Author Topic: The Vicissitudes of Ageing (Read 8247 times)

Nelson Longflap · « **Reply #50 on:** 15 August, 2020, 09:28:52 pm »

A wise man once told me that ageing isn't just to do with the number of laps around the sun; you're as old as the number of pills you have to take every day ...

perpetual dan · « **Reply #51 on:** 15 August, 2020, 10:08:18 pm »

Quote from: T42 on 14 August, 2020, 04:16:28 pm

Good luck with that. I remarked to MrsT this morning that I am heartily sick of measuring my life out in pills (e.g. I just calculated that I have taken 4524 doses of clopdigrel since 2008) and prescriptions. I suppose that's preferable to not having a life to measure but it's still bloody depressing.

You reminded me of a 14m long installation I saw a few years ago at the Wellcome gallery - of all the pills taken in a lifetime. http://www.pharmacopoeia-art.net/articles/in-sickness-and-in-health/

Wowbagger · « **Reply #52 on:** 16 August, 2020, 12:11:47 am »

I can't recall whether it was before or after his kidney transplant, but there was one year in which Dez took more than 10000 tablets - he probably still does but it's been normal and unremarkable for about 15 years. He's 41.

T42 · « **Reply #53 on:** 16 August, 2020, 09:58:12 am »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 16 August, 2020, 12:11:47 am

I can't recall whether it was before or after his kidney transplant, but there was one year in which Dez took more than 10000 tablets - he probably still does but it's been normal and unremarkable for about 15 years. He's 41.

I remember visiting a couple years ago where the woman had eaten something dire by mistake and nearly died of kidney damage. She had around a dozen different pills to take with every meal.

Right now I have 6 pills a day, but around 10 years ago it was more like a dozen.

hellymedic · « **Reply #54 on:** 16 August, 2020, 05:05:29 pm »

(click to show/hide)

T42 · « **Reply #55 on:** 16 August, 2020, 05:13:55 pm »

My mum gave me cod liver oil once when I was a nipper. I puked.

hellymedic · « **Reply #56 on:** 16 August, 2020, 05:18:55 pm »

Cod liver oil is horrible.
Cod livers are quite tasty, as my Mum pointed out when she fed them to us as nippers on visits to Denmark.
Seven Seas capsules prevent actual tasting of enclosed liquid.

rafletcher · « **Reply #57 on:** 16 August, 2020, 07:24:21 pm »

I used to love popping the cod liver oil capsules I was given. And I got Haliborange tablets too. The think I hated was the heaped teaspoonful of malt

hellymedic · « **Reply #58 on:** 16 August, 2020, 07:44:55 pm »

Malt & Cod Liver Oil was a really VILE substance I was given for my chilblains.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #59 on:** 16 August, 2020, 07:56:04 pm »

The only time I think I totally said no to my mother was over some vile concoction she wanted to feed us. I must have been about 10 and just refused. Point blank. It was never mentioned again.

hellymedic · « **Reply #60 on:** 16 August, 2020, 09:12:24 pm »

Given that we are approximately the same age, it might have been this stuff.

It was available on prescription until the ACBS classed it as a food.

offcumden · « **Reply #61 on:** 16 August, 2020, 09:27:13 pm »

Quote from: hellymedic on 16 August, 2020, 07:44:55 pm

Malt & Cod Liver Oil was a really VILE substance I was given for my chilblains.

Did you swallow it, or did you rub it in?

And did it work?

hellymedic · « **Reply #62 on:** 16 August, 2020, 09:36:51 pm »

Swallowed by the heaped teaspoonful.
Had the consistency of honey but was less sweet & sticky.

I don't think it worked.

Little did.

I outgrew my tendency to chilblains at 14 but had them again one winter in the early 2000s.

T42 · « **Reply #63 on:** 17 August, 2020, 07:38:40 am »

Quote from: hellymedic on 16 August, 2020, 07:44:55 pm

Malt & Cod Liver Oil was a really VILE substance I was given for my chilblains.

School chum of mine used it to make beer without reading the label.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #64 on:** 17 August, 2020, 01:34:25 pm »

Quote from: hellymedic on 16 August, 2020, 09:12:24 pm

Given that we are approximately the same age, it might have been this stuff.

It was available on prescription until the ACBS classed it as a food.

I don't think so, mine was a white liquid and was called cambridge emulsion or something similar. Total quack medicine

Peter · « **Reply #65 on:** 17 August, 2020, 01:36:50 pm »

Excellent stuff - we used it on our outside bog.

Salvatore · « **Reply #66 on:** 20 August, 2020, 01:05:10 pm »

Quote from: chrisbainbridge on 17 August, 2020, 01:34:25 pm

Quote from: hellymedic on 16 August, 2020, 09:12:24 pm
Given that we are approximately the same age, it might have been this stuff.

It was available on prescription until the ACBS classed it as a food.

I don't think so, mine was a white liquid and was called cambridge emulsion or something similar. Total quack medicine

Scott's emulsion? My grandfather swore by it

Salvatore · « **Reply #67 on:** 20 August, 2020, 01:18:19 pm »

On a different note, as part of the latest Rouleur podcast there's an interview with Norman Lazarus - now 84, many here will know him from his Audax days - about ageing and how to combat its effects. And if you like the interview you can buy the book he's just had published

His bit starts at about 13 minutes in https://www.radio-uk.co.uk/podcasts/the-rouleur-podcast

tonyh · « **Reply #68 on:** 20 August, 2020, 02:02:43 pm »

Thanks Salvatore, a good listen.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #69 on:** 20 August, 2020, 05:23:44 pm »

Quote from: Salvatore on 20 August, 2020, 01:05:10 pm

Quote from: chrisbainbridge on 17 August, 2020, 01:34:25 pm
Quote from: hellymedic on 16 August, 2020, 09:12:24 pm
Given that we are approximately the same age, it might have been this stuff.

It was available on prescription until the ACBS classed it as a food.

I don't think so, mine was a white liquid and was called cambridge emulsion or something similar. Total quack medicine
Could have been. I like cod liver mild capsules but hated that stuff.

Scott's emulsion? My grandfather swore by it

Butterfly · « **Reply #70 on:** 20 August, 2020, 10:44:17 pm »

Cod liver oil is how they discovered that my mother couldn't digest meat and fish fats. 80+ years a vegetarian since then.

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #71 on:** 25 August, 2020, 07:58:59 pm »

Most people I know seem to be on prescription meds. Mrs A is on a shipload, a very careful diet and has a device implanted to record heart rate after she went unconscious a year back. Gave us all a heck of fright and we called the ambulance but she's soldiering on now ok. Can't drive and gave up riding a bike years ago. She's now outlived every member of her family she has known by several years.

hellymedic · « **Reply #72 on:** 26 August, 2020, 02:55:25 am »

My Mum (84.5) does not regularly take ANY medication. Dad (90) is on lots.

rafletcher · « **Reply #73 on:** 19 September, 2020, 08:18:10 pm »

Well, that’s not now expected Saturday evening to pan out. Around 5.30 I came from the garden, to find my (76 year old) wife stood up in the bedroom, unable to sit or lie down for the pain in her (13 year old replacement) hip. Called 111, and 40 minutes later a paramedic rolls up. After an ECG (which apparently showed she has PVC) and some questions, he calls an ambulance $:-\$ . They give her morphine (Which they said won’t work as they can only give 1 unit at a time now, instead of 10) and have just taken her to the (thankfully) local A&E. I’m not allowed to go of course.

One of the crew (both of whom were ex firefighters) told me as he left he thinks it likely to be a ligament problem. What solution, if any, there is to that who knows.

So now I sit and wait until she calls. Fingers crossed it’s not too serious.

ETA: Some 5 1/2 later she’s finally home. Nothing on the x-ray, so not an issue with the implant, but some firm of soft tissue injury. I foresee the private health cover being tested fo efficacy in the near future.