Old age does not come alone...

[Countryman]

On a different note then. Congratulations John for having lived a life and having the scars to show for it!

Thanks for the advice but it's too late for me also and I too having enjoyed a full and active life I have a bit of a limp some days, stiff back, curled up toe ( break them annually) possibly a bit of neurological damage due to oxygen deprivation.

All great stories to tell in later life.

Grow old disgracefully! Give the Doctors something to work on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[John Fenna]

Stop moping about mate
58 is no age and some folk are worse off without getting to do all the stuff you did to wear the old joints out

Think about what you can still do and all the memories a life battered body has earned

As I often say "Every scar a memory!"
The trouble is I have a hankering to earn more scars yet.... which is why I am seeking advice from the forum for possible ways of keeping the wreck of a body functioning!
The tip on real stock sounds good - this is the second person to mention this...

 

[Damascus]

being the same age, i understand the issues you are having, those injuries you picked up in your youth, mine from the army are now back to haunt me. the biggest problem is you still feel your 20's in your head!
i hurt my back earlier in the year and have hardly paddled this season and curtailed some overnight weekends, but i look at it this way as long as i can get out and if need be, adapt ways of doing what i want to do, then so be it. Better than doing nothing and now we are members of the grumpy old men club!

 

[Hammock_man]

I also know want you mean Mr Fenna Sir. Once I turned 60 last year it all seemed to go at once. I was old and way over weight yes but could hike and still get around easy. Now if I sit my knees give me a hard time when I get up and stairs are hard work. ( still, I have Kim to help me round camp, God love her!)

 

[Wayne]

My sympathies John. I'm killing time waiting for my physio appointment. Dodgy bones. Hope the shoulder gets sorted. You shoud have let me hit it with a stick. pain masks pain.

 

[John Fenna]

My sympathies John. I'm killing time waiting for my physio appointment. Dodgy bones. Hope the shoulder gets sorted. You shoud have let me hit it with a stick. pain masks pain.

You DID hit it with a stick ... just not very hard .. down at the knife throwing...

Good luck with the physio...sadists one and all!

 

[MartiniDave]

John

About 14 years ago my wife was told she had worn lower discs in her spine, and would likely be in a wheelchair by now if she didn't have surgery. They also told her that the surgery only had a 50/50 chance of working. A mate of mine who had had a serious back injury due to a motorcycle accident gave us a name of a man who did trigger point therapy & acupuncture. To say we were both cynical would be an understatement Long story short, but she underwent weekly then fortnightly and finally monthly therapy sessions - not easy stuff, sometimes she would be in tears, other times even physically sick afterwards - but now she has a good strong back, no problems with it, enjoys hill walking and outdoors stuff. No wheelchair. Sure, she takes care of her back now, and the treatment wasn't cheap. But it worked for her. The chap practices over here in the east of England and London, not your neck of the woods I know, but I'll happily give you his details if you're interested.

Dave

 

[John Fenna]

John

About 14 years ago my wife was told she had worn lower discs in her spine, and would likely be in a wheelchair by now if she didn't have surgery. They also told her that the surgery only had a 50/50 chance of working. A mate of mine who had had a serious back injury due to a motorcycle accident gave us a name of a man who did trigger point therapy & acupuncture. To say we were both cynical would be an understatement Long story short, but she underwent weekly then fortnightly and finally monthly therapy sessions - not easy stuff, sometimes she would be in tears, other times even physically sick afterwards - but now she has a good strong back, no problems with it, enjoys hill walking and outdoors stuff. No wheelchair. Sure, she takes care of her back now, and the treatment wasn't cheap. But it worked for her. The chap practices over here in the east of England and London, not your neck of the woods I know, but I'll happily give you his details if you're interested.

Dave

Thanks for that - I have had god results with acupuncture for Tendonitis (both Achilles tendons at the same time....) and know of an acupuncturist with a good rep around here (I used to go to Tai Chi with him before he qualified) - my previous acupuncturist retired!
I will look him up - he is also a collector of good Malt Whisky so is an all round good chap

 

[santaman2000]

Sorry to hear of your ills John. I'm also on a regular dose of Glucosamine/Chondroitin and it does help. Getting old isn't for wimps.

 

[cranmere]

Nope, do everything you darned well can while you can do it. Otherwise you will live a terribly boring youth and in your old age when you start to get the usual aches and pains you'll wish you'd done things while you could. I'm currently pushing for a knee replacement (arthritis as the result of falling off a bike and mangling it many years ago) despite the patronising medics asking me whether it is really much of an inconvenience at my age.

Very few alternative therapies actually have any evidence to show that they work. Cod liver oil and glucosamine for joint pain actually does. Acupuncture does not, clinical trials show that it's placebo. You might also try talking to a sports physiotherapist because they are well experienced at getting people back to as much activity as they can.

 

[DurhamBushcrafter]

Good luck with the physio...sadists one and all!

Never a truer word spoken John........Physio after a broken pelvis and broken T7 & T8 used to leave me in tears.....the ONLY good thing was she was a lovely little brunette, but still an absolute Sadist of the highest caliber!

 

[Goatboy]

Just reading through the thread and I'm thinking a meeting of some of us would be like that Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoon with the three eldsters sitting on the stoep with knees, hands and the likes up like balloons with the tagline... "Woooh! There's a storm a coming!"
If the members of BCUK ever become fossilised en masse I can see some future Prof. Alice Roberts picking over our bones and thinking that folk of our time weren't really the sedentry couch tatties that they said we were. We'd probably look more like the graves of the gladiators that were enearthed a few years back.
That thread a while back where folk were listing injuries and scars, if I remember correctly Mr. Fenna you were pretty much top of the list, a quiltwork of scars. But like has been said the scars can be read like a book, telling tales of adventure and fun. Makes for an interesting story, personally I call my birthday suit my Frankenstein suit these days.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[GGTBod]

Healing vibes John you definitely have my understanding and sympathies, i turn 40 this year and i already walk with a stick and my best friend is a physioterrorist (by that i mean i see him more often than any other person in my life), all i seem to do is his bloody exercises to help improve things but see little improvement, my offers of surgery are comical with the warning of a 50/50 chance of making it better or worse, i got beat in a walk to a park bench the other day by a 79 year old man also walking with a stick, we got chatting about our woes as we both took a rest so we could make it up the hill.

Keep fighting it John, earn more scars despite the pain and discomfort, that's my plan, i am working myself up to climbing my first mountains this year hahaha i am gonna be in a funny state if i make it to 58, congrats on your adventurous past, like you said scars=memories (unless they are to the head that is)

 

[Laurentius]

I know the feeling, I will be 60 in a couple of months, and I am waiting for nerve conduction tests on my right hand at the moment, which keeps going numb on me, this is more annoying than the pain from tennis elbow and nerve compression in my neck, never mind the odd bouts of sciatica, and ...... no stop there the moaning will never end. Docs have never told me to give up on what I do though, they know better than that, though my current GP did say that when he needs a stick he will have to ask me to make one for him.

 

[xylaria]

Proper stock contains glucosamine and chrondroitin heaps of it, and other glucosamineglycans. The form they are in is very absorbable in the gut.

You need to consume it at least twice a week, daily should show a noticible change in joint health.

 

[topknot]

So - my advice to all you young folk is to lead really boring lives so you do not pick up any injuries or wear out joints... that way you enjoy later life!

John, that is true words .

Andy

 

[mick91]

I'm not a huge advocate of "traditional" medicine, as generally speaking the ones with validity we in the west have extracted and refined active compounds and alkaloids (willow bark vs aspirin) and they work undeniably better. However, several medical journals over the past few years I have read have recommended accupuncture as a genuinely effective treatment for many musculoskeletal issues. I've seen the effects first hand too, and I have to agree it seems to work as in measurable pysiological changes not just a placebo effect. Glucosamine and cod liver oil don't hurt either, as well as maybe a multivitamin. Maybe they don't do everything they claim but they'll certainly do no harm. You say age comes with pain, I'm still young and get joint pains, but in all fairness they're all from old rugby/boxing/General stupidity injuries. So I mustn't complain! Replace tendons and put screws in none one expects the odd niggle. Conisder a topical NSAID like dicolfenac or proxicam too, they work wonders on me. But check with your GP for any contraindications to meds you're on.
Failing that what my charmingly unsypathetic missus would recommend "deep heat, jog it off" if that works better... It rarely does!

 

[Imagedude]

Growing old is not for the faint hearted...

 

[mousey]

A lot of people mention glucosamine and cod liver oil - I give these to my dogs - I also give them green lip mussel too which is meant to be good for joints. The cod liver oil and green lip mussel they will readily eat as the cod liver is oily and the green lip mussel stinks so the dogs like it, the glucosamine they are not too keen on.

I'm not old enough [or maybe haven't done sufficiently stupid enough things] to have much pain, I did my back in falling off a swing when a child and again later when gardening and since then it sometimes goes ping and hurts like hell for a few days to a week or so, I'm beginning to think it's a sciatic type pain. I have never broken a bone but I think I'm just bouncy. Maybe I might start to snaffle a few of the dogs tablets...

 

[MartiniDave]

I quite like the thought of a future Prof Alice Roberts picking over my bones!

My wife tried the glucosamine/chondroitin route in tablet form, it seemed to bring on IBS for her, since she stopped using them, no IBS problem. She is currently using cider vinegar tablets and drinking cherry juice. Seems to be working for her.

Whatever you try John, I hope it works out for you.

Sincere best wishes mate.

Dave