For the over 60s

[Beckybecks]

For those of us over 60 with health anxiety do you find you have more control over your HA issues now?

For me I feel that although I have 30 plus years of experience, therapy, counseling, medical tests and prescription drugs under my belt, I now find that as I've grown older there are more and more symptoms to pay attention to.
In my 30s I always thought that by my current age, I'd be completely over HA but somehow I've managed to hold on to it 😑

I tell myself that, after all, a 65 year old car would have all sorts of creaks and groans and other issues that need attention, so why not my 65 year old body? 🚗

The trouble is that I've spent 30 years training my brain that if my body and my health aren't in perfect working order then I can't be happy. If there's a pain or a mark or a "strange" feeling in my head then I need to panic!
If I've had the symptoms before and been diagnosed and treated, that's fine, no need for panic. "But are they the same symptoms?" By brain asks gleefully...
And of course as we get older there's more things that can go wrong.

I feel sad that I've wasted so much time on this disorder and might very well waste more.

Anyone else feel the same?

[NoraB]

I feel very left out here!

I'm 52 but my biological age is about 80 :unsure: (not joking either)

[pulisa]

I'm 63 and definitely not going to anticipate becoming a creaky old wrinkly! I try not to think about how old I am because it's pointless and if I admit to feeling tired/"off" my daughter will write me off and panic so I have every incentive to pretend to be invincible:D

I'm looking forward to being 65 when i can get more concessions (if I make it that far). Old age doesn't have to mean ill health.

[FamilyPicnic]

I’m over 60 and I find that now things are worse than ever, way worse. Suddenly I’ve hit the age where cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, etc are all not only possible but probable. I’m in a constant state of fear with every big and little symptom I have. And I mean constant. At times I am barely functional between the symptoms and fear. And my symptoms are real, they are not caused by “anxiety.” Some are very painful and keep me from doing all I would like to do. I worry all the time about cancer. I keep hearing that early cancer has no symptoms. Since I have so many symptoms does that mean it’s too late. I’m tired of the doctors brushing me off and not listening to me. I so much want my young self back. I used to “think” I had terrible things wrong with me way back in the good old days and most of them turned out to be nothing. But my good track record doesn’t mean much now that I’m older. Sorry for a downer post.

[Phill2]

I'm 69 and have become much more accepting of things in general.
I know it's only anxiety when it happens and it just doesn't bother me so much.
I used to have a fear of flying and one day I just decided to get over it and got on a plane and now I love it.
My wife was the anxious one thinking I'd panic but I really enjoyed it and look forward to it now.

[dorabella]

I turned 60 last month and have had all the same thoughts and experiences ... reflected on this when I turned 40 and then when I turned 50. Just what we used to call milestone birthdays that pull you up a bit short - but you pass them and move on. Mentally I still feel as I did when I was 40 even if physically I feel about 80 like NoraB!

Anxiety and depression never leave you and all the pills and therapy will do nothing more than mask the experience - but I gradually accepted this and made a conscious decision not to become dependent on them and let them rule my life. What I have done over the years since all this started - when I was 31 - is educate myself as to the reasons why. Mostly I can anticipate what will trigger an episode and I try as far as possible to pace my activity and deal with the physical response that I know is coming. Can't say I don't still struggle with it and lament my lot but acceptance is key - as Claire Weeks was advocating way back in the 1970's in the anxious person's 'bibles'...

If you compare your experience with that of 'normal' people who appear to have lived a lived a full life then you will drive yourself nuts. You haven't wasted the intervening years - all that has happened is that you have been down the 'pit' as I call it and come back up again. Your life has just been different that's all. We all become creakier as we get on in years - like that old banger you mention - all the more excuse for treating yourself mentally and physically a little more kindly - that's acceptance and wisdom.

[Lana]

I turned 60 too, and definitely feel it. My anxiety is not better - it is worse for the same reasons you guys mentioned: I know that now things actually can go wrong. Also, constantly obsessing about different pains and sensations ( currently the left side of my head and face), and even a specialist told me that what I have felt is really nothing serious, I can stop focusing on it. All of a sudden, all my glasses I literally FEEL, like my head has become bigger ( or swollen)! It is truly horrible, and I am dreading illness and death more than ever. Everything started getting worse when my mother died in June 2020. She as old and sick, but now I have no parents and I know I am the next.

p.s. I also apologize for the downer post.

[flatterycat]

I’m 53 and my HA has gotten much worse since turning 50. I keep thinking that since turning 50, that I am much higher risk of c. I am currently worrying about ovarian and looking at all the stats for my age.

[pulisa]

Statistics are just figures not facts relating to your own health. 50 is not the beginning of the end. If you have that mindset of course you're going to be feeling that you are "doomed".

[mariasandy]

Worse for sure. Besides all the things we thought we had now we are starting to actually get some ailments and the older you get the more you are afraid of scary conditions. Plus I know for me at least I have a terrifying fear of death. Do we have a farm for that here? We also need a dental forum.

[NoraB]

50 is not the beginning of the end..

It was 39 for me. :roflmao:

I do like to read about contented older people and learn about how they manage to stay young at heart (and out of the nursing homes)

My grandad put his contentment down to listening to Jim Reeves (at full whack), a daily Ploughman's lunch and pint of cider. (Dude made it to 81)

I'm 52 (with a biological age of about 309) and all I can say is that I am stunned I've made it this far! :shrug:

[pulisa]

Age ain't nothing but a number...It's not a guarantee of poor physical health.

[NoraB]

Age ain't nothing but a number...It's not a guarantee of poor physical health.

So true!

I try and do some Pilates every day - even if it's just the balance work. Falls can be a big problem when we get older, so I want to be addressing this now. (Plus, I have Osteopenia)

I do feel it on the days that I don't do any (lots of 'oof that's a bit stiff' when I get up from sitting etc) :huh: