Aging in our Fat Bodies

Add a Comment

107 Comments

Comment by Vivienne on November 7, 2009 at 9:48am

At least we are laughing :>)

I do become panic stricken when I cannot think of something and I need to just breathe deeply and visualize--see, I could not think of the work "visualize" but it came to me when I relaxed!

Sue, I used to grind up pot roast and every thing else for baby food for my daughter. My m-in-l makes chicken and beef broth and freezes it in ice cube trays, then dumps the little cubes into baggies and adds the broth to whatever veggie or whatever else she's eating.

My husband bought a really powerful blender used on the internet (Vitamax--something like that). They are very expensive--but very cheap on the internet.

I don't know if you can eat dairy, but my daughter makes a lot of smoothies and we add spinach to them--a LOT of nutrition.

There are a couple of cook books out about "hiding" veggies in food for children that have ideas that I have used for reducing the calories in foods. I have added a cup of green beans to a cup of chili, for example--they hardly change the taste at all. It could all be blenderized. I LOVE spinach and would be happy to blend it into anything but cheesecake :>)

I need to eat somewhat softer food, too, because of headaches and general head/neck pain--just avoid steak, etc.

Also, pasteurized eggs are available now so we add raw eggs to smoothies.

I am soooo grateful for my blessings--the greatest of which is that I am laughing my butt off!

Comment by Sue Widemark on November 7, 2009 at 2:30am

Interesting about using verbs... for Passwords... have to think about that one. I just read Snowdon's book about the Nun's Study ... very interesting.. glad you are feeling better.

Comment by Vivienne on November 6, 2009 at 6:29pm

OK, I'm better--I am literally laughing out loud. You peed yourself. I peed in my car at 70 mph on the interstate. I knew it was just a matter of time. I was following my husband to return a rental car. Even if I had known where to get off to find a restroom, my husband is so easily discombobulated, I might never have seen him again! I had 2 pairs of underwear in my purse and was wearing a pad. So, while driving--I am still a fantastic driver!--I stuffed this all down the front of my pants and soaked everything. LOL Then, pulled it out and threw it on the, mercifully plastic and not carpeted, padded thingy on the right front passenger side which I cannot think of the name of right now. OMG! I am going to pee myself again right now, I am laughing so hard! I am never able to remember any of my doctor's names but I think that is psychological as I have never been able to remember their names--even when I was young. I can remember verbs better than nouns so I have started using verbs as my passwords! Very clever, n'est pas. BTW, one day I could remember "cote d'azure" but could not remember "French Riviera!" I am wondering if there is a "reverse dictionary" where you write the definition and get the word!?! I was at a party once, right after reading the nun Altzheimer's study when it was in Newsweek and this man is telling me about his research and it sounds very familiar and I ask if I have met him before...and...if was one of the researchers in that study! Way cool! Well, we will just all laugh til we cry or pee--whichever comes first! or both!

Comment by Sue Widemark on October 30, 2009 at 3:33am

By the way, I of course, couldn't remember the name of the guy whose video I wanted to share so I had to look it up on Google. Took a couple of tries but "no arms no legs" worked... :)

Comment by Sue Widemark on October 30, 2009 at 3:32am

It's not fat related. It's age related.

I just peed myself... husband said something funny and I had been drinking water because my effing guts don't work well anymore so I have to slurge water to defecate at least once a day... he said something funny and I guess I'd waited too long and I leaked (which I usually do but wear Serenity pads and the "heavy ones" at night) and I peed through all over in getting to the bathroom... I couldn't seem to hold it once it started coming. So he helped me clean up (he's a nice guy) and we together disinfected the bathroom and I disinfected the toilet (I peed all over that too) - that was after I jumped into the tub and the shower at 2 am in the morning.

As far as hurting all over, I've had arthritis since I was nine years old but of course now, it's REALLY fun and especially as I had a stroke last year which took out part of my left leg so I cannot walk far (have a scooter) and have to use to cane - trying to rehab it but it will probably take longer to rehab it than to my probable next stroke. The doctor commented:

you have clogged blood vessels in your brain

Oh joy. I lost part of my memory with that stroke and so I also cannot remember names of things I should be remembering. I use the computer a lot to look up things.

The other day when I needed a tooth pulled, I couldn't remember the name of our dentist and had to ask my husband. So far (although HE had a hemorrhagic stroke last year and lost some memory) his memory doesn't fail at the same time mine does. Or if it does, we have our computers. Google can find anything. Passwords.... I got them all stored in the computer and Mozilla "remembers" passwords so I can look them up there also. Lots of people even with normal memories cannot remember passwords.

I write EVERYTHING down. I have notebooks, a laptop, a palm pilot and so forth.

I lost 90 lbs but it didn't do a thing for the pain of moving. And I get around worse now due to the stroke than I did, 90 lbs ago. Much worse! The joke's on me right? I lost 90 lbs because I went on a program for GERD - that was because I got sick of being awoken every night, with a throatful of stomach acid, some of which I would breath (that's so not fun).

Doesn't matter because I have difficulty swallowing so my Magic Bullet is my best friend - most of what I eat is either very soft or adult baby food. Most lean cuisine dinners grind up good. I also have lost most of my teeth due to a congenital B12 deficiency. No teeth and an inability to swallow are not a good combination. Trust me in this. But cake goes down wonderfully but with my crummy genetics, I have to watch what I eat because if I didn't I'd be extremely large - my body temperature is 1.5 degrees low and that totally zaps ones metabolism. I managed to get up to 267 lbs just eating around 2000 calories a day and still restricting sweets.... so you can imagine...

If you are panicky, then you really cannot remember - no one can when they are upset even if they DON'T have memory problems.

But it doesn't only happen to us.... My DIL lost a car (and they found it three months later, right where she parked it). It was an Ultima too and of course the insurance (they thought it was stolen) paid them a fraction of what it was worth so they never replaced it. She's in her early 40's. We tend to exaggerate our problems. It doesn't happen to everyone but it happens to many people.

They say Alzheimers is caused by tangles in the brain and the actual shrinking of the brain in size, but in the nuns study (David Snowdon) they found that one of the sharpest 90 year olds who passed all the memory tests and showed no signs of senility at all, had one of the smallest brains and it had A LOT of tangles in it. So much for their theories... back to square one.

There is some evidence that cardio exercise (and you can do it even if you have mobility problems - trust me in this) and doing something daily, with your brain like puzzles or writing memoires or something, helps to stave off senility. Also vitamin supplements might help and a healthy diet - milk etc. Things like fast food, alcohol and smoking do NOT help. On the contrary.

I told you about what I face at 65 years old (I wear pads - serenities all the time - have to ... leak from both ends and yes, I've pooped and not made it also) because the bottom line is we have what we are given. Some get more, some get less but one has to do the best with what one has... being on the pity pot just makes us miserable and doesn't help the situation.

Next time you want to think you don't have anything or are losing everything, go watch this guy in his 20's who has lived with untold disabilities since day one. Kind of puts things in prospective. I find him very good for reminding me that life could be worse... :)

No arms no legs no worries

Comment by Vivienne on October 29, 2009 at 4:55pm

I don't think this is related to fat at all but to aging or meds.

I think I have altzheimers." Everyone keeps saying, "Don't worry, I cannot remember anything, either." I cannot tell my daughter where I am. I cannot look it up in the phone book. I cannot call the office--because I cannot remember the freakin name I of a condo I own. I can drive to it from the airport--or from else, for that matter, but, I cannot think of the NAME of it! I don't know WHERE I am! I could not think of the word "rug" the other day. I cannot remember my friends' names. Neither my husband nor I can remember our passwords--and guess what?

Baby boomers are aging by the minute and NO companies have any single plans for what they are going to do with us all when we cannot remember a damn thing.

I am panic stricken.

If you cannot remember your pass words, tough luck--actually their tough luck when I don't pay them because I don't remember I owe them :>)

MY husband went to the grocery HOURS ago and has not returned and I cannot call him because he CANNOT REMEMBER TO TAKE HIS CELL PHONE. He cannot remember where his cell phone is. And, when it rings, he just looks around vacantly as though he wonders what that ringing is!

OK, this is not the place for this but I don't have a place for it.

AND, I haven't even addressed why am I stiff and sore every damn day of my life?

I'm sorry people. I don't have any other place to say this. You can ignore me.

Comment by Lynn Ellen on September 9, 2009 at 3:30pm

I have a request.

Wall posts on this group might well be limited to general discussions about aging, whereas the last number of posts could have been either tucked into the Menopause discussion thread, or a new one could be started.

further, I would like to suggest that discussions about health insurance politics, while not completely unrelated to aging and fat issues, really does not belong here, but rather might find a better response from more people on it's own discussion group.

does this sound reasonable, and doable?

Comment by Sue Widemark on August 12, 2009 at 11:21am

OK here is some of my research on it and the brand I use (I don't have to use it any more but I am OLD... like 64 and have been post menopausal for years... I think my last period was in the 1990's... *LOL*)

Natural Progesterone Cream is rubbed on so can be used by everyone (skin delivery). Has NO KNOWN repercussions... you rub it in places where you absorb well like palms of the hands, belly, between your legs that kind of thing. They say you should pick different spots on your body but I never did...

The kind I used /still use occasionally, is called "Progesta Care" - it's one recommended by Dr John Lee.... and I really liked it because it comes in measured doses which is nice. I was putting on it twice a day, then later once a day... oh, you take a few days OFF every month otherwise your receptors don't absorb it so well... something like that...

Natural Progesterone Cream took me smoothly through peri menopause and menopause. And I was actually bleeding from the Southern tip and was told by 3 docs to get a hysterectomy... with Natural Progresterone Cream I avoided a hysterectomy and still today, have my innards.

It totally took out my hot flashes (which were BAD) and stopped the uterine bleeding I was having totally... when NOTHING ELSE DID.

I first heard about it in a book called "WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MAY NOT HAVE TOLD YOU ABOUT MENOPAUSE" BY John Lee, MD. Lee is a GP and his ideas were so seemingly not conforming with the current thought (I started peri menopause in the mid 1990's!) that I first blew his book off although it SEEMED to be very well researched. He opined that the problems we see in peri menopause were actually caused by an estrogen dominance due to several things including environmental factors. Apparently, woman are designed to have 10 pregnancies or so (why this was a non issue around 1900) and when they had so many pregnancies, of course, only a few of the kids survived to adulthood but the bottom line is they were not menstuating (and ovulating) so much as today's women. turns out that ovulation is a rather violent event and that was why having more pregnancies and getting a break from ovulation was thought to be the reason why menopausal problems were a non issue in years of yore.

I knew for sure, however, that I DID NOT want to take the low dose birth control because even before the two double blind studies by the NIH, the repercussions of birth control meds were easily seen in the Merck Manual and I did not want to go there. Also long before those double blind studies pointed out the higher risk of breast cancer, I caught in a Nursing Journal that they talked about the "estrogen-birthcontrol-HRT" connection... like it was a DONE deal! And this was when EVERY medical provider pushed the HRT on peri menopausal women.

Additionally, I stumbled unto a study done in the 1930's where rats were fed estrogen and ALL OF THEM, male AND female came down with breast cancer. I couldn't find that study on the internet but I did find a study where they repeated the earlier study in the 1960's in Canada and got identical results!

Finally, in desperation, I found a book by Dr Stephen Goldstein:

Goldstein, Stephen: Could it be . perimenopause NY 1999 - he agrees with John Lee that the menopausal problems in most women are caused by estrogen dominance. Goldstein was head of gynecology at NYU med school... His statement is that 85 percent of hysterectomies can be avoided with good hormone replacement therapy. At the time he wrote the book, since he had been one of the researchers in the low dose birth control for HRT research, he advocated this for HRT but since then, pharmaceutical birth control meds have been suggested to be risky in several double blind studies which is why doing the natural progesterone cream is the best. In theory, he agreed with Dr Lee however, and explains a lot of the medical theory behind menopause and peri menopause

Wow, I though, he IS an expert, being head of gynecology at NYU med school and he AGREED with Dr Lee, the General Practitioner. Of course he pushed the low dose BC HRT because he was the head researcher on a study for that but I already knew of the dangers (even before the double blind NIH studies).

He said that the so called "fixes" for menopause and particularly hysterectomy were unnecessary in most women and that things could be fixed with good hormone management. He also explained why "D & C's" are not a good way to find a problem... very enlightening...

So I went back and read carefully the Dr Lee book and purchased my first jar of Natural Progesterone cream and the rest is history. I used and still use "Pro-gesta Care" which Dr Lee suggested as one of the better ones and boy, did I BECOME a believer.

For further information please look at:

http://healthread.net/hormones.htm

There is reporting on the HERS study and the Women's Innitiative Study, the two large landmark double blind studies done by the NIH both of which had to be halted in the middle because the women on HRT were clearly getting a lot of not good repercussions.

HTH,
Sue

Comment by Susan Koppelman on August 12, 2009 at 11:00am

Sue, what do you do with "Natural Progesterone Cream?" Last time I went through this I used some natural stuff from the health food place and it didn't do a thing. It was some sort of pill. I asked several people who are really into health stuff (but of course they are all also people who believe in diets!) and compared their recommendations and did google research -- nothing worked. Do what do you do with "Natural Progesterone Cream" -- if it's different from what I already tried, perhaps I'll try it after I read the ingredients. I have a ZILLION allergies. Thanks for the recommendation. Susan

Comment by Sue Widemark on August 12, 2009 at 10:46am

Common ground:

OK, I think we all need to calm down - seems hysteria on both sides of the fence. If we can, we NEED to read the bill or at least the parts of it that are causing concern. As Carl Anderson put it "the devil's in the details". i.e. the bill is a sort of framework which is wide open in many places, taking the real decision making out of the hands of not only the people but those we have elected in the legislative branch as well and this is not good.

Here's what I see as common ground points which NEED to be addressed:

1. Abortion: it's true that the word "abortion" is not mentioned in the bill (I looked myself for it) BUT, the bill states "all surgery will be paid for" and what is concerning many people is that abortion is surgery and thus would be covered and could be covered up to date of birth. 86 percent of the American people would like to see abortion significantly limited so what needs to be done is an amendment to the bill either limiting payment for abortion or restricting abortion with some protections like "informed consent" (should be required for all surgery anyway) and "parental consent". This is a dealbreaker for many and even for some Democratic congresspersons. I suspect if such an amendment is NOT passed, the bill will be doomed to fail.
2. Euthanesia: Here again, there is nothing in the bill PRESCRIBING it, HOWEVER, the "end of life counseling " which ALL elderly will be REQUIRED to do OFTEN could end up in counseling for assisted suicide or euthanasia because that is a WHOLE LOT CHEAPER than TREATING The elderly even with medication, let alone with surgery. We see that in countries which have had legalized euthanasia for a while, some rather alarming things like in the Netherlands, 1 in 10 deaths is not only a euthanasia, but an UNASKED FOR euthanasia. i.e. the elderly person is told he/she is getting an injection to help him/her sleep but it is actually an injection to end his/her life. 81 percent of doctors in the Netherlands admit they have participated in UNrequested euthanasia. Many people are smart enough to know that it's a wise move to move this way like a sign I saw in the window of a booth at the state fair "In God we trust - all others pay cash!"
3. other problems. There are some other problems in the bill which I HAVE READ which need to be amended or clarified. For example, small businesses if they do not subscribe to this Health Care plan they will be (I think the word the bill uses is) "investigated" i.e. the govt will come in and do something - many feel that leaves it open to an audit or other harassement - one small business owner who DOES insure his employees got a copy of the bill and read it and is VERY worried about some of the things in it.
4. and finally we get to fat people. OK. With the ignorance in our country about the reasons FOR obesity (mostly genetic, let's face it) and the really negative attitudes people have ABOUT obesity, I feel and this is MY opinion... it isn't on the radar screen in the general hue and cry but it SHOULD be on OUR radar screen ... is that there needs to be an amendment PROTECTING fat people, ensuring that we will be treated regardless of BMI, ensuring we will NOT be forced into WLS and so forth.

So there it is... just sitting down, and talking about things as Americans because it's not us and them... it's got to be WE....

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11