Absolutely agree with CPAP saving my life, I’ve had mine for over 20 years. And that my medically-sponsored vendors were crap. The first one was incompetent, the second one were crooks, who would not allow me to replace any replaceable parts (on my mask for example), I had to buy a whole new mask, at their inflated prices.
My advice: get a copy of your CPAP prescription, or make sure your sleep doctor will give it to whatever vendor you select, and then you can buy your supplies off the internet, including replaceable parts. There are lots of straightforward CPAP vendors online. Most of them do require a prescription for the CPAP unit at least, if not for peripherals (masks and hoses).
So you have one you like now? And you’re dealing with a good vendor?
The CPAP comments after yours were helpful, too. I have a friend who got one but could not stick with it and came to hate it.
I know I breathe through my mouth and snore (even though my cat is too polite to tell me, God bless her). I wake up in the night and my mouth is very dry. I tried lightly-- very LIGHTLY-- using paper tape to hold my lips closer together so my mouth didn’t fall open like the Grand Canyon, but that was a failed experiment. I had read an article about this process, but could never find it again. This amazon product is used for that purpose. The reviews are informative.
Though, for the most part, I’ve been given a body which is fairly robust and long-lasting (62 yrs at this point), one thing that’s really annoying are mystery pains.
For example, one day one of my knees will be mysteriously sore and painful for a couple of days, and then no problems for a couple of months. Today, for some reason, my left shoulder is painful; I don’t know why and it will be fine in a few days.
However, this can also be worrisome if you let it; a couple of years after he retired, a former colleague starting experiencing mystery aches in his arm. He eventually got it checked and learned that it was bone cancer and he only had a few months to live
A woman I went to High School with had a back ache that wouldn’t go away. Eventually it turned out to be stage 4 lung cancer. She never smoked a day in her life. And yeah, she died, leaving still-grieving husband and four children.
That’s why it’s so hard to ignore those mystery pains…
Europe’s answer to Astroglide is Aquaglide. Just in case you need to know. I went 4 months without a period and then had something, so the clock’s reset. Again.
I already got the noisy shoulder (my husband finds it rather disturbing, especially when he massages my shoulders) and varicose veins.
My no. 1 problem is no doctor. And no real prospect of getting for maybe a year. And then it will not be one of my choosing and whoever it is could refuse to speak English to me under new legislation (I did not go to English language schooling in Quebec and therefore not part of the “original English community”).
Aside from that:
Balance, I looked at the web site above for balance exercises and I doubt I can do any of them at all. Stand on one leg without falling over? Don’t be silly. Walk heel to toe? Lot’s of luck. Etc.
Diabetes. Well controlled so far by metformin.
High blood pressure. Well controlled by meds.
Atrial fibrillation. For which I take a blood thinner.
Pacemaker battery running low. Will have to be replaced, probably within 3 months.
ED. Eventually viagra stops working.
Arthritic thumbs. My mother had the same thing.
Back ache.
General decrepitude. As recently as five years ago, I was regularly walking four miles to my office downtown. Now a two block walk is a struggle. And I have stopped using the subway because the 4 storey staircase down is too hard (there is an up escalator).
On the other hand I have outlived my parents. My mother by 6 years and my father by 31.
Ms. P has been waiting for periods to end for a while now. They’re more erratic, and sometimes seem to last forever. She’s 54, so she’s ready to be done with it.
I stopped taking b.c. pills at 50, just over a year ago. I thought I would have one or two periods, as my body reached its new equilibrium, and no more. Not quite the case.
Today I’m thinking I should get new reading glasses again. The ones I have are from 1.5 years ago and it seems my eyes are still adjusting.
I was having my routine physical when my doctor pulled out a list put out by Medicare.the question was: “At age sixty five or older, have you smoked one hundred cigarettes over your lifetime?” I quit smoking twenty three years ago but I answered honestly that I had occasionally smoked one hundred cigarettes during a poker game. He set me up for an ultrasound to check for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. Sure enough I had one over seven centimeters in size. Two weeks later I went in for an open repair. Five days in the hospital post surgery, a scar almost thirteen inches long and three months restricting lifting anything over twenty pounds. I am just over a year post surgery. I am working on it but I still have not returned my pre-surgery level of physical fitness. The occasional twinge in my scar tissue scares me a bit…
So that’s why they keep listing me as “Former smoker” or “has smoked”. I’ve protested that the forms don’t differentiate between someone who stopped smoking last week, or me - who stopped in 1984. Is smoking really that harmful over your whole life?
Here’s something I discovered after going to the emergency room with an apparent heart attack. If you’ve been a long-term drinker (35-40 drinks/week) and decide to quit, you’re supposed to co-ordinate with your doctors. My cardiologist was really annoyed when she informed me that going cold turkey all by myself was a bad idea. Having been properly scolded, I’m being allowed to slowly ease down over a period of months, instead of overnight as I originally planned. Apparently you can stop smoking suddenly if you want, but shouldn’t do that with tonsil polish.
Well the x-rays and MRI have revealed I have multiple disc bulges and ligamentous hypertrophy and a bunch of other words I don’t understand.
I just know I’m hurting like mad. My doctor is supposed to call me today or Thursday. They’ve sent reminders for a phone call on both days so I don’t really know. The appointment with the spine specialist isn’t until the 14th.
Oh yeah, all of the above! But is it just me or is everyone too polite to mention the, um, elephant in the room: the FLATULENCE. Loud, painful, unexpected. Makes me very glad I can’t go out in public much because COVID.
I have the Costco-sized bottles of probiotics, Lactaid, and Beano. So far the only thing that seems to help is carefully eliminating any stray cabbage from my salad. God, old age is humiliating!