View Full Version : Disease & Age
Reading through many of the blogs, I note that alot of younger members have concerns about disease that usually hits the older generation. I am too guilty of this. I know that it is possible to get colon cancer late 20`s, I know someone that did and this may have bought on my HA, though statistically it effects the over 50`s age group, though we always tend to hear about the rare case of a youngster getting it. These are some of the diseases that I have look into and welcome peoples input. maybe this could actually help alleviate some of our anxiety?
Bladder cancer - rare under 50
Kidney cancer - rare under 40
Lung cancer - rare under 40, even for a regular smoker, peak age 50 - 70
Stomach cancer - rare under 50
Pancreatic Cancer - rare under 50
Lyphoma - usually by 30 or over 50
Jannie2948
04-04-10, 18:14
Thanks from all of us over 50!! Really cheered me up this has :-)
Jannie
Mmm.
Not so sure it was a good idea to post this. Especially for the over 50 hypercondriacs like me!
As part of the over 50 crowd, I agree with the above posters. Think I'll try to put this out of my mind.:scared15:
Yes, apologies very ill thought of by me. Again, please accept my apologies, I wish you all well
Oh come on.
EVERY post on this board has the potential to set off HA in someone else. I suggest if you're truly that sensitive to a post which states some statistical facts, then perhaps these types of exchange with other people are not for you.
This is a good and valid post and I have been thinking about doing something similar for a while. It is statistical therapy for the slew of posts on pancreatic/stomach/bowel cancer (in people as young as 20) which have been popping up on this board. Why shouldn't it be pointed out that these are rare cancers in the young?
There are so many of us who are convinced we have diseases which aren't prevalent in our age group - and it would be interesting to explore why! This is a health anxiety forum, if we can't explore this in here, then WHERE can we explore it.
Age is something you can't change or supercede.
To those people over 50, aging is a natural part of our lives, even though life expectancy is now over 80 in many developed countries... If you honestly think that you're susceptible to / show signs of any of these diseases, then get yourself screened. Screening programs exist to keep you healthy.
Many of us here are too young to be included in these screening programs, and don't feel we're taken seriously by the medical community because of our age - ageism works both ways.
Aging is a natural part of life, and when people hit a certain age and have health anxiety, it becomes worse. Everyone wants to be reassured, not be given more to worry or obsess about.
So if we're "sensitive about statistical facts" this forum may mot be for us? Forgive me, but I thought this was a place where I could come to relieve anxiety.
MightyPC, thank you so much for seeing our over 50 point of view. You seem like a sweet person and I am sure you meant no harm.
I don't want to sound snippy or petty, but... please quote me correctly if you want to quote me:
I said, 'I suggest if you're truly that sensitive to a post which states some statistical facts, then perhaps these types of exchange with other people are not for you."
Which is nowhere near as harsh as the way you've paraphrased me! I think it's a fair reaction to the way this post got picked at for its use of statistics. There is nothing in this post which is untrue, or suggests that you're LIKELY to get any of the illnesses mentioned. It's simply reiterating a point which is often missing from this community. We ignore certain risk factors for the diseases we fear - of which ONE, just one, is age.
Health anxiety doesn't always become worse with age. Lots of people heal, as I hope to heal (and I hope that all of us heal). In fact, those of us in our twenties can't even use 'oh it's just a part of aging' as an excuse for our symptoms - so we're likely to come to some fairly dire diagnoses in response to some benign changes. It's incredibly frustrating. We're not eligible for medical screening, many of us don't yet have a big enough income to seek private treatment, and those around us are of the belief that 'young people don't get sick'.
There are posts about brain cancers, MS, heart palpitations. Everyone has a trigger point. If we have to pre-apologise for our posts before making them, then it doesn't become much of an outlet at all.
Why should the original poster have to apologise about making this post? Every day there is a new post about lymph nodes (my personal HA worry) and I'm part of the demographic which is most affected/effected by cancers of the lymphatic system. I choose to come on here and communicate with people. I understand that in a community about health anxiety, people will be explaining - in detail - the nature of their symptoms and risk factors. That's the nature of this community. Sometimes, the statistics don't work in my favour either (certain predisposition to disorders), but why should the original poster of a thread have to apologise because I happen to be of a demographic which fits a risk factor? The poster is not saying you or I is likely to get the certain cancer. They're just acknowledging the fact that certain cancers happen more often to people over a certain age.
I enjoy participating in this community as a member who (hopefully) encourages discussion, and not the perpetuity of unhealthy habits and fears. I agree, we're here to reassure each other - and part of this includes providing statistical therapy to those who find it a comfort - personally, I'm not much for the 'aww, hugs, you'll be better love' types of comments that most people post - even though I'm sure they provide some level of comfort to others. We all operate differently, it's part of being a community.
Onya to Mighty and Marley.
I am 55 going on 25,and worry about all of the above.
take care and Love to you all xxxxxxx:flowers:
Peter_Scott
05-04-10, 11:37
I think the OP is trying to reassure a lot of the younger suffers that a lot of illness is age related, thank you. You could look at it the other way, there are many illnesses and cancers that are far more prominent in the younger age group (I won't list :)). The problem I see with people who live with health anxiety is the anxiety is not based on logic. If we truly asked ourselves what are the chances of any particular illness, logically most of the time we know the chances are very low, yet our irrational perception out weighs our logic time and time again.
Peter
I'm approaching 50 (hence the username, which I created last year). The statistics are just that, statistics.
For all of you in your 30s and especially 20s, I do hope you take heart in these statistics. Because the chances of you getting any cancer are so so slim. Honestly, whenever I read a post here from someone in their 20s it just breaks my heart. At 20-something, you should have no more worries than when your next night out on the town should be.
As an almost 50 year old person with on again off again HA, I don't mind that the statistics were posted. If it helps someone who is 20 realize that the chances of getting cancer at their age are almost non-existant, than its a good thing. Those of us older folks know the facts. God knows we have all googled enough, right? Part of the reason I come to this board is to get understanding from people who have like problems but I also feel a certain responsibility to help those younger than me. It must be the Mom in me! I have kids not much younger than some of you here and I would so hate for them to suffer the way some of you do. I hope the original post helps you in some way to understand that you are probably healthy and at the prime of your life.
Jannie2948
05-04-10, 13:31
Well said blondie :-)
It is so sad that the younger people on here have these horrible thoughts when, as you say, all they should be thinking about is enjoying their lives. I too have sons the same age as some of those on here and I would hate it if they felt the way that some of them do. It's bad enough that their Mum has this blooming illness, I so would hate them having this!
I'm older than you but I still hate having these feelings and I found it quite upsetting to read that at my age I am more prone to these diseases. I know this, without someone telling me it on a site that I come to for some kind of reassurance. I absolutely get it that because I am older I will be more prone to some of these illnesses, I think that is why I try to take more care of myself. This blooming illness in itself has a lot to answer for :-)
Jannie x x
For anyone in Australia there is a government website that you can go to that I found the other day that has interactive Exel spreadsheets that has all the data for that particular cancer. It has all the information you could want down to how many people got that cancer for a particular year. You can even put in your age and it will give you your odds of getting that cancer and dying from it in the next 5 years or for the rest of your life. I help me cause I have been worried about stomach cancer for the past week or so, but it shows that only 1 or 2 males my age get it each year in Australia. Those are long odds and I figure mine are even better cause I dont smoke or drink and have tested negative for h.pylori antibodies (means I don't currently or have ever had the infection).
Hey Red, do you have the URL for that site? I'm an Australian - I'd love to have a play with it!
I don't want to sound snippy or petty, but... please quote me correctly if you want to quote me:
I said, 'I suggest if you're truly that sensitive to a post which states some statistical facts, then perhaps these types of exchange with other people are not for you."
Which is nowhere near as harsh as the way you've paraphrased me!
I do apologize for leaving a few words out of your sentence.
After rereading what you wrote, I think I misunderstood you. When I first read your post, it seemed to me that you were saying that if people were sensitive to these areas, then this forum was not the place to be.
I think I am reading you correctly now. You are saying that exchanges of this particular sort are not for certain people. Of that, I would agree.
I did not feel I was harsh, but since you did, I wanted to clear it up and have no hard feelings.:)
Hey Red, do you have the URL for that site? I'm an Australian - I'd love to have a play with it!
http://www.aihw.gov.au/cancer/data/acim_books/index.cfm
Here you go :)
Thanks Red. I will have a read through that site with a cup of tea :)
And Corinne - thank you for taking the time to reread what I wrote. I really enjoy the discussions around here, and I'm not one to hold a grudge. If I in any way come off as bullish or harsh, I don't mean it - just passionate! :)
Thanks Red. I will have a read through that site with a cup of tea :)
And Corinne - thank you for taking the time to reread what I wrote. I really enjoy the discussions around here, and I'm not one to hold a grudge. If I in any way come off as bullish or harsh, I don't mean it - just passionate! :)
I'm so glad we got it straightened out. I hate any kind of misunderstanding and honestly, I'm not a nasty person.:)
I love this forum too and look forward to posting with you often!
Good on you marley....from an oldie living in QLD..Oh my aching bones.:D
Rhonda
valleybear
06-04-10, 17:05
At my age, I resisted reading the whole list as I expect that had I done so I would have had at least half of the them by tomorrow morning. As older members , all we can do is to be grateful we have got to our age,keep a check on everything, not miss routine tests,trust in our GP and DO NOT PANIC !:ohmy:
Are we talking mental or physical age here? At least I know I will not suffer any serious ailment before I am 46 :-)
one of us
gypsywomen
06-04-10, 17:48
i worked in a cancer unit ,and let me say it is not just older or younger people it affects its across the board, so no matter what age we are ,if you have something your not sure of get it checked ,, ,,
Look, take this from a mathematician, when it come statistics if your doctor says 99 out of 100 people survive treatment xyz always insist on speaking to the last 99 people treated :-)
Nick Walton
margaret jones
06-04-10, 19:40
Age is no barrier to illness peace of mind is all we can hope for and acceptence of our destiny
Feeling a little sad today 2 dear people I no have been diagnoised with cancer this week
Take
Oh Margaret so sorry to hear that,you have every right to be sad today
I send you love and support.:flowers:
Rhonda
I've been reading this thread with interest.
Anxiety is an affliction that strikes at any age. There are many diseases that affect the young: some cancers (like leukaemia in children), MS (which is much more common in young adults), some childhood MDs ... and I'm sure many more. (MS and ALS for instance are very real fears for many young HA sufferers, as we know from this forum.)
I can see why older people would also be worried, as age leads to a higher incidence of other diseases which have been mentioned here already. But the reality is, an anxious mind that suffers with HA (or OCD or PD for that matter) will ALWAYS find a negative focus of attention.
I think the factual aspect (as presented in the original post's data) is a "controlled lottery". That may be a contradiction (or oxymoron) but what I mean by that is there are some environmental aspects within our control (diet etc) and some genetic components which aren't (at the present time).
Another good point is Marley's comments about "reassurance". There is a big difference between fact and reassurance: reassurance can always be given, no matter what the facts are. But facts cannot be changed by reassurance and will remain the same. There comes a point where we all need a kick up the backside and realise that we need to do something because we can't live our lives like this ... furthermore, that this isn't living.
This is the attitude I take. I have very real physical symptoms - and doctors still haven't resolved it - but I lead a normal life to the best of my ability.
That was a lovely post, Melancholia.
I have physical problems also that the doctors can't seem to resolve or even name. It's not easy, but I push myself to live every day. Being older, I don't have the time to waste.:)
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