This is the inevitable thread for ILxors in their forties

i had this phantom knee injury that defied diagnosis a few years ago. it wasn't located in one specific spot and if something were to graze the area in the right way, it could be excruciating. had two bouts in my right knee and the best guess I got was that it was a nerve issue originating somewhere else, but we never got to the bottom of it.
well, now it's in my left knee and it's made sleeping super fucking difficult and pretty tough to play with my kids etc. i'm just toughing it out because nothing at all seemed to help aside from time. its tough not to help outloud when someone gently brushes it and i suddenly feel like they sliced me with a razor blade

I am probably the strongest physically I've ever been in my life but then I pull a chest muscle due to overconfidence and lol whelp!

Over the past year I've been feeling steadily shittier and shittier, and I assumed it was all because I'm getting older. While I am getting older, I'm pretty sure I'm anemic because I stopped eating meat. My iron was already on the low side beforehand. My joints hurt, my head is fuzzy and I have very little energy. Iron supplements upset my stomach and I'm already eating loads of lentils and kale and iron rich foods.

Now I'm eating meat like it's going out of style. Sorry cows, I can't feel like this any more.

don't eat too much or it's gout time

WHY IS FOOD TRYING 2 KILL US

I highly recommend iron infusions. Talk to your friendly neighborhood hematologist. During the worst of my anemia it was the only thing that gave me any sort of life.

i feel like once a week now some part of my body starts hurting for no reason

i really hate the 20’s version of myself that took “feeling fine always” for granted

xpost it's very easy to get a complete blood count which will show whether you are anemic and could suggest iron deficiency as the cause. can also get your iron level measured. bad fatigue and joint pain could have other causes - not medical advice but consider seeing your GP

I have an appointment but I’m new in town so it’s a month off as a new patient.

Do you walk around with the “new kid in town” on repeat

I went for a frew blood pressure check and had worryingly high BP - in a “level 2 hypertension, go to the emergency room right away“ kind of way - and went to A&E to check for blood clots. Spent seven hours in A&E next to a drunk dude retching into a bucket. Worrying! There was no blood clot but I had to test my blood pressure at home for two weeks and bring the results to the GP.

The GP said the results were fine and my blood pressure was normal and that it was normal for it to go up and down randomly. So basically a waste of two weeks, and glad everything is ok, but the experience of two weeks of solid worrying was traumatic in itself.

I got the classic “you seem very tense” from the doctor at A&E and I said, “yes because I’ve been in A&E for seven hours next to a guy retching in a bucket”

The shit part of high BP is being aware of it and then having that anxiety frequently spiking your BP

Anxiety will temporarily spike your heart rate, not necessarily your BP

Anxiety can totally temporarily spike your BP. it's short term, sure, like if you take your BP many times during the day and you don't normally have high BP, you should get some normal readings among the high ones.

It's why white-coat hypertension is a thing.

https://health.umms.org/2022/10/27/anxiety-and-high-blood-pressure/

i feel like once a week now some part of my body starts hurting for no reason

oof - last week I had a few days of the "lower back pain of unknown provenance"

i'm doing more or less ok for late 40s and my philosophy is that even if something hurts or i have to take bp meds now (lol) these are now the good times. it's not getting better from here so i might as well enjoy these years.

Not sure if this is the pandemic's doing but I now consistently believe I am one or two years younger than I actually am.

yesterday I had to tap out of my exercise program midway through due to leg cramps. getting lazy on warming up doesn't pay off.

these are now the good times. it's not getting better from here so i might as well enjoy these years.

otm ... very otm

i would also like to advise a regular stretching and balance exercise regimen -- nothing too time consuming just focused on those two things. i know the other types of exercise are important, but stretching helps a LOT in feeling better and balance is necessary if you want to avoid falling down and what that brings.

yeah that is a healthy perspective LL!

i will try to embrace that outlook <3

I've been thinking about sending out birthday invitations for my 50th this year. Last night I dreamt, why do I need to send out invitations now? I'm not fifty for another two years... three years... five years! :/

I’ve recently had to change the default display setting on my iphone to zoomed. Struggling to make out small text. Officially old

RIP

Think I'm still older than you because I read that and thought, "Oh, what a good idea! Let me look into Settings and ... ... oh, I'll just keep putting my readers on, nevermind."

Had trouble watching a subtitled film on TV the other day; had to switch to the iPad so I could be closer to the text.

oh god i just don't know why they put things in that fucking tiny print, it's impossible, if i get too close i'm farsighted and i can't read it, and if i get farther i'm nearsighted and i can't read it, there's like one subpixel of space where it's halfway legible. like i'm sorry, was this put together by robert walser in an insane asylum*? is your hobby engraving the bible on a grain of rice? are you brainwashed by capitalism into believing that you are personally responsible for the deforestation of the amazon?

* wow apparently i'm just going with the deep cuts today, thanks for tuning in, next up is "too many hopes" by pilot from their 1976 album _morin heights_

I keep trying to just rub my eyes to make text less blurry and easier to read at smaller sizes. Sometimes this works…

Discord text is hella small. Ageists

am going to need reading glasses soon I think. I thought I might already need them because have been having trouble reading v small print like on medication leaflets since last autumn, but noticed if I take off my glasses (which are for myopia not reading) then I can still manage it. but presumably that won't work for too much longer.

Another place they put really small text is on the backs of smoke detectors. Seriously…how do they expect elders to be able to read the legend that shows what the beeps and colored lights mean…

wait ... the backs? As in the part that gets affixed to the ceiling or elevated surface? I am confused. ... also in aging eyesight anecdotes, if I need to refer to text on a piece of paper, I now have to put it on the side where my "strong eye" is, because if I put it on the other side ... you guessed it, blurry!

Never posted in this thread and now it's too late :(

happy birthday? i haven't got that much longer here myself, tbh

Do you need help finding the sequel thread?

how do they expect elders to be able to read the legend that shows what the beeps and colored lights mean…

It means your house is on fire.

Next one is here: This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

Oh I know where that one is, I just saw this one bumped today and was mourning my lost early middle age

Sara yea the backs! We had one that wouldn’t stop beeping (of course at 3 am) so I had to tear it out of its wiring on the ceiling. Safe and fun

I don't want to go to the other thread.

am going to need reading glasses soon I think. I thought I might already need them because have been having trouble reading v small print like on medication leaflets since last autumn, but noticed if I take off my glasses (which are for myopia not reading) then I can still manage it. but presumably that won't work for too much longer.

― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 18 July 2023 15:20 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

my near sight started to go a few years back and experience as follows:

varifocals now dont have a line or anything fyi they ask you to focus on a dot and do something clever with the shaping of the lens itself

I’m putting it off for as long as possible and pretending it will never happen

Turning 50 that is

I got too old for this thread a few months ago. But just saying that feeling for the first time when you realise you can't read small text anymore is so deflating, it's a much worse feeling than an itch you can't scratch. It's like solid mass turning into a mirage and taking the piss out of you. I've got used to it now but it is still rage inducing that they have such small text on the printed stickers on prescription drugs boxes.

i had my readers on my night stand, but now they travel to the couch, the kitchen counter, etc. looks like i need another pair or two.

this has been happening to me too. i take a picture of it with my phone and then zoom in :/

lol

the worst is directions on pills / supplements / multivitamins. like, i can't understand how i could have ever read them without a magnifying glass.

i would take this vitamin a supplement but i can't find my glasses to find out what the right dose is

on the other hand, it's pretty fun to do a milhouse voice "my glaaaasssesss, where are my glaaasses" every time i can't find them

Oh I know where that one is, I just saw this one bumped today and was mourning my lost early middle age

― Guayaquil (eephus!)

not to one-up you but i lost the first 43 years of my life