A thread to discuss health (concerns)

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Instead of the general thread I thought a new thread was better. Not a thread to “play doctor” or anything, nobody should ever do that.

Kinda a big read, sorry. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I believe it was when I turned 40 that someone here said…congrats, but this is where you’re going to notice it. As in, possible issues with health, small or big. And man, it wasn’t a lie. The lower back problems got a bit worse, sometimes just goes away and then rears its ugly head again. Lately the feet hurt way too quickly after just a small walk, the annoying headaches also still appear but thank god also go away plenty of times. Also pain in both arms have appeared and doesn’t really seem to go away soon. Could be because of strength training where I bit off more than I could chew. We’ll see.

It’s all perfectly fine though, I can live with this. But then two weeks ago I went to the optician to look for a new pair of glasses and I am so glad I decided to have my eyes checked first because this was the first time, ever since I started wearing glasses, that the eyes (sight and health)got worse. The sight only got slightly worse and with good glasses it’s ok, it’s the health that worries me.

It turns out the pressure on both eyes is way too high. A value of around 20 or just below is good and healthy, but it turned out that both eyes were above 30. One was 33 or so and the other was 37. My doctor sent me to the hospital to have this checked out by professionals and yes, there is damage on one eye and he told me that at value 60 it’s no joke and people will feel very sick with that value. So I had all kinds of tests done today, certain drops of fluid into my eyes and I have to use those drops in my eyes twice from now on, plus another test will be done that should help with lowering those values significantly.

If none of this were to help they are thinking about surgery, but in many cases these drops do help a lot, the eye doctor/professional said today. So I’m gonna keep the spirits up, which isn’t always easy because I definitely am a doom thinker. No reason was given how this happened, it’s genetic.

I used to be a fairly healthy person. Never any really worries, certainly not a visitor of the hospital but hey…..part of getting older I guess. It’s all fine as long as those values lower big time. I also take certain vitamins that can help with lowering the values and keep the eyes healthy. I also asked just to be sure if looking at a big tv screen could be one of the reasons and he basically told me I shouldn’t worry too much about that. So that’s good news, it’s not like I have to cut down gaming/movie time significantly, which is good because gaming especially is the best escapism.

Getting older can suck, yeesh.

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Ouch, by pressure do you mean blood pressure or a different type?

Glad to hear it’s all being treated at least, always better that it’s being checked on rather than waiting for things to get worse.

Best of luck with it all, I’ve recently hit 40 too and the last few years I’ve been more likely to have hip / lower back issues and knees (already got pins in one where kneecap had to be pulled down, apparently I’ve inherited long tendons) - it’s definitely the time you realise how much easier health was in your 20s and early 30s lol.

It’s also the age I find that I start thinking about the fact I need to eat better and exercise more (I do long dog walks every day, but definitely not enough cardio at the gym on the few occasions I go each week) in order to live a longer healthier life, and that weight becomes much harder to lose…

On the flip side, I think mentally I’ve finally matured - I don’t get hung up on stuff as much, am generally pretty positive and a lot better at dealing with issues, plus accepting that life isn’t going to play out in quite the way you dreamed of as a kid.

Think also at our age emotions are much better regulated - as a teenager / early 20s relationships and friendships can cause insecurity and be all consuming, but as you get older and wiser you’re often more secure, more realistic and give less of a shit what people think lol

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Two pieces of advice as an old person.

First, don’t let health issues accumulate. It is easy to put things off, but as you do that, new things come up. Resolving multiple issues is way harder than just focusing on one thing at a time. I’m so guilty of this.

Second, get an annual physical with blood work. Its quick and easy. Getting ahead of things is the best way to avoid bigger problems.

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That’s what I thought at first too, something with blood pressure but that’s not it. It’s kinda hard to explain but my doctor mentioned Glaucoma and that’s likely what I got.

I’m honestly just super glad I did decide to have the eyes checked because I was quite close to just picking a pair of glasses and be done with it and there’s no telling how much worse it might have been after two, three or four years. Like other health issues this one is sneaky as hell because my eyesight with glasses is absolutely fine, no pain or whatsoever either, but these things just sneak up on you.

Yeah. Lower back problems, it’s no joke and so many people have these problems. And it’s hard to fully get rid of. It’s always a good idea to have a fysiotherapist have a look at it. But they can only do so much. What is extremely important is….stay on the move, as in don’t sit still 24/7 so to speak. I work at a gym and we get people of all different ages and it’s so good to see elderly people exercising. It’s incredibly easy to just take it easy and enjoy a calm day, sit around and just decide….nah I’m not gonna go exercise today, it’s definitely a motivational thing too, but very important.

Yes. Very good point about eating more healthy. I’m 43 now and when I turned 40 I immediately quit with eating chips and drinking juice and other stuff on a daily basis, I also really eased up with going to a McDonald’s or Burger King so much. I still however need to be more consistent with eating healthy dinners every day, too often I just pick a pizza in the supermarket instead, haha. Walks with the dog are the best, you are on the move, you can clear your head, nice out in the fresh air and you have fun with your best friend. I definitely cherish all the walks with her.

Agreed about not getting hung up on stuff so much anymore, oh yes. I mean I used to really dislike when there was bad Xbox news, stuff like how we are losing exclusives , the whole ABK stuff and so on. Then at some point I completely stopped caring about it, it’s just such a non issue, such nonsense to even be bothered about for even a second.

I do worry about my dog though, not because she isn’t healthy, she is, it’s a world of difference compared to how she was a year ago with her back and neck problems which at the time looked extremely worrying, but it’s the fact that she turned 8 in January and ah man, sometimes I think about when she’s not around anymore and I try to shut those thoughts off but it’s easier said than done. I just love this doggy so much.

When you get news like this it does start to make you look different at life, even more so than it already did. It’s a simple fact that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and with this new issue it really can go several ways, I just want to stay realistic about it.

Yeah, too late when it comes to that. :frowning:

But at least things are being set in motion now, so that’s something. That’s a very good piece of advice about the annual physical with blood work, just to be sure that kidneys and other things are still working properly, right?

Might sound a bit stupid, I don’t know but sometimes I wish we humans could just step inside some machine that does a 100% check of your whole body and so that anything remotely off is detected. That would be possible in a perfect world, but it’s not exactly that.

A great friend of mine she told me her father very likely has had Glaucoma as well years ago. It was so bad that his eyesight had become extremely blurry or narrow but thanks to those drops it became better again, his eyesight got even better than ever before. Just extremely thankful that have these options here, it was super fascinating to see all the different ways of what is possible in the medical field.

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