Ageing and medication - what's yours?

[L CC]

I think part of the perception of virtue is that so many medical issues have an element of self infliction that the idea of 'your own fault' passes over to everything else. So, yes, you can probably blame lung cancer on your choice to smoke, but I find the idea that if only I ate better (and do we even know what 'better' is?), did more exercise, weighed less, was more virtuous I wouldn't have diverticulae in my bladder pretty fecking offensive, to be honest. And if I had something that might be in my power to control (high blood pressure, for example) but might be completely random and genetic, then well meaning smug others might really fuck me off.

[Bledlow]

57 next week.
Omeprazole when needed (intermittent).
Vesicare for a month, hoping more won't be needed.
Nasonex (steroid nasal spray) - was continuous for a few years, but tailed off.

Spent almost a year on painkillers 2007-8, with steroid injections into joints. 

In the 25 years before that I'd had nothing but occasional antibiotics, & intermittent NSAIDs for a knackered knee.

[DrMekon]

Serevent - for asthma
Desloratadine - for asthma

I've very careful about what I eat & drink, eat shit loads of fibre, take multivitamins, gorge on fruit and veg, don't eat meet, avoid dairy, do about 12hrs of vigorous exercise a week, try to get more than 6hrs sleep a night, drink in moderation, etc. I take my meds religiously. My asthma has a genetic component (got tested). Do what I can to avoid exacerbating it.

@clarion - 200l/min? fuck! I get panicked below about 550. I once hit 145l/min in a GP surgery, and he looked like he was going to get me blue lighted to A&E until the nebuliser started working. I'm amazed you can ride as much as you do. Chapeau and then some. Heroic work.

Asthma is rubbish.

[hellymedic]

I eat shit loads of fibre.

I love your turn of phrase...

[clarion]

@clarion - 200l/min? fuck! I get panicked below about 550. I once hit 145l/min in a GP surgery, and he looked like he was going to get me blue lighted to A&E until the nebuliser started working. I'm amazed you can ride as much as you do. Chapeau and then some. Heroic work.

  Yeah.  Although I used to manage 400 regularly, I'm now bumping along at roughly 250 most of the time, though it should be noted that I am not currently doing 1000km months.  PF's been below 200 for a couple of weeks.  Ordinarily, I might be on the prednisolone, but that would bugger up the cortisol level tests.  When I expressed frustration at getting out of breath cycling, Butterfly observed that most forumites wouldn't even consider getting on a bike at all with so little oxygen.  True, I suppose.

Asthma is rubbish.

Quite, although 'boring' is the word I most often use.

[zigzag]

I see where you get the water, where do you get the sunshine from in the UK?

i agree, getting enough sunshine can be tricky here during winter months, but every little helps - pop outside during lunchtime if it's sunny, a walk/run or a bike ride in weekends; alternatively a short break to somewhere new and exciting (ski slopes, southern europe, islands etc) - it does wonders to your well-being!

to stay on topic i used to suffer from severe hay-fever when i was a child/teenager and antihistamine pills were not helping much. now it's almost gone, not sure why - more active and healthier lifestyle?.. or simply older age?

[simonp]

A short break to somewhere sunny is easy if you have the money to spare.

[Kim]

to stay on topic i used to suffer from severe hay-fever when i was a child/teenager and antihistamine pills were not helping much. now it's almost gone, not sure why - more active and healthier lifestyle?.. or simply older age?

My hayfever's much better than it used to be, too.  I attribute this to a combination of:

• Not living in the Home Counties any more - I'm particularly sensitive to some of the local flora (I have a tongue in cheek theory about Tory voters doing more Gardening).
• No longer having to share living space with smoking parents or cleaning-averse students.  Also the smoking ban reducing exposure in public places.  (Dust and smoke aren't pollen, but one allergic reaction sensitises you to another, and it's all about triggering my asthma, really.  If it was just a bit of snot it wouldn't be such a problem.)
• Better drugs (fluticasone has been a revelation).
• Owning an air conditioner, so I can shut myself in a dry pollen-free room when it flares up, rather than trading pollen exposure against cooling by opening windows.  Electricity is expensive, but being able to breathe without resorting to prednisolone is priceless.
• A lifestyle that allows me to remain largely nocturnal when necessary - sleeping through the mid-morning pollen peak is the best way to reduce exposure.
• The last couple of years of bizarre weather leading to fewer periods of prolonged high pollen count.

Every time I think I'm growing out of it I get exposed to something unusual and have a horrendous reaction, thobut.

[T42]

Having a quiet laugh to myself after reading that antioxidants (as opposed to Al Quaeda anti-occidents) suppress a gene which caters for the destruction of faulty DNA, and thus help tumours survive.

The only free radicals that need mopping up are the health cranks.

[clarion]

Most people do grow out of hayfever.  Mine has gone from debilitating for several months of the year to a minor annoyance on a couple of days, for which I'm very grateful.

[Auntie Helen]

I am fortunate that at the moment I'm not having to take anything daily.

I had a year+ of taking Prednisolone at 60mg which was a whopper of a dose and made me into a whopper of a woman. Took another year to get off 'em but they magically fixed my kidney failure.

I have to have antibiotics before dental treatment so that's Clindamycin twice per year (I'm allergic to penicillin-type antibiotics) and so I have a stock of these.

[clarion]

That is a lot.  I've rarely been over 30mg/day, and I can't remember ever being over 40mg.

[Andrew]

Most people do grow out of hayfever.

I know I did. I get the odd day at the beginning of summer when my eyes will itch like buggery, and be sneezing, but nothing like I used to get in my teens and 20s.

I don't think I try to be healthy, not as such. Most stuff for me is preference; I don't smoke because I don't enjoy it (I tried but I couldn't get into it), I don't drink a lot because I hate feeling boozed and ill (though there are special occasions), I eat stuff I like and I don't have a sweet tooth and I hate feeling blugh full, I exercise (well, ride my bike) because I like the freedom and to have lungs full of air. I cannot abide gyms and never have.  So, as I say, not really motivated by 'living healthily' (whatever current fad dictates the manner).

I do reckon disease will take me prematurely (whenever that is) one day. I'll not go through old age, nor traffic accident. Stats suggest some form of cancer since pretty much all else is survivable/curable these days. Or suicide. I couldn't rule that one out.

[TimC]

I think part of the perception of virtue is that so many medical issues have an element of self infliction that the idea of 'your own fault' passes over to everything else. So, yes, you can probably blame lung cancer on your choice to smoke, but I find the idea that if only I ate better (and do we even know what 'better' is?), did more exercise, weighed less, was more virtuous I wouldn't have diverticulae in my bladder pretty fecking offensive, to be honest. And if I had something that might be in my power to control (high blood pressure, for example) but might be completely random and genetic, then well meaning smug others might really fuck me off.

I'm well aware that I'm very lucky. The one bit of significant medical history I have was most definitely self-inflicted (motorcycle crash leading to crushed and now arthritic ankle and foot). Genetically, I seem to have been dealt a good hand. But I'm also well aware that things can go horribly wrong horribly quickly. In the meantime, I'm very grateful that I am not required to take any meds. My mum was not so lucky, and the combination of meds she was on for a litany of issues effectively killed her at the relatively young age of 69.

[Ningishzidda]

Why 'Hay fever'?

After 4 million years of natural selection, it should be totally eradicated by now.

I ask,, who'd want to start a family with someone who has snot streaming down their face?   

[Kim]

Why 'Hay fever'?

After 4 million years of natural selection, it should be totally eradicated by now.

Lots of undesirable conditions are selected for because they're a side effect of some more beneficial trait.  I'd suggest that ability to fight off infection is desirable, especially in a world without modern public health and medicine where most of the evolving happened.

I ask,, who'd want to start a family with someone who has snot streaming down their face?   

Because there's more to a person than their disability?

And there's always the risk of meeting your partner in the asthma clinic...

[clarion]

Allergies are part of the Bell curve of successful responses to potential infections.  It's an overreaction, and happens to select since (in most cases) it's not fatal, whereas those with a body that underreacts to infection tend to drop out of the breeding group.

[clarion]

And wot Kim sez.

[matthew]

Currently none  though I have spent the last 5 months consuming 500/30mg Co-Codamol painkillers for a hip problem.

However the hip is sore now that I am weaning myself off the crutches so I suspect that when I am walking to and from the station without crutches I will be back on the painkillers. 

[numbnuts]

Considering this is a cycling forum full of fit people, don't we pop a lot of pills.

[hellymedic]

Considering this is a cycling forum full of fit people, don't we pop a lot of pills.

Considering we are mostly middle-aged and have a fair amount of history behind us, no.

[Tigerbiten]

My list ............
Ibuprofen, I've taken 1200mg for the last 30 years after I first wore my knee joints out.
Glucosamine Sulphate, I taken 1500mg for around 20 years now as it helps my joints.
Gabapentin, I taken 300mg for close to 16 years now as it helps the phantom pain in my missing fingers a lot.
Aspirin (75mg) taken daily after a minor stroke.
Also Atenolol (50mg), Bendroflumethiazide (2.5mg), Omeprazole (20mg) and Simvastatin (40mg) daily. Thats a couple for blood pressure, one anti-cholesterol and one to help my stomach.
Plus multivitamins daily and antihistamines as needed.

I rattle .......... 

[mattc]

Considering this is a cycling forum full of fit people, don't we pop a lot of pills.

Considering we are mostly middle-aged and have a fair amount of history behind us, no.

...and those of us taking nothing are mainly not posting. (there are thousands of members)


Oh hang on ...

[clarion]

Considering this is a cycling forum full of fit people, don't we pop a lot of pills.

Considering we are mostly middle-aged and have a fair amount of history behind us, no.

My experience is that there are a lot of people with disabilities or long-term conditions who are very conscious of doing what they can for their health and fitness.  And a lot of us seem to choose cycling.  I would suggest that there is a disproportionate number of people with disabilities and LTCs on this forum.

[numbnuts]

Considering this is a cycling forum full of fit people, don't we pop a lot of pills.

Considering we are mostly middle-aged and have a fair amount of history behind us, no.

My experience is that there are a lot of people with disabilities or long-term conditions who are very conscious of doing what they can for their health and fitness.  And a lot of us seem to choose cycling.  I would suggest that there is a disproportionate number of people with disabilities and LTCs on this forum.

You could be right I've lived with my disability for 24 years now and I find cycling very good and is a cheap way of getting out in the fresh air and doing exercise at the same time.