This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

i've hit my face on the pavement a couple of times while out running, i know that pain well and fuck me does it hurt! you never really think about how little cushioning your face has compared to other parts of your body until you whack it full-force into a slab of concrete. but the worst bit is that longterm it's left me feeling a bit wary and vulnerable in moments where previously i wouldn't have had a care in the world. anyhow, heal quick ymp!

As someone who also had a recent face-meets-road bad fall (I have a slightly Vulcan eyebrow now thanks to one scar), I empathise. Christ just last night I was unable to sleep cos I was having horrible intrusive thoughts about falling over and going to the hspital and feeling so embarrased and frightened, even though it happened over six months ago.

Thanks for the empathy folks, I will be fine but I definitely feel like this is oart of aging. You will get injured more easily. You will heal more slowly. Health complaints that would have been minor and temporary start to get, vexingly, more permanent.

When you're 22 and you hurt your knee, it might hurt for a few days. When you're 52 and you hurt your knee, that's basically going to be how it feels, forever. You get used to it, because what other choices do you have?

I now totally get the olds’ fear of falling and how it influences choices of activities. I used to disparage horsewomen who got to a certain age and quit jumping. I’m not there yet and hope I never will be, but after more falls this year than in my entire riding career up to this point, I am getting more selective about what horses I jump. Biting dirt after coming off a horse at speed—this is a very different thing for a 50-something than a 15 year old rubber ball of a rider.

I slept so poorly last night. Everything hurt. I feel my age today and I hate it.

Hope you feel better jimbeaux.

Have you tried an electric heating pad? I got one and makes a world of difference. Sometimes I use it just because it's comforting, not because I have any specific injury or complaint.

I have tried them for my back specifically, usually not when trying to sleep. I might give it a try. Thanks, and I hope you feel better too.

I definitely feel like this is oart of aging. You will get injured more easily. You will heal more slowly. Health complaints that would have been minor and temporary start to get, vexingly, more permanent.

When you're 22 and you hurt your knee, it might hurt for a few days. When you're 52 and you hurt your knee, that's basically going to be how it feels, forever. You get used to it, because what other choices do you have?

seldom has a poster been so otm. over a month ago I threw my back out...by coughing. at the outset of an incredibly busy workweek. I could not really stand up straight for two weeks, nor get out of bed without incredible effort and pain. aging requires a deeply philosophical outlook to be tolerable.

I saw a friend on Saturday, he's my age, he hurt his back reaching over to open a window.

it was so embarrassing because it happened so fast, and I was due to meet my coworkers at ten -- and I'd already been up and around, they'd seen me just earlier that morning -- and they called: where are you? and I said, oh, ahem, well, I'm trying to get out of bed, but turning over is proving to be a real whole thing, give me ten minutes. it was like this for two weeks.

because I COUGHED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAQosOF8bKQ

I have a thing now where every time I fly in an airplane, and all the sitting that entails, will result in a back injury upon reaching my destination. Happened when I flew to Spain (as I reached down to open a mini fridge in the hotel), and it happened in Sweden in June when I bent down to photograph a wildflower.. just like a rubber band snapping in my lower back, if sucks

oh that's data for me -- this was the morning after a long flight.

What about changes in weather?

I have had, since I was 19, a knee that sometimes clicks when the weather changes, but I haven't noticed anything with other things. I went from heat to heat on the flight though (mid-atlantic to deep south) so I'm not sure about that.

My left knee used to pop like bubble wrap in the mornings. Lately it doesn't do that as much. I wonder if it's altitude/humidity related.

Long flights and long drives both mess with my back/shoulders.

Somebody mentioned heating pads, I will also throw out this specifically for back/shoulder/neck stuff: a massage pillow. I have this thing and my wife and I love it to pieces: https://zyllion.com/products/shiatsu-back-and-neck-massager-pillow-with-heat-zma-13

On a flight of 3+ hours, I have to get up and walk around, my legs hurt so much. I think it's related to poor circulation.

Get you some compression socks! (I don't actually have any, but I should.)

ooh

I am suddenly visualising us all sittting under blankets round a fire, croaking tips at each other at how to deal with the old lumbago.

Don’t mind me … I am just getting a looksee at what I am in for next year

lol Trayce I will take all the advice! Starting to realize that consciously trying to minimize/avoid current or future pain is going to be a focus from now on.

Got the shingles vaxx #2 yesterday... I'm feeling it today: achy, mild chills, slight headache. Plus my arm hurts
Glad I'm working at the kitchen table

the shingles vax was rough but it's definitely worth it to prevent shingles

I didn't really feel the first dose at all, outside of the injection site.. but #2 is kicking my ass

hang on, this is available for all over 50s ?

CDC recommends that adults 50 years and older get two doses of the shingles vaccine called Shingrix (recombinant zoster vaccine) to prevent shingles and the complications from the disease.

each dose is a different microchip

Seeing Diane Feinstein in the wheelchair was enough for me to message my GP about it

cdc = America. nhs says 65+

Thraed of Shingrix

ahh, thats what i thought i remembered.
i.e. 65+ for us in the UK.

The shingles vaccine doesn't guarantee that you won't get shingles. But this vaccine will likely reduce the course and severity of the disease. And it will likely lower your risk of postherpetic neuralgia. Studies suggest that Shingrix offers protection against shingles for more than five years.

FIVE years?? I thought it was good for life :-(

shingles thread... looks like some longer term study data was published last year. one study saying protection lasts at least 7 years and another study saying up to 10 years.

My aunt (79) has had it for years. It's been agony. The shot feels like a punch in the arm, well worth it.

If you had chickenpox as a kid is shingles off the cards or no?

I . . . don't know. I definitely had chickenpox as a kid but they still said I should get the shot.

Oh wait I thought shingles was if you had nevr had pox as a kid. but it seems its if you DID :/ ugh!

Yeah, it's some kind of re-emergence of prior infection.

If you didn't have chickenpox as a kid, then you need that vaccine.

I remember Mick Jones (of the Clash, not Foreigner) got chickenpox back in the 80s, it nearly did him in.

I recall it being a miserable time as a kid. I had to have baths in this foul smelling pine wash. I had the mumps too, and whooping cough. Man the 70s were another time.

Now I'm thinking I should get this shingrix thing, though its only free for over 65s here.

If you get chickenpox, the virus that causes it hides from your immune system in your spine. Shingles is what you get when that virus reactivates.

My aunt breaks down in tears when she talks about how painful shingles has been. Probably worth the cost of the shot.

As explained on this cdc webpage (https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/transmission.html) shingles is caused by the reactivation or re-emergence of the varicella-zoster (chicken pox) virus that has lain dormant in someone who had the chickenpox early in life.

If you didn't have chickenpox as a kid, then you need that vaccine.

Yes! Apparently, getting chicken pox for the first time as an adult is often a far more serious disease than going through it as a child. Among other things, it can induce sterility in adult males. I'm sure there are horror stories on the web about adult chicken pox that match the many shingles horror stories.

Almost died in 1989 when he contracted chicken pox from his then four-year-old daughter Lauren. He went into a coma and spent months recuperating.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0428851/trivia/

Shingles suuuuucked. I had it a few years ago.

i expect it’s upthread but a colleague who got it in his eye/facial nerves with complications was very clear upon return from hospitalization/recovery: “do. not. fuck. with. this. pay whatever. do anything to avoid it.”

something like 99% of folks have had chicken pox, even if they don't remember it

But if you get shingles, you're actively contagious to the 1% that have never had it, including people with compromised immune systems

I feel better now, but earlier today I was forced to drink two hot toddies just to stave off the vaxx side effects

People in their late 30s and early 40s are apparently more at risk for shingles currently. The thinking is they had chickenpox just as the varicella vaccine was made available, so have experienced fewer environmental exposures due to younger people not having chickenpox due to having been vaccinated. So their immune systems aren't reminded enough to fight the virus and shingles hits earlier. My son was unfortunately in this cohort and got shingles up and down one leg a few years ago at 37.