim, play tennis or play golf. However one my age recently confessed she can only walk 9 miles in one go now. Saying nothing.....

travelsofar. Aww that’s so sad, so sorry

HannahLoisLuke
I too am taking steroids for PMR. I started them 1st August 2020 and am still on them now. Just over 18 months of steroids and I've got the typical 'fat face' and have put on 2 st.
I don't look like myself at all when I (stupidly) look in the mirror.
I'm only 4'10" tall and it's really discouraging to feel as I do.
I'm hoping that my next blood test in a couple of months indicates that I can stop the steroids, or at least reduce them.
I'm also disabled with chronic pain (neck, arms, hands, lower back and my left leg, since mid September, keeps collapsing beneath me! I need a walking stick in the house now which I never used to)
I'm crossing my fingers for us both to get off the Prednisolone asap.
Incidentally, I have no antibodies after 2x AZ and a Pfizer booster. Because of this I was emailed to say that i could have a 4th vaccination. I had that yesterday, another Pfizer, so hopefully it may help me, as otherwise it's as if I've not been vaccinated at all.
I will find out when the ONS COVID-19 people come and both my husband and I swab and give a blood sample which lets us know whether or not we have antibodies. My husband always has got antibodies but I don't.

Secret squirrel…I am exactly the same and it’s so nice to read that I am not the only one who ages in this way! I am like you… I really do age in spurts! I look a certain way for so long and then it seems I suddenly age. There is nothing gradual about it. And I know my face… I take care of my skin religiously and wear eye makeup most days. So it’s not as though I’m not seeing my self. I honestly think for some people it’s a little like having growth spurts. In my case it’s ageing spurts! Hope that helps x

Covid has aged me so fast - all the anxiety, stress, sitting at home, lack of going out, dressing up, meeting people, I feel about 100 suddenly - I hate all my clothes, but hate all the crap in the high street clothes shops, still comfort eat chocolate far too often, don't feel up to zumba any more, have pains in my joints I never noticed before, never sleep all that well any more - and think about ageism, ageing, sickness and death far more than I ever used to, feel like that last few good years of my life have been stolen - still haunted by the realisation that no one cared much about the elderly getting sick and dying, that the over 60s would get less treatment than the young if they got covid, basically I was profoundly disturbed by the callousness of it all, of the government, the NHS, I'm still angry and traumatised, feel I hate & fear strangers, that the police are all awful, that the world will never be the same same again - I can't believe this is just me

Jaibee: you’ve just summed up exactly how I feel. Especially the way that so many people in society now seem to now feel the vulnerable are stopping everybody else from living how they want to.

I aged profusely after my mother died of Pancreatic cancer. I knew I had, I could see it. It wasn't a perception formed from my grief.
My sister visited me 6 months after the funeral. On sight of me she immediately burst into tears. She said I looked so ill! I knew how I looked. A Yr after I even researched local cosmetic surgeons. I still feel sad about myself. Its now 21 yrs since her death.

Yes, I agree, it doesn't seem to be gradual, more a step change. I had a bad dose of covid and I seem to have gained a decade.

Sweetpeasue . Seeing your post, I thought about my daughter. We’ve had our up and downs, but I honestly don’t know how she’ll cope when something happens to me. She is divorced with 2 children who will eventually have their own lives. I really hope she will find some nice young man to share her life. She gets on well with her younger brother and his wife, but with the other brother, that’s another story ……..

Lizbethann55
“He is tall and slim. He has a mass of white hair , it started being grey in his late 20s, and looks like a mix of John Major and Arsene Wenger.”
Well then your DH sounds good Lizbethann ! Makes a change from wives complaining that their DH are overweight! Better for his health too.

Yes, when I had my cataracts done a few years ago, everything was so much clearer, wrinkles and whiskers!!! Oh dear, I also need a facelift and work on my saggy eyes. Fortunately I have many friends who are the same age so not really bothered!

Lockdown was definitely an ageing patch, going nowhere so why bother? But after losing DH, BC twice, I’m going down fighting (when I go out). I have Botox, minor cosmetic surgery (eyes, neck), extensions for my thinning hair and if i painted pictures as much as I paint my face I’d be Michelangelo by now. I’ll give the trout pout a miss…
Also fashionable clothes without getting silly.
The Queen has lost a lot of weight after bereavement as I did and that can make you look haggard,

Didn’t realise how much I’d aged until I had my cataracts done ?, every wrinkle and eye bags look so much worse now !!

I still look OK in the bathroom mirror but when I face time my daughters I look awful. They however, look gorgeous.
I grew my fringe out , let my hair grow and wear it in a pony tail now, which doesn't help
I can't see me going back to a fringe as I was already finding that I only had a central fringe and little at the sides. Due I now realise to a receding hairline at the sides.
Oh well, I'm not too bothered anymore.

Nicksmrs46

Didn’t realise how much I’d aged until I had my cataracts done ?, every wrinkle and eye bags look so much worse now !!

I always remember a scene in Green Wing where someone has new glasses, looks down at her hand and screams.

I’ve just had a new passport photo taken and compared with the photo from my last passport, taken in November 2011. What a shock when I compared the 2 photos! Where did those jowls come from?! And those eye bags?! I didn’t realise I looked so old until I saw this photo! For passport photos, of course no glasses can be worn and you can’t smile, so I looked older than ever. I’m 66 going on 86 by the looks of it! I consoled myself with the fact that I’m reasonably healthy, although I do often feel very tired. When I smile at myself in the bathroom mirror, which is probably my “best look”, the jowls disappear - thankfully! My late mum used to say “we’d all be beautiful if we made ourselves”. I’ve never been beautiful, but I was passable - but now just “old”. As someone said, it’s better than the alternative.

I put so much effort into my latest passport photo and used a lot of touché eclat. Max Spielman take very flattering photos thankfully. I did a trial run with my own camera the night before and looked about 90.I was also able to wear same top that I’d worn for my last passport photo but unfortunately have put on a stone since then.

I can see how it can happen
In my opinion, for me anyway, it’s how I am feeling
If I’m feeling down, upset or anxious I feel I look a lot older but when I’m happy and in a good place I can look my age and if I’m REALLY lucky ?maybe a bit younger too

I've got lazy about putting on a little make-up and spending any time on my hair.

Yes I think that’s the reason our eyesight deteriorated as we age !! Sometimes blurred is good !!????