Be careful of old people medicine

Generic for Fosomax

This is a warning for any of you that are older and perhaps will be prescribed medication you didn’t know you needed.  Such is the case with me.  Until I became old enough for Medicare about three months ago, I didn’t know I had osteoporosis in my back.  They discovered this in a Dexa scan (a bone density test).  This test is among many you get free as a welcome and wellness visit when you sign up for Medicare.

This innocent test was only the beginning of the horrors to come.  Things haven’t been the same for me since getting on a prescription that’s supposed to grow stronger bones.  I’ve felt like I’ve aged at least twenty years.  I’ve been achy and nauseated and that’s disrupted my sleeping and eating.  If I can get any food down, I get severe heartburn so I’ve stocked up on antacids and some ginger ale, which is very good for nausea.  I hate to drink so much soda and haven’t since this was my go-to drink for the hot flashes some years ago.  My hands are so cramped these days.  I can’t even pick up a glass of water.  It’s ridiculous to find myself in such a circumstance.

My doctor and I had quite a discussion about all of this with him assuring me things will get better.  I’m beyond taking anymore of this medicine because I can’t function and I let him know in so many words.  I’m certain there’s something in there that’s disagreeing with me and I’m not touching it with a ten-foot pole.  The jury is still out as to what will be the substitute now.  At this point, I’m ready to take my chances with breaking a bone.

 Generic for Fosomax - Beware if your doctor ever wants to give you this

 

I’ve been fortunate to be a well person most of my life and if I’d never gone for this test, I wouldn’t be any the wiser now.  I eat right and exercise.  Frankly, I can’t afford to try another medicine that may have the same effect.  I need a guarantee for any future prescriptions because I have a job to consider now and it was hard to come by.  I don’t intend to jeopardize that.

Logic tells me that I’ve had this condition for some time and I’ve fallen many a time onto the rocks in the backyard, or the patio, and never hurt myself.  This usually happens every winter around here when the weather is beyond horrible and plants have to be taken care of when a strong north wind is blowing.

There’s no doctor on the planet that’s going to give me a guarantee of not having a reaction to something.  I’m certainly old enough to know that.  I think I’ll be looking around and researching for natural alternatives.  If I find anything, I’ll let you know, for anyone wishing to do the same.

The Guinness Book of World Records

The sisters today - They don't look that old, do they?

I’ve been reading a lot about this lately.  In today’s news there’s an article about four sisters who will beat the age for the longest surviving siblings with a total of 391 years lived between them.  Of course, they stated that they think diet contributed to this longevity.  Eat your veggies, as your mother always told you.  I agree that diet plays a major part in your overall health, but lifestyle and genes are a consideration too. 

 These are the siblings growing up

 

These ladies had two other siblings that lived into their nineties as well.  That’s remarkable that no one died in another way over the years, such as accidents or disease.

To read more of this article, please click here.

Of course, this story got me to thinking about all my siblings and the fact that all seven of us are still around and working on our sixth decade of life.  If all of us were to make it to our nineties with no calamities, and this is possible because we are all nine years apart, we would have a collective span of 662 living years.  That’s interesting, isn’t it?  Longevity runs on one side of our family, so I guess we’ll see what the future brings.  One never knows how life will turn out for anyone.

Then again, by the time you reach your nineties, you have to think about a body filled with aches and pains, not to mentions eye and hearing impairments among other things.  Few people reach old age unscathed by life in some way.  Would living this long really be a good thing?

 Merlin - the cat with the loudest purr in the world

 

The other article that comes to mind over the last few days is about a cat with the loudest purr.  Merlin was declared louder than a vacuum cleaner with purring to 67.8 decibels.  Strangely enough, this cat also lives in the UK, like he sisters in the previous story.

He’s a handsome fellow and brings to mind my Raven who also purrs loudly, but nothing to match Merlin I’m sure.  However, even with my poor hearing, I can hear my Raven purring all the time and that always makes me smile and count my blessings that he ended up in my house.

To read about Merlin click here.

To listen to a video of his purring click here.

X is for Xamined by Dr. Mamaw

That’s right.  My Daddy’s mother thought she had the perfect remedy for everything that came along.  She would mix up concoctions for us to drink or rub on all of our “ouchies.”  This didn’t seem to hurt any of us.  Whether it cured us of what ailed us, I can’t say.  We always got better, but it may have been a case of the ailment running its course.

She would mix up lemon juice with honey and a shot of whiskey for sore throats.  Maybe or was the whiskey that made us forget about our sore throat.  We’d go to bed and be much better in the morning.

The only pic I have of Daddy's mother

We used Vicks a lot.  We rubbed it on our chest when we had a cold and we’d even put a dab on our tongue and swallow it.  I don’t think people do things like that today.  In fact, I’m sure there must be a warning on the label not to ingest it.

When we had a bellyache, they instructed us to lie on the floor with our butt against the wall and our legs extended up the wall.  We had to lie there for about twenty minutes.  It usually fixed us right up.

We rarely went to the doctor for anything because we didn’t have the money.  They fixed most things on the farm with old-fashioned remedies.  The only time I can remember any of us having to go to the hospital for incidents was with one of my sisters.  Bonni was always getting into a mishap.  She had to have her stomach pumped once for eating some old medicine out of the garbage and another time when she cracked her head open.  Mama tried to stop the bleeding with vinegar and water, but that didn’t work because the gash was a big one, so they took her to get it sewed up.  However, it did stop by the time the doctor was ready to work on it.  I guess my sister remembered her first trip to the emergency room and her sheer fright stopped it.

Did you have any childhood mishaps or have to suffer through childhood remedies?

Beware when the ‘old people’ bag of ailments lands on your doorstep

Free Clip art

And it will, eventually, for all of us.  That’s right, I’m talking about arthritis, rheumatism, hearing impairment, the need for glasses, hip and knee replacements, shoulder surgery, and any number of other things when body parts start to wear out.

Of course, these are only annoyances and could be the big stuff like heart disease, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, cancer, strokes, COPD, and Alzheimer’s.  I guess we can say we’re fortunate if we can stay off this large list.

It’s sad to have to think about all this.  Once we’re older and wiser, look what we all have to look forward to.  That doesn’t seem fair, does it?  Then, life isn’t always fair.  I guess we’re all doing good to keep our wits and mobility until the end.

I had to go and get glasses last week and that got me to thinking about all this other stuff that may be coming down the road.  I already have the arthritis and hearing impairment and now some silly glasses they say I need.  I can’t get used to them at all.  It seems like stepping into a cuckoo world to put them on and I’m actually thankful to take them off again at night.  They make me dizzy and believe me; I don’t need any help with that.

The lady who fitted them tells me I’ll get used to them in time.  Some of my friends who have the transitional lenses tell me the same thing.  Everyone’s ready to throw them out the window during the first month or two.  I’m hoping they’re all right.  I don’t want to be so wobbly, bumping into walls and holding onto the stair rail to get up and down the stairs.  When I uncovered my plants temporarily to water them, I about fell on my face on the patio.  I don’t dare get behind the wheel of my car yet.  Right now, I’m wondering if I really need these glasses all the time.  I’m tempted to go back to my readers.

All this has me speculating what else is coming my way.

All you young people out there take care of your bodies.  I know you can’t avoid all this stuff because of heredity, but you might be able to make some things better on yourself as you reach old age.  Of course, in my case, most of the stuff that’s landed on me so far couldn’t have been avoided, had I not partied my life away in my earlier years.

Ultimately, everyone needs to decide what’s best for them and then prepare yourself to live by the consequences that lifestyle creates years from now.  You can think first though and perhaps avoid doing some stupid things that’ll have an impact on your health later.  I’ve done my share of stupid things, mostly because of being in a rush and not slowing down.  I try to be more careful now than I was twenty years ago.

We should all slow down and not be in such a hurry as we go through life, stopping for a moment to enjoy all the beautiful things around us.  I try to remember this and practice it by sitting on my patio and enjoying nature when it’s warm enough to do so.  But if you’re a person like me, there’s never enough hours in each day and always one more novel to read or write before times up.

Enjoy the Super Bowl all you sports lovers, and happy Groundhog Day, or Candlemas, whichever you celebrate.  Of course, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow again, predicting six more weeks of winter.  Now is this any surprise?  Quite a few people actually wear top hats and tuxedos for the annual event at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania.  Even though this groundhog is only right 39 percent of the time, it never deters the event that started in 1887.

The first day of spring is March 20, so we have six and a half weeks to go anyway.  Maybe that’s why he sees his shadow more then he doesn’t and is scared back into his hidey-hole.

I know things took a turn back to the cold side here starting last Saturday when we had rain and then hail.  It never got over forty.  Nightly temperatures are now down in the low twenties again for the near future.  We have snow in the mountains all around us once more, but at least it’s up there and not down here.  That’s one blessing.  I knew we’d pay for the nice January we had.