Shocked by aging process

Posted by seniormiz @seniormiz, Jan 25 8:54am

My fingernails and toenails stopped growing and just keep breaking off. My hair is falling out. My memory is not as sharp and sometimes I feel a little woozy. I hate this. I want my body and my senses back.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Aging Well Support Group.

Just a quick comment regarding the above post, per Google a large egg contains about 6 grams of protein. Believe the stated amount in the table there (about 12.4) was merely a typo, intended to represent two eggs.

I shoot for a little over 30 per meal, and make sure I ingest plenty of fiber.

All the best!

/LarryG

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Profile picture for nohrt4me (Jean) @nohrt4me

I am 71. I'm not very spiritual or religious. I learned a lot in AlAnon that help me deal with life in this last phase. Yes, 12-step programs can be cult-y for a lot of people, and they were made up by alcoholics, so they are kinda weird and imperfect. But two things I took away from my time in the program:

1. Learn to stop future tripping about your problems and focus on what you can do today.

2. Try to be of service to somebody before you go to bed tonight. I have a lot of fatigue, but never so much that I can't send somebody a text, cuddle my cats, or say something nice to my husband and son. It goes a little way toward giving life purpose.

Also: I am a former English prof and have a great reading list of books about protagonists over age 50 if anybody wants it! I recently enjoyed David Lodge's "Deaf Sentence."

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@nohrt4me I’d like your reading list, too, please! I read constantly, and books with older protagonists are few and far between, in my experience.

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I've mostly stopped looking in mirrors--at least in the light. 😁

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Profile picture for Saliannadana @saliannadana

I've mostly stopped looking in mirrors--at least in the light. 😁

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Profile picture for susanejw @susanejw

@nohrt4me I’d like your reading list, too, please! I read constantly, and books with older protagonists are few and far between, in my experience.

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@susanejw I love all of the Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge books. The Correspondent by Virginia Evan’s is a favorite and I think you’d enjoy Remarkably Bright Creatures, both of which are being made into movies. First one with Jane Fonda and the other with Sally Fields. There is sadness in all of these books, but that is real life. 📚

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Profile picture for cmdw2600 @cmdw2600

@susanejw I love all of the Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge books. The Correspondent by Virginia Evan’s is a favorite and I think you’d enjoy Remarkably Bright Creatures, both of which are being made into movies. First one with Jane Fonda and the other with Sally Fields. There is sadness in all of these books, but that is real life. 📚

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@cmdw2600 Thanks! I liked Remarkably Bright Creatures too! And I happen to have The Correspondent out from the library, though I haven’t read it yet.
I often find interesting older characters in books by Amy Tan, Lisa See, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Roger Rosenblatt. In the mystery genre, Agatha Christie, Louise Penny, Richard Osman, and Spencer Quinn’s Mrs. Plansky books. In poetry, Margaret Atwood’s Dearly (a book of poems).
Four others I especially liked were Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver; The History of Love by Nicole Krauss; Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather; and News of the World by Paulette Jiles. (I’m looking through my notebook of books I’ve read. I guess there are more than I thought!)

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Profile picture for dmbwa99362 @dmbwa99362

Oh, I hear ya! I am not accepting my aging well. It feels like it happened overnight. I was feeling great and loving my age and then all of a sudden I'm having all sorts of different medical situations. I am also overwhelmed with the thought of how many years I have left, which leaves me with many regrets and personal disappointments. I will be 61 in March.

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@dmbwa99362
I turned 66 this year, just a wee older than you. Also in March! Yes, the body/mind breaks down, like it or not, but I have noticed people who are not very active tend to have the biggest problems. I'm talking about people who have accidents or illnesses that prevent them from mind/ body movement. Personally, if I live to be 130, I still won't have enough time to do everything I want. I have been through the family, friends, moving, husbands, businesses, and traveling the world. Now I'm finally doing what I'm really here to do, and loving every minute of it, even with hurts, pains, frustrations and set backs mentally and physically. I can pick up a rock and hit 70, but I know just how much I can accomplish by that time. A LOT. This is what keeps the old hamster 🐹 wheel going. 🙃

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Profile picture for msmarymac @msmarymac

@dmbwa99362
I turned 66 this year, just a wee older than you. Also in March! Yes, the body/mind breaks down, like it or not, but I have noticed people who are not very active tend to have the biggest problems. I'm talking about people who have accidents or illnesses that prevent them from mind/ body movement. Personally, if I live to be 130, I still won't have enough time to do everything I want. I have been through the family, friends, moving, husbands, businesses, and traveling the world. Now I'm finally doing what I'm really here to do, and loving every minute of it, even with hurts, pains, frustrations and set backs mentally and physically. I can pick up a rock and hit 70, but I know just how much I can accomplish by that time. A LOT. This is what keeps the old hamster 🐹 wheel going. 🙃

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@msmarymac
WOW!!! I love your answer! I want to be that way too and I’m trying but pain sure has a way of humbling a person.
Always thought I’d be the young acting, energetic nanny but unfortunately pain has prevented that and I hate that so much!
I still try and stay as active as my body will allow.
You brightened my evening reading your words so thank you!

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There are supplements for collagen support for hair, skin, and nails. I try to take just 1 a day. I take 1 capsule a day (Didn't think the pills I bought worked as good.) of Ginkgo Biloba for supporting brain function & circulation. I can tell a difference when I don't take it for a week. I also believe in studying something to help memory. I study and take tests out of the GED Study Guide I have laying around. Gentle exercising and STRETCHING. Eating right is sometimes hard. I try to take at least one tall glass of milk with a protein supplement powder, a day. Because I've torn several rotator cuff tendons in my shoulders.
One medicine I had severe memory loss on after surgery was gabapentin. I refuse to EVER take that again. I have added calcium and D3 after my bone density test detected osteoporosis in my neck. Some medications have warnings for taking with certain supplements. You need to ask your doctor to make sure they don't interfere with your prescriptions. I have to spread my supplements throughout the day and eat a little something before and a tiny bit after, even just crackers. One time I had the bright idea to get healthy and took about 5 plus supplements at one time for a few days. My stomach hurt horribly! Don't want that to happen again.
Reading the bible can be comforting. There are many rewarding things yet to do. I guess we should be thankful to be getting old. So many of my dear friends didn't make it.

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Profile picture for lukekee (Vivian) @lukekee

@msmarymac
WOW!!! I love your answer! I want to be that way too and I’m trying but pain sure has a way of humbling a person.
Always thought I’d be the young acting, energetic nanny but unfortunately pain has prevented that and I hate that so much!
I still try and stay as active as my body will allow.
You brightened my evening reading your words so thank you!

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@lukekee
Thank you for that word of encouragment! If you only knew how many people have insecurities which lead to resentment of those who try to have the life they are suppose to have. Personally, I want to be around people who are smarter than me and have experienced what I have not. Being a sponge, absorbing other lives, teaches me how to continue on. We can even learn from the negative. My husband (Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma, died in '08) told me, "You can learn something new from a wineo on the street, if you would just listen to him".
Now back to you and your pain...
I dont know what kind and where it is, but I have used two products that have been a life saver for me. Merry Hempster Vegan Hot Hemp Rub. Handmade in Portland. Organic, has hot peppers in it which relaxes the muscles, and hemp that relaxes the mind. It is in a big chapstick tube, so you dont have to touch it, just rub it on. For deeper than muscels, I use frankenscense and mhyrr, roll-on. I dont go anywhere without both. Lastly, I saw on the news a man in his 90' who has run every day of his life, even when he fell and broke his hip! Now, if he can do that (I'm not running, weak ankles and trick knees) then I can push through a lot of pain and hurts, right? I have an animal refuge and hungry people at my vegan food pantry relying on me. 🫠

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