# The symptoms of getting old. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169 "2005-06-21T05:50:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/1 "2005-06-21T05:50:45Z")
I was just looking at the backs of my hands, and I’m sure that the _last_ time I really looked at them the skin was smooth and sheer. It must have been overnight that they have gone all crinkly and wizened. And as for my eyesight, fuck you all, I CAN see. It’s just the finer details that evade me… My memory is fine. But have I told you about my hands lately?? 😃 Calling up all old-fart Dopers to make me feel better about not being alone in getting old. ---
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/2 "2005-06-21T06:02:23Z")
I will be 33 in one month, and I think I saw the beginnings of a line under one of my eyelids. I feel stuck- I cant be young I dont want to be old- I dont know what I am or how I feel. time to take my prozac ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/3 "2005-06-21T06:04:27Z")
You’ll have to speak up a bit…everyone mutters so much nowadays…whatever happened to clear enunciation?.. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/4 "2005-06-21T06:08:51Z")
Thirty-three? And you’ve posted to an Old Person thread? Are you divining for an old sugar-daddy or do you just get off on being a geriatric freak before your time? 😃 I suggest taking a double dose of prozac. 😃😃 IANADandallofthat. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/5 "2005-06-21T09:03:11Z")
> [@Nvme77](#): > > I will be 33 in one month, and I think I saw the beginnings of a line under one of my eyelids. I feel stuck- I cant be young I dont want to be old- I dont know what I am or how I feel. > > time to take my prozac Shad app! ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/6 "2005-06-21T09:15:36Z")
I too have noticed crinkles. I have always had good skin, and I don’t have many wrinkles on my face. (I should, I certainly have earned them) I turn 59 on Friday. Its true, that once you’re over the hill, you pick up speed. I’m hardly visible, I’m moving so fast. (On the luge to hell.) Someone gave me a basket with a bunch of oily stuff, for Christmas, that I never use . I dragged it out the other day to find the miracle treatment that will return my skin back to normal. I’m 25 on the inside, I should be able to go back there, if I want to… 😃 :mad: I guess life _is_ a bitch, and then you _do_ die. Camptown racetrack. five miles long… ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/7 "2005-06-21T10:19:43Z")
You know that bit of skin between your thumb and finger? You know how when you are young you just don’t notice it? Last a week a four year old grabbed that bit of skin and “EWWWWWWW what’s that?” “It’s just skin” said I. “You have funny skin” he replied. I have OLD hands ☹ Jeez, I’m not even 40! Being awfully polite, I didn’t tell him that he was a dreadfully rude child 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/8 "2005-06-21T10:29:39Z")
**kiwi** I remember when my then 3 year old son said something like that to our neighbor, not quite that rude but almost. Now the kid is all grown and _I_ am probably the age that neighbor was at the time, 50. The wrinkles, the fading eyesight, the age-spot hands, it’s all happening. Ah well, I had my fun–and will have some more before I bite the dust. It’s just that I won’t be quite as glamorous looking, I s’pose. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/9 "2005-06-21T10:46:39Z")
I’m only 28 but recently while reading in bed I was horrified to find my mother’s hands were holding the book. It turns out my hands look dramatically older when they’re cold. It was a nasty little foreshadowing for me. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/10 "2005-06-21T10:55:06Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > **kiwi** > > I remember when my then 3 year old son said something like that to our neighbor, not quite that rude but almost. He wasn’t being rude. He was just being four. That wee bit of baggy skin was alien to him…sad thing it was something I hadn’t noticed till then. I am 39 this year. SOB SOB! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tiggrkitty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggrkitty/32/17966_2.png) [@Tiggrkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiggrkitty)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/11 "2005-06-21T12:08:17Z")
Just the other day, one of my co-workers noticed my “roots” growing in. He made the comment that it looked like I had fiber optics for hair. That’s right folks, my hair is coming in pure silvery white. No pigment. I very promptly called my hair stylist and set up an appointment. As for the hands, I have always had “old lady” hands. Even when I was in my teens my hands looked like they belonged on someone 50 years my age. I am not seeing any age spots, so we are still good to go. Anyone notice the dry skin though? What is up with the dry skin, I hate that! ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/12 "2005-06-21T12:11:58Z")
Feeling the mid-life crisis creeping up on you? (Re-)read this then, it will cheer you up. Or not. [http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html](http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/13 "2005-06-21T12:21:33Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > He wasn’t being rude. He was just being four. > > …something I hadn’t noticed till then. Agreed. I guess sometimes observant young children give us “rude” awakenings. 🙂 39 is young. So is 40. Enjoy it. **Tiggrkitty** I’ve always had “old” hands as well, but now I do have the age spots to go with the dry skin and wrinkly knuckles. As we age, the skin’s ability to moisturize itself decreases. Last year I had my first bout with eczema. This arid Colorado climate has never been kind to me, but being half a century old does not help. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/14 "2005-06-21T12:26:02Z")
I’m 42, and while I don’t have wrinkles, have all my hair with only a few grays, I’m starting to get a bit of a leathery neck like some damn field hand. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/15 "2005-06-21T12:40:29Z")
I can’t remember the first time I did it, but I do know that I spend a lot of time lately checking for and trimming stray hair from places I never had to before. Who knew hair could grow THAT long from your ear? ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/16 "2005-06-21T12:44:48Z")
Why, I remember when I was a boy, we used to _respect_ our elders! … Sometimes I have to stop and think to figure out that I’m 55. Of course I don’t _look_ 55, or _act_ 55. (I can manage childlike with no problem. Or should that be ‘childish’?) Oh. well. Getting old is better than the alternative. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/17 "2005-06-21T12:54:24Z")
I’m not sure about that. I 'm sure I will fully agree when I’m 41 though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/18 "2005-06-21T12:56:13Z")
Oppps. Damn old hands! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/19 "2005-06-21T12:57:56Z")
Ear hair. What the hell is it with the ear hair? I never had to tweeze my ears in high school. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169/20 "2005-06-21T13:04:06Z")
Ear and nose hair is natures payback. Just be happy you didn’t have to shave your legs, pits etc Ear hair! hehehehe [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-symptoms-of-getting-old/309169.md?page=2)