325 replies to this topic

[Josh500]

I am 28, in pretty good shape, I don't smoke and I don't drink overmuch (well, except maybe on my birthday and on New Years Eve). And my doctor said there's nothing to worry.

However, I am very shortsighted (around -13 on both eyes, and I wear contact lenses), and I've been diagnosed with two small retinal holes last year. Nothing serious in themselves, but these small holes could lead to a retinal detachment, if left untreated. This is a very serious condition where the retina detaches from the back of the eye and blindness can occur within a matter of hours. Anyway, my doctor lasered these holes shut (a minor outpatient procedure) and I was good to go... until my next eye doc appointment, probably in three months or so.

I won't say I was shocked when I learned of this the first time, but I was, to say the least, a bit dismayed. So yeah, I don't worry about my health in general yet, but I do worry about my eyes.

How about you? Anything about your health you want to--or are willing to--share with us?

[Melange]

Realitys of physical mortality and limitation tend to creep in far earlier than we expect,it seems. Overall I'm pretty lucky. Raised on healthy food and outdoor life, never broken a bone, the only hospital operation was wisdom teeth removal. But at 36 I notice physical limitations creeping in. Back pain,being the main. Mostly that comes from the kind of work I've done since leaving school, which is often straining on the back. It was too much too soon for a little guy leaving school, using machinery and other equipment from the 50s not designed to even consider posture & strain.

As an example, I remember 2 years into the job the company decided to show us correct lifting procedure and have us sign the course off, to cover themselves.

By then it was too late.

I seem to strain back muscles or just get discomfort in the back far more easily now because of the accumulation of all that. And I also have some kind of injury to the side of my knee which crops up now during long descents of mountains, and cripples me to a snail's pace. Long story, but more annoying because the cause of the injury was likely down to underestimating height on a jump down a couple of years back. All in all,not major issues when compared to others. A friend of mine who is younger,is very limited in what he can do due to a very nasty major glute tear he received when fitting massive TVs in the years before health and safety procedures were followed. It never healed properly, and now hugely determines what kind of work he can do or not do (at a time when being choosy is less of an option than ever before) and means he's mostly bound to office work (which he can't find now). At his age, it must be very frustrating to be so limited.

Even though he's not the manual work type, he does go out for treks with me but our level of trekking together has to remain short and fairly level.

I'm considering all options of how to get around the knee issue......

[Quint]

I drink far too much wine, so yes I do worry sometimes. However, I'm in the process of cutting back to weekends only, so hopefully I can stick to it. I packed in a twenty a day smoking habit about four years ago, so I know I have the will power when I put my mind to it.

Also, sorry to hear about your sight worries, Josh. Hopefully your next check up with be fine.

[Mark Olivarez]

I always worry about my health, especially with the sudden loss of family members over the past 3 years. Cancer is a big concern for me. I toned my partying down once the 90's ended, so I don't smoke anymore and I don't drink near as much as I used to.

Over the Christmas holiday I went for an eye exam and was informed I'm starting to get cataracts. And I know I need to lose some weight.

[Williamsfan301]

I don't. My philosophy "Eat healthy, get hit by a bus."

My great grandfather used to eat raw bacon and he lived to be 94. My grandfather ran track, played polo, fought WWI, was a police officer and died in his 40's. I take care of myself, but realize that when it's my time, it's my time.

[Koray Savas]

Sometimes I do, considering I don't really exercise at all. But I just live my life, if I die, so be it. I ain't got much to lose anyway.

[Trent Hoyt]

I just worry about my personal life.

[Josh500]

Also, sorry to hear about your sight worries, Josh. Hopefully your next check up with be fine.

Thanks, Quint. Appreciate it.

Over the Christmas holiday I went for an eye exam and was informed I'm starting to get cataracts.

Wow, sorry to hear that...

Sometimes I do, considering I don't really exercise at all. But I just live my life, if I die, so be it. I ain't got much to lose anyway.

Well, there's your extensive JW collection...

[Drax]

I had a physical done a few months ago; blood work, heart rate, hearing, eyesight, balance, etc. They said I was in tip-top shape. Must be my risk-averse lifestyle.

[indy4]

I eat out of boredom sometimes, so I've been trying to stop that. I also eat too much sodium in general.

[Koray Savas]

My philosophy, or rather Andrew Zimmern's: If it looks good, eat it.

[Trent Bennett]

From someone who was born with a heart condition and had heart surgery when only 5 days old, yup it's a constant worry. My 5th heart surgery was in 2009 (still thinking it's 2010) and I had a pacemaker put into me in November. I'll be good for another 5 years until they have to replace my pacemaker (that's the length for the battery life) and then 5 years after that have another heart surgery.

I've got very bad astigmatism in both eyes, so naturally I wear glasses all the time when I'm awake. The only time they come off is when I am either showering or when I go to bed. I should have had glasses in high school but I didn't want to be made fun of. Now that I think about it, back then I remember seeing quite a few people that I knew with glasses because they could not see that very well like I could. I a lot of times had to sit up front in the class to see what was written on the board and I always hated it as I preferred sitting in the back of the class room. Anyways about a year after high school I decided, enough was enough and got me some glasses. I got tired of not being able to see a sign unless I was about 5 feet from it (that's how bad it was/is). Of course my astigmatism has gotten worse over the last few years.

If I remember right in 2005, I went ahead and gotten my eyes tested and I needed to get new glasses (the other ones broke). It seemed my astigmatism had gotten worse as my new prescription was much different. It took me a day to get used to the new prescription lenses. I'm contemplating on getting tested again later this year since I want to buy some new frames. I wouldn't be surprised if my vision has gotten worse.

[Drax]

I think ya fellas need more fish. I know Quint loves the stuff.

[king mark]

I am 28, in pretty good shape, I don't smoke and I don't drink overmuch (well, except maybe on my birthday and on New Years Eve). And my doctor said there's nothing to worry.

However, I am very shortsighted (around -13 on both eyes, and I wear contact lenses), and I've been diagnosed with two small retinal holes last year. Nothing serious in themselves, but these small holes could lead to a retinal detachment, if left untreated. This is a very serious condition where the retina detaches from the back of the eye and blindness can occur within a matter of hours. Anyway, my doctor lasered these holes shut (a minor outpatient procedure) and I was good to go... until my next eye doc appointment, probably in three months or so.

I won't say I was shocked when I learned of this the first time, but I was, to say the least, a bit dismayed. So yeah, I don't worry about my health in general yet, but I do worry about my eyes.

How about you? Anything about your health you want to--or are willing to--share with us?

I'm -7 and got an actual small retinal detachment in my right eye in 2006. I was mortified when the doctor told me and it caused me great anxiety. I got operated on a few days later ( real "open eye" surgery ,not lazer) . The post-op pain was almost unbearable for 3 weeks , so get the lazer treatment before you have to go through that.

I was lucky and eye recovered 100%


But I know exactly what your going through

[Melange]

If it looks good, eat it.

Amanita phalloides
Amanita Muscaria.
Atropa belladonna

[Mark Olivarez]

I think ya fellas need more fish. I know Quint loves the stuff.

I eat plenty of seafood.

[Quint]

I'm not a fan of seafood* but I love the usual suspects like cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and even sardines.

Nope, it's fruit which I don't eat anywhere near enough of. My gf makes me smoothies and that's about it.



*I had a "bad" experience this one time.

[Koray Savas]

Sushi is my favorite food.

[Mark Olivarez]

I love sushi.

[Jason LeBlanc]

I never ate any sushi EVER until I was like 29 or 30, but now I love it!

[Koray Savas]

Good, now you need to make up for lost time.

Sea urchin, eel, squid, fish row... try them all!

[Josh500]

I think I am having sushi tonight.

[Maglorfin]

I'm glad to say that in my 29 years, I've never been seriously ill, have never broken a bone or sustained any other major injury. I've always eaten pretty healthy food (can't resist McDonald's from time to time though ), worked out regularly (cycling, skiing, running, swimming ...) etc. I've started to worry a bit more about my general health though when in November 2009 I suffered an episode of PSVT (paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia) which came out of nowhere (it almost always does, as I've learned later) and during which my heart was beating 200-240 bpm for 15-20 minutes until the attack was stopped in the ER (the Valsalva maneuvre worked so no IV Adenosine was needed). I've never had any heart problems before or since (*knock knock knock* ) so I hope this was it. PSVT isn't normally dangerous so there was nothing to worry about, but since it happened, I've tried to live even healthier, reduce the stress, catch more swimming or walking opportunities ...

I wrote a bit more about PSVT because it's the commonest heart arrhythmia (luckily, also the most benign one, if cardiac arrhythmia can be called that) and maybe somebody might learn something useful, though I of course hope none of you will ever need this information.

[Koray Savas]

I've never broken a bone or have had any serious illnesses, but sometimes I think about my neck. I have a pretty big scar on my neck. I was born a week early and my lungs weren't fully developed so I had to have a bunch of tubes stuck down my throat and was kept in an incubator for like a month or something. Apparently I had like a 20% survival rate and am the only kid who had the same type of procedure to be living normally. At least that's what I remember my mom telling me a few years back.

Either way though, I don't have a jugular vein, so sometimes I think about what could happen involving that missing piece. I have a scar because the idiot doctors left my stitches in too long and it started to heal around them. When people ask, I tell them I got strangled with barbed wire.

[gkgyver]

I think you can take care of your health exceedingly well, and improve the quality of your life a hell of a lot compared to many other people, but there are just exogenic factors that attack your health every day and which you can do very little about (if you don't want to become a bubble boy).

Exhaust pipe fumes, chemical gases pumped into the air, electrical radiation ... plus, no matter how hard you try, with food, you will always end up consuming something that contains some dubious chemical substance.
Also, if you don't want to spend a fortune, you always eat meat from animals that were given meds to grow faster and harder. That can't be healthy.
Or you buy fish that was given chemicals to grow a six pack so it has more meat. There is no seafish nowadays anyway, no matter how expensive, that isn't to some degree polluted by heavy metal, especially tuna.

I guess my point is: your health isn't totally in your hands anyway.

Being a doctor's child, and becoming a doctor myself gives you a better understanding of stuff anyway, so I am somehow becoming increasingly relaxed about it.

[E.T. & Elliott]

I just kinda worry about getting old. I'm so cute and I have great hair. Fading away, watching everyone and everything I care about do the same. You know?

[gkgyver]

I Care by Al Bundy

When hooters jiggle around,
and I find nickels on the ground, I care.
When a mustang engine purrs,
and the bathroom is not hers, I care.
When the pitcher's on the mound,
and the wife is underground, I care.
But when I've been playing this for days,
I will kill anyone who stays, I swear!

[Datameister]

I used to be a bit of a hypochondriac...not so much anymore. I'd say that serious illness is still one of my biggest fears, but I don't waste much time thinking about it. I eat moderately healthy food - could use some more fruits and veggies, but other than that, it's a decent diet. I'm far from overweight, and although I don't put much effort into exercising intentionally, my current lifestyle as a college student forces me to do at least a good 40-ish minutes of walking each day (including hills and stairs), and I walk pretty quickly.

My blood pressure did seem inexplicably high for a few years there. Kind of borderline hypertension. The last few times I went to the doctor, though, it was back to more normal values, so I don't worry too much about that. I've got a lot of other little things wrong with my body, but none of them are currently enough to be a real problem.

But for the sake of comfort, my biggest issue has always been my stomach. It's massively screwed up in a lot of ways. Fortunately, none of them can kill me or even do any real damage, but they can certainly cause me a lot of pain and inconvenience. Figuring out what I can eat and when has been an ongoing struggle since elementary school, and I still don't have it all figured out. Even at this moment, I'm recovering from another "attack." This whole situation contributed to an anxiety disorder in high school, and although that's mostly gone now, I have to be careful, because that's not good for one's health either.

As far as family history goes, there doesn't seem to be any trend of dying especially young. Actually, my three living grandparents are all in remarkably good shape; my paternal grandfather still goes out and feeds the horses every day (for real!), and my paternal grandmother is doing great a year after some serious heart surgery. (My maternal grandmother did die of breast cancer in what must have been her early 60s, but my manhood makes that a lot less likely for me.) So their vitality and relative youthfulness do give me some hope for my overall health.

I've been having heart palpitations lately, though. I think I need to go eat a banana.

[bruckhorn]

I'm north of 40 and my biological father died at 50 of "natural causes" and his mother died at 40. So, yeah, I worry about my health. Mother, Grandmother, and uncles on both sides have had breast cancer. A sister has had cervical cancer. (I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about that one.) Then there's the family history of autoimmune problems and all sorts of other stuff that has left family members bemoaning about somebody urinating in the gene pool. I've had thirteen surgeries over the years (more than twice as many as my siblings combined), most recent of which has been to remove the gallbladder. As the youngest of five, I've joked that I was Frankensteined together; that or my mother, after four daughters asked, "Yo, G. How 'bout a son?" but neglected to add the word "healthy."

On the plus side, I still have a full head of hair! Which reminds me: when I know I'm going to be outside a while (more than 10 minutes) I wear a hat for protection from the sun. For seven years I've served on the board of the local little league and more than one person has greeted me at board meetings (held inside) with "You have hair!" because it's the first time they've seen me without a hat on.

As for sushi: remember the commercial with Terry Bradshaw when he was presented with some and supplied, "You forgot to cook this." Raised on fish sticks and tater tots on Fridays during a certain part of the year and well, despite doing nothing else in observance of that part of my upbringing, I still indulge in fish sticks and tater tots six times a year.

[Melange]

I never ate any sushi EVER until I was like 29 or 30, but now I love it!

I was like that with Olives. Or to be more accurate, I had 'tried' them but couldn't stand them. I absolutely love them now

I'm north of 40 and my biological father.........

Yep the situation where there seems to be genetic predispositions to certain things in family, must be a tough one to deal with. I guess the question is whether or not family would be best concealing what they may know or have been told by doctors, or would do well to be honest from the outset with children in the family. Nowadays I'd like to think that I'd want to know from early on, so that I could adapt life around that so that there is an element of preparedness involved rather than a sudden blow (and annoyance if it was discovered that family had known it would appear sooner or later). But in reality, a young person would probably prefer to live in the bliss of not knowing as otherwise they may make this into a major self esteem issue in their mind.

...But there are just exogenic factors that attack your health every day

Agreed. We do live in quite a toxic environment. In developed nations we've become adept at making it 'not' seem so, as things can appear so sterile. Unfortunately it's the invisible factors which are chipping away at health, both mental and physical. Like you say, the sea is a dumping ground for all sorts of toxic materials too and I'm not sure if folks realise just how much that is so. Further afield, the developing world is a guinea pig test lab for all sorts of major companys now for methods of food growing that are barred in the developed world. Although it can't really be said to be the developing world, I was in a rural area of Russia one year and the carrots were like adult forearms (slight exaggeration, but not too far off it). Maybe it wasn't what it seems, but that was odd.

[Richard Penna]

I've never had any serious health problems and until September had never broken/sprained/seriously injured anything (I sprained my ankle very badly and the last of it is just about healing).

I've worn glasses though for probably 10-12 years and although my prescription does seem to change every year, it doesn't seem to be a problem. And my vision sans-glasses is still pretty good - not blurred, just a little bit fuzzy, wouldn't be able to drive without.

Foodwise, I'm better than I used to be. I eat too much salt, drink lots of 'soda' and quite a lot of junk but my home cooked meals are wholesome, so again, I don't really worry about that.

The only thing in the last few years to cause alarm has been very minor tinnitus. Started in 2005 by unknown causes, and I just have a constant, 'air rushing' sound in both ears, but I only notice it if I'm in a completely silent environment, and even when wearing earplugs during camping in September, it was sort of there and 'not' there at the same time, and easily tuned out. Plus, in the dead of night when listening to music, I can still hear every little musical detail so I don't think it's affected my hearing ability to any worrying extent.

[Richard]

I think ya fellas need more fish. I know Quint loves the stuff.

Yeah, especially shark (he disagreed with something that ate him)!


Seriously, folks, I can sympathise with Mark on the eye front, since he and I are about the same age.
I just find that, as I grow older, my body (such as it is) takes a lot longer to heal, than it did even a few years ago. Colds take longer to go, imflamtions/infections, take longer to clear up, usually needing 2, or even 3 lots of antibiotics.
Happily, I am still a teenager on the inside. I consider that I have a "young" outlook on life, and that sustains me, no matter how often my body lets me down.
A luminous being, am I, not this crude matter!

[Blumenkohl]

Gene wise my family history leaves much to be desired in terms of things like blood pressure/cancer/diabetes. So at an early age I decided not to worry and just try to control what I can control.

Worrying isn't good for your health, and the best medicine is prevention. The young lady and I try to get at least 30 minutes of cardio (generally jogging) in every day with another 45 minutes of strength training or yoga. And getting sweaty together is very sexy...so we try to sync our exercise schedules!

It's a bitch sometimes coming home from work at 9:00PM....it's 26 degrees outside. But we do it anyway. At first it's daunting, but after a while you become addicted to it. If we know we're gonna be late at work that day, we try to wake up early in the morning and go out and get a run in when the sun is on the rise.

[Maglorfin]

And getting sweaty together is very sexy...so we try to sync our exercise schedules!

Oh yeah, I've forgotten about my glasses which are the consequence of hopefully my only long-time illness, the short-sightedness. I've worn specs since I think 1998, and for the last few years the condition hasn't worsened (around -2.0 on both eyes), I hope it stays that way.

[Mark Olivarez]

Gene wise my family history leaves much to be desired in terms of things like blood pressure/cancer/diabetes. So at an early age I decided not to worry and just try to control what I can control.

Yeah I try and do that too. All that runs in my family.

Worrying isn't good for your health, and the best medicine is prevention. The young lady and I try to get at least 30 minutes of cardio (generally jogging) in every day with another 45 minutes of strength training or yoga. And getting sweaty together is very sexy...so we try to sync our exercise schedules!

It usually ends up with me watching her (my wife, not Blume's) exercise because it looks so sexy.

Seriously, folks, I can sympathise with Mark on the eye front, since he and I are about the same age.
I just find that, as I grow older, my body (such as it is) takes a lot longer to heal, than it did even a few years ago. Colds take longer to go, imflamtions/infections, take longer to clear up, usually needing 2, or even 3 lots of antibiotics.
Happily, I am still a teenager on the inside. I consider that I have a "young" outlook on life, and that sustains me, no matter how often my body lets me down.
A luminous being, am I, not this crude matter!

Actually, while I do find myself feeling my age, I don't get as sick as I used too. I used to good for one cold a year and since I hit my 30's I rarely get sick.

[Joey]

Im near sighted so I need bifocals. I'm a little bit overweight but in general I'm in really good shape.

But since I'm gay I'm destined to die of AIDS. Whether I'm in a plane crash and all aboard die in the crash, except me because I died of AIDS, or that I get eaten by a Great White, I'll still have died of AIDS. I've always known I'll live to at least 85, but instead of old age my COD will be AIDS.

Seriously having just hit 50 I try to watch my weight, take care of my skin, keep the ear hair plucked. It bugs me that I need bifocals but my eye doctor said I'd need them by 40 and he was 10 years off. My grandmother had some skin cancers that were easily treatable, and she lived to 93. Being bald I'm very aware of skin cancers, and I do use a 45 sun block on the top of my head. I'm not a hat person, so the sun block is a must. Where I live the sun is very intense and where we vacation it's even worse.

I eat pretty much anything I want, and all that I want. My appetite is far less than when I was younger. I drink about 2 gallons of water daily so I pee alot. It helps keep the weight off. At this point in my life it's nice not to have love handles.

[Mark Olivarez]

If history is anything, I'll end up with cancer.

[Joey]

my cholesterol has always been generally low, espeicially for a heavy guy.

I don't like fish, and I don't drink milk, but I believe in eating good cheese and have all my life. Suddenly, they, nutritional experts (oxymoron), are discovering the health benefits of good cheese. Also, they, have discovered that calcium absorbtion is higher in people who either drink milk or eat cheese, than in those who take calcium pills.

[Stefancos]

While ago I went to a dental surgeon, the guy looked exactly like a cross between John Malkovitch and Tom Noonan (the creepy serial killer from Manhunter).

Needless to say I did not go again.....

[Mark Olivarez]

I've been very, very fortunate with my teeth.

I only brush once a day and I've never had a cavity. I think the last time I went to the dentist was 6 years ago when I had my wisdom teeth pulled.

I think I've visited the dentist maybe 12 times in my 42 years.