How sharp do you think you'll be at 80+ ?

[NW-Bound]

The medications issue that REWahoo mentioned, and the story about dementia after cataract surgery both hit home to me.

My BFF is dealing with this combo of issues right now. Her mom (age 80) was prescribed an additional med by her orthopedist... apparently it reacted badly with the other meds she was on and she passed out and her husband couldn't revive her. 2 days later, at the hospital, she finally wakes up - but is showing full dementia....

Very scary scenario.

In the case of my grandmother, it was not medication but lack of it. She was in her 70s when it happened. Her dentist wanted her to stop taking her blood thinner for a week before a dental procedure. She had a stroke, and when she came out of unconsciousness, she was not the same, and immediately had problems with recognizing her relatives.

She lived on for a few more years with my mother, but I think she was constantly in fear as she did not recognize anybody and never knew what she was supposed to do. I saw her once acting like a little kid, and begging to be taken home. It was sad.

 

[Lsbcal]

One surprise for me from this thread is how many people found their parents had severe problems due to medications (adding or subracting them).

Sounds like one should be very careful on that front. Thankfully now docs have better computer analysis and in 10 years I'd hope that this sort of thing will be easier to avoid. But it still might be up to the patient to be vigilante and careful with changes.

If someone has an idea for best practices on this issue, let us know here.

 

[Bamaman]

I have great genes on one side and diabetes on the other. I'm type II diabetic--like 1/2 of my cousins. I no longer drink alcohol and am on an insulin pump which lengthens lifespans 2 years on average.

My father was pretty sharp up thru age 85. I have no idea why my sister let the doctors put him on antidepressants and sleeping pills. He was groggy when the doorbell rang and he got up to answer the door--falling and breaking a hip. My orders are to keep me lucid as long as possible--no unneeded pills.

 

[braumeister]

He was groggy when the doorbell rang and he got up to answer the door--falling and breaking a hip.

FWIW, I believe it's pretty common at that age for the expected cause and effect to be reversed. The hip suddenly breaks, causing the fall. More common in women, but it could happen to anyone.

 

[kneehigh]

It is one thing to forget the code and quite another thing to lose the knowledge of what a code is.

I'm visiting with my son and had to remember the code for the gate. So I thought I'd do some mental gymnastic with 4 numbers. The code was 1306. The numbers 1, 3, 0 and 6 equal to 10 and the number 13 is "bad luck". 6 looks like a "J" backwards. So when you tie it all together, the string is BAD LUCK O.J.

I use to say to my kids, "a short pencil is better than a long memory". I'll be 59 in a couple of months and intend to keep the short pencil in my pocket as long as I can before I have to use it.

Jane Fonda was asked, "How do you maintain your youthfulness?". She answered, "By staying curious".

According to Dick Van Dyke, the secret to staying youthful is to "Keep Moving" (the name of his book).

I am surprised I have this much happiness and contentment at this stage of my life. 80's can wait a little longer, but I'm sure when I get there I hope to find just as much joy in my world.

Wherever you go, make sure to bring your own sunshine.

 

[Souschef]

.

Jane Fonda was asked, "How do you maintain your youthfulness?". She answered, "By staying curious".

According to Dick Van Dyke, the secret to staying youthful is to "Keep Moving" (the name of his book).

I am surprised I have this much happiness and contentment at this stage of my life. 80's can wait a little longer, but I'm sure when I get there I hope to find just as much joy in my world.

Wherever you go, make sure to bring your own sunshine.

Your post really touched me. I remarried after losing my wife of 30 years,
and now have that happiness and contentment you speak of.

 

[kneehigh]

Souschef....

 

[Major Tom]

Both my parents had dementia and passed away in their mid-80's. I spent a lot of time with my Dad in the last week of his life, and was with him when he passed. I don't know what he was experiencing in the end stages. The nurse told me that no-one really knows what end-stage dementia patients go through. Nevertheless, based on what I observed (and what his last words to me were), it is not something I would wish on anyone, and I feel badly that they both had to go through this. I am hoping it skips a generation and doesn't become my fate.

 

[eytonxav]

I'm beginning to think of myself as one of my old cars that needs a full body off restoration.

Me too, but you'd have to throw in a new PCM to go with it.

 

[jabbahop]

I think seeing my Dad with Alzheimer's a month before he died was the low point in my life. He had always been super active and intellectual (university professor). That last visit he couldn't talk, eat without help, walk. He was a shell.

I saw this picture that really made me question whether Dad was really in there somewhere.

https://www.alz.org/braintour/images/alzheimer_brain.jpg

That fate is my greatest nightmare.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[W2R]

Back in the 60's, I was living in Berkeley and hanging around the hippie subculture. Seriously, some of them were about as disconnected from reality as an Alzheimer's patient, due to heavy drug usage. They sure couldn't use their minds for anything constructive when they were that high.

Back then the hippies that I knew thought I was nuts to profess a lack of interest in drugs because I felt bored with my mind hampered like that. "Mind expanding", they called it? yeah, right... Pretty colors and patterns, and weird thoughts and emotions, but try reading a challenging book. I did not agree that those drugs were mind expanding.

On this thread, everyone is saying how nightmarish it would be to have Alzheimers'. Well yes, I would prefer not to have it just as I preferred not to take drugs back in the day. However, from the outside looking in, I am thinking it might not be a whole lot worse than the (to me) boring, tedious, and frightening results of over-usage of pot or LSD back in the 60's.

 

[Nodak]

I had an uncle that passed away about 2 years ago at the age of 96. The last 3 years of his life were spent dragging around an oxygen hose and, for the most part, confined to his home. He was mentally sharp but so very limited. Personally I would rather be dead than that limited.

 

[Car-Guy]

Me too, but you'd have to throw in a new PCM to go with it.

I guess mine is still "working reasonably well" since I understand what you are saying...... Wait a minute, I'd better check, now where did I put that OBD-II scanner? Not sure where the access port is either (don't answer that)

 

[UpAnchor]

I just hope to be alive and functional enough not to injure or kill myself out in the yard or in my workshop.

I've been giving that last one a little thought myself. Getting close to setting up my basement workshop after moving to our retirement home. Aging has shown itself over recent years and I don't see that reversing course anytime soon. So I've been considering scaling down my workshop to do smaller projects requiring smaller tools, involving less lifting/maneuvering, generating less dust, and reducing the severity if not the risk of injury.

If that suddenly happened to me with no warning, then guess I would just have to randomly run out into the street screaming until somebody did something. But then, what if I didn't know what a street was? Or what screaming was? or running? Or why I cared one way or the other?

See, that's how most Alzheimer patients end up being, not caring about anything.

So, party on. You will just care less and less.

At last all the over-analyzing is over! There are days that doesn't sound all bad. ;-)

 

[RonBoyd]

If that suddenly happened to me with no warning, then guess I would just have to randomly run out into the street screaming until somebody did something. But then, what if I didn't know what a street was? Or what screaming was? or running? Or why I cared one way or the other?

Which was (kinda) my point. Not knowing where you left your keys is normal behavior (and not age related) which happens to everyone and can be/should be laughed off. Not remembering what a key is would be a warning signal to be taken quite seriously. In any event, I suspect the transition would be gradual not sudden... or, at least, I hope so.

On this thread, everyone is saying how nightmarish it would be to have Alzheimers'. Well yes, I would prefer not to have it just as I preferred not to take drugs back in the day. However, from the outside looking in, I am thinking it might not be a whole lot worse than the (to me) boring, tedious, and frightening results of over-usage of pot or LSD back in the 60's.

It could not have been said better.