I’ve noticed over the course of my 48th year that the ol’ bladder isn’t what she used to be. I’ve been treated to nearly a year now of the lamest urination I could ever have imagined…oh, I have to GO often enough, but the bladder just doesn’t want to empty all at once anymore without some forceful pressing from me. Prefers, apparently, to empty itself at its own pace throughout the day.
But she IS, after all, an old part now.
The ol’ skin perfers itself pretty moisture-free these days, causing my peerless financial support of the body lotion/moisturizer industry. And certain muscles definitely aren’t sliding back into pre-stretched mode either no matter how many situps I can accomplish, no matter how many bust-enhancing isometrics I indulge in, no matter how many kegel contractions I can get away with doing at my desk.
Diligent brushing and flossing has not kept my gums from wanting to recede just a smidge, especially in the last year.
I smile like a maniac, like a happy loon, because it crinkles my eyes and you can no longer see the bags that lust to develop underneath them, even more so than they have done to this point. Smiling emphasizes my new-and-improved-just-this-year crows feet, but I am much fonder of them than I am of their puffy “accomplices” located under my eyes.
Sigh.
Please tell me I am not alone in falling slowly and endlessly apart…please??
With decent maintenance, I’ve held up into the 4th decade. There were some parts defective from the factory, and the knees could use a replacement, but overall it has held up well (knock in simulated wood). No long-term pharmaceuticals yet, and still have all my factory parts (except teeth, which were recalled by the tooth fairy and replaced when I was around 6 or so).
When I was 19, I found out I had mild scoliosis. The doctor said I would probably have trouble with it as I got older. I thought he meant when I was 80!
At 43, it hurts when I stand, sit, lay down, roll over, and fetch.
No problems with the bladder yet (knock on wood veneer).
I think it was Dave Barry who said that after 40, you’ll never know a day without pain. When I was 40, I scoffed at that. Eight years later, I know what he was talking about. Somewhere in the 40s, you start feeling the first signs that the odometer has tripped over a few too many times – acid reflux, mysterious aches and pains, joint achiness. I’ve become very respectful of anyone who’s made it into their sixties while retaining any shred of cheerfulness.
One thing I’ve learned this decade is that medical science is great at healing the big stuff, but isn’t red hot at fixing the condition known as “feeling vaguely crummy”.
Bah. You’re just a late bloomer. My hair started going in my late teens, my eyes in my early 20’s, my knees in my late 20’s – and my sinuses have been defective since day one. My metabolism slowed down more than a decade ago, and now I have a heck of a lot more minor aches and digestive problems than I used to.
I’m 48 years old. and I’m just getting stronger and stronger. I’ve more powerful than I’ve ever been thanks to weight training. Main things I’ve noticed are poorer close vision, and more soreness when beginning exercising. Sex is more robust and better than it ever was.
It is amusing watching some (not all) same age peers (especially women) who’ve never battled weight gain, and just let their metabolisms carry them, are now getting these spare tires and wattles, and seem baffled that their bodies have betrayed them.
I threw my back out at 27 so that’s old history. It works ok for daily use, even some light labor - mowing the lawn, that sort of thing. Anything more and I’m bound for the couch.
My hips - sometimes it feels like things just aren’t lined up right and I have to sort of limp around for a bit. It usually resolves on it’s own.
My exercise is bicycling, which is fairly low impact. I just get generally achy. I usually take a couple of tylenol after the ride and before bed and I’m fine.
My childhood spent outside and on the beach of a lake is taking it’s toll as dermatologists and plastic surgeons have been carving out basal cell carcinoma lesions from my back, neck, arms, and occasionally my face over the last 15 years or so. I lost count of how many.
So far my internal organs are intact and all systems are GO. A little flirtation here and there with high lipids and elevated bp. Nothing to take any drugs over, though. I’m handling it with diet & exercise.
Yeah, general deterioration, crappier eyesight, etc. Joint achiness especially; one parent with arthritis, one had gout, I’m afraid it’s to be expected.
Working to stave off the worst ravages of original issue equipment through martial arts and childishness. You’re never too old to have a happy childhood, I say.
49 here. Yeah, I was issued a defective digestive system, and even though I evicted my gall bladder at age 35 or so, I continue to battle heartburn and acid reflux.
The day when I yelled out “They should make 12-point font illegal!” while I was trying to type from such copy was the day I knew I needed computer glasses. Age 43.
What else is rusting out? Oh, yeah, my ligaments are nowhere near as stretchy and flexible as they used to be. I’m forever straining a wrist, shoulder, or forearm ligament. And those suckers take a long time to heal. That started at about age 45.
I think it was Dave Barry who said that after 40, you’ll never know a day without pain. When I was 40, I scoffed at that. Eight years later, I know what he was talking about. Somewhere in the 40s, you start feeling the first signs that the odometer has tripped over a few too many times – acid reflux, mysterious aches and pains, joint achiness. I’ve become very respectful of anyone who’s made it into their sixties while retaining any shred of cheerfulness.
One thing I’ve learned this decade is that medical science is great at healing the big stuff, but isn’t red hot at fixing the condition known as “feeling vaguely crummy”.
I recall feeling VERY indignant when I turned 40-ish and my eyesight started its inevitable decline…WHY hadn’t anyone (like parents, grandparents, etc) felt compelled to inform me about the “bifocal” issue? Now that they make bifocal contacts, and glasses with no rigid bifocal lines in them, why, a person can positively FAKE it when it comes to vision (“Nope, no bifocals for ME yet! Maybe when I’m 60 or so…”). I didn’t even include that as a woe because I’ve lived with it for 8-ish years now, so what the hell.
But the achy joints, the limp skin tone when collagen decides to hit the road, the no-pizza after lunch hour or I’ll pay for it later" syndrome----THOSE I just felt somehow exempt from for another 10 years or so. Joke’s on me!
Tho I do feel in great company this afternoon, thanks!
43, the arthritis is in my hands and neck. Glasses for reading. No longer able to eat dairy. It seems like I’ve spent more time at doctors, chiropracters and physical therapists than I have just having fun this year…
Rusty joints: check
No pizza after lunch without Pepcid (or something similar): check
Small type is too small: check
Other stuff I’m forgetting: check (gimme a break! I’m old!)
Not speaking to astro: … I mean… check
I need to stretch before I run now, otherwise my achilles tendons get sore. I suppose it could be the result of NOT stretching for the last 25 years, though. I’ve always been pretty active, and for the most part it seems to have paid off.
I needed to get glasses about 8 years ago for reading and driving at night. Since then, my eyesight hasn’t gotten any worse–I still have the same prescription.
