We're getting old (OO medical complaints)

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:06 pm

My hair hurts.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:21 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:06 pmMy hair hurts.

Hair? What is this "hair" that you speak of? (Mostly kidding. While I am losing hair on top, I do still have some.)

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 5:47 pm

TheMix wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:21 am
Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:06 pmMy hair hurts.
Hair? What is this "hair" that you speak of? (Mostly kidding. While I am losing hair on top, I do still have some.)

It's probably my scalp. It feels sunburned. We haven't had enough sun for that to happen, and I nearly always wear a hat outdoors anyway.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:54 pm

Something I should have posted here.....

Ive had a mole on my back since I was a child. Its not a funny color but it used to be small...like pencil eraser or so size. Until about 10 years ago when it decided to be an adult. Now its about as big around as my pinky tip and as big as up to my first knuckle. Its skin tone and very fleshy soft. Same old size at base but grown up.

As a kid my mom took me to her skin doctor and had some removed. He deadened them, pulled and cut them, then used a laser to stop the bleeding. A laser at that time was pretty new Id think . Would have been around 1983.

Anyways now I have a walk in clinic as my primary care doctor. I asked her about it and she said she could take it off right there in the room. Im guessing she would deaden it and sew a stitch or two in it. She didn't say. I know she doesn't have a laser. She did say it was a skin tag. To me it is not a skin tag. And simply getting a scalpel and removing it sounds a bit odd.

So should I just get it done there or should I be seeing some kind of dermatologist for this?

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:23 pm

My doctor has always told me when they weren't sure and if it was best to go to a dermatologist instead. So do you trust your doctor?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:02 pm

Normally yes as they are always helpful. But calling a mole Ive had since I was a kid a skin tag tends to skew that confidence.

Then again Ive been going here for years. I could end up picking the very worst dermatologist ever.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:09 pm

Is it possible that it is, and has always been, a skin tag? They can get to be the size of your thumb.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:32 pm

If freezing and cutting skin tags were a hobby, I'd be all in. I have six or seven I've been tracking for years.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:39 pm

Thanks to a mix of genetics and obesity, I am festooned with the buggers.

I went to a doctor once to see about getting them removed but he did it by injecting each site with lidocaine and then cutting them off. If you've never had lidocaine injections before let me try to paint you a picture... imagine somebody using a needle to inject lava directly into your skin... that's what lidocaine injections are like.

Now, I'm not exactly a wuss when it comes to pain as multiple tattoos can attest but after the sixth go 'round I had to tell the doctor, "I'm out."

So, I've basically become a fertile garden for the little fuckers. For the most part, they aren't painful but I do have some on my inner thighs that can get pinched/pulled when sitting for long periods. So, while I could go through a long and painful process of removing them, seeing as how they grow back almost immediately, I just decided to live with them.

Example spoilered for a good reason.

Spoiler:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:35 pm

In the past...around 2010....I had one under each arm and one on each side of my neck. I simply used a looped string at home to rid mysefd of them. Got sore a couple days then were gone.

Jaymon · Post by **Jaymon** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:42 pm

I tore an ACL on new years eve 2019, and I don't think that knee is ever going to stop hurting.
and then i completely jacked my shoulder trying to paint the fence. 6 months later, and I am still tying to get it back into usefulness.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:46 pm

Regarding skin stuff, my wife and I see a dermatologist twice a year. As seniors, we can't afford to take risks. We also check each other's body out periodically

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:49 pm

I've got a bunch of moles and warts and skin tags. I'm resigned to them.

What I've also got a lot of are lipomas -- fatty tumors between the skin and muscle layers. It started with one on my left forearm. My doc said he could remove it, but insurance wouldn't cover it, it might just grow back, and there was really no point because they're harmless. My body took that as permission to make a bunch more to keep it company. Now I've got them on my arms, my abdomen, my thighs -- I have so many lumps I would never notice if a cancerous one joined the party.

My doctor of 35 years retired in January. I have a checkup with his successor in May. Maybe I'll ask him if there's been any progress in lipomaology. I don't like being lumpy. I gross myself out. AFAIK medical science is not on the case, though.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:10 pm

I have a weird one that started a few years ago, and stumped both my GP and a dermatologist. On the top of both forearms (only) I get these red welts any time my arms get bumped, scraped, scratched or have blood drawn. More rarely they will just spontaneously present. It's not contagious, doesn't hurt or itch, and goes away in a week or two. I have learned to be super cautious when using my arms, and had to condition myself not to scratch in my sleep. Medicine is not an exact science.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:02 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:10 pm Medicine is not an exact science.

This is why doctors are said to be practicing.

My eyes are going. I have a lot of floaters, including a big one that recently parked itself smack in the center of my left eye's vision. I have extremely dry eyes and go through lots of drops and ointments. Artificial tears feel good for like 10 minutes, but one can only use them so often because they're wicked expensive and full of preservatives. I recently started taking flaxseed oil supplements on the advice of a grocery store clerk who was really intense about them; I think maybe they help a little. She also went off about acupuncture. I don't put any stock in that but she was mildly right about flaxseed oil, so...?

Worse, I have blepharitis, and have had it since I was in my 40s. That's an infection of the rims of my eyelids that causes itching and flaking. I treat it with hot compresses. I was also advised to wash my eyelids with baby shampoo, but that dries them out. Between blepharitis and dryness, my eyes are always red and itchy, even when I get out of bed in the morning.

Two ophthalmologists have said "your eyes are basically healthy; sucks to be old." Among all the complaints people suffer, Old Eye Syndrome is on the B side. Medical science is not working on it. There are no telethons or fundraisers for floaters or dry eye or blepharitis. Maybe doctors will eventually practice enough to figure it out, but that will be too late for me. I'm just old and they can't do much about that.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:10 pm

Years ago I had dry, flaky, itchy skin over my eyes. Nothing seemed to work until I treated it with petroleum jelly. Condition went away and never came back. YMMV.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:17 pm

The ointment I use goes under my lower eyelid. After it coats my eyeballs, I rub the excess into my eyelid margins. Like the other remedies, it helps a little. I call it "eye glue" because once you apply that stuff, your eyes are closed for the night.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:22 pm

Reminds me of the film Four Rooms where he tells the story of his childhood babysitter putting VapoRub on his eyelids to keep him in bed with his eyes closed.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:32 pm

I have a flaky left eye corner. If I pick and scratch that dry skin off it feels like a raw nerve there. I just put vaseline on it and move on. Im sure people in town wonder whats up with it.

As for my mole so you guys think I should see a special skin doc or just go with the walk in doc?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:35 pm

Wow, less than a week from when I first posted in this thread, I gave myself tennis elbow while (presumably) wrestling with my snowthrower during the record-breaking 30"+ of snow we received back in February. Near as I can tell, me squeezing the grip to keep the blade spinning while simultaneously lifting and lowering the front end into snow banks to get a "bite" is what did it. At first I thought I jacked up my shoulder - couldn't sleep on my side. But then it went into my elbow and hung out there (pain) for a month. There was no swelling or redness (suggesting I actually tore something) so the treatment is apparently wearing a compression sleeve or an arm strap. I was highly suspect, but 7 weeks later, I'm still wearing a compression sleeve and it feels mostly better. I was taking like 1200 mg of Advil a day just to try and sleep; I honestly don't know how people deal with chronic pain - that's the longest I've been in pain (4+ weeks straight) and it was all I could think about. After the second week of no sleep, if someone came to my house and offered me hardcore narcotics, I would have taken them without even questioning it - just injected horrific stuff right into my arm to get some relief.

Anyway, allegedly this might take 6+ months to heal and I'm already feeling like it's never going to be the same. I rolled my ankle once back in like 2014 and it will still "twinge" if I step wrong.

Getting old..sucks.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:38 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:32 pm As for my mole so you guys think I should see a special skin doc or just go with the walk in doc?

I'd just have it taken off as an office procedure. If it comes back, then ask to see a specialist.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:38 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:32 pm As for my mole so you guys think I should see a special skin doc or just go with the walk in doc?

I'd probably be inclined to have my GP take care of it and then schedule a full-body scan with a specialist, especially if you've never had one done before. My uncle died of skin cancer (refused to go to the doctor to get a growth checked), so... I guess he showed them. Seriously, get your skin checked, especially if you spent your youth and 20s getting sunburned all the time. My parents are in their 70s and are getting things frozen off their faces and heads every year - all sun related because they never wore hats/sunscreen growing up and through middle age.

The sun is not your friend.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:39 pm

I’m pretty sure I tore my rotator cuff by sleeping on it.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:42 pm

Dad had a chunk of his ear taken off a few years ago. He’s as copper top as they come, and he spent a career and a half working a flight line for the Air Force in one capacity or another.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:52 pm

I did too a few years back. Looks like a hungry cat attacked me. At least they fixed it so I can still wear my glasses.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:33 am

Ive been sunburned many times but only severely twice. Both times was my shoulders and chest & back. That mole is near the back area . I couldn't wear a shirt once as I had a water blister cover me from shoulder to shoulder and down my chest. ..was nasty ...but fun to peel. I think I was 14.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:09 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 1:40 pm About two weeks ago I bent over, not much, maybe 20 degrees, and it popped and hurt like hell. I could barely walk for the next couple of days, and couldn't sit unsupported for a week or so more, plus it ached constantly. When I was seeing my doctor about something else, I brought it up and she sent me for x-rays. No obvious injuries, but she said that I was developing spinal arthritis. Yay. At least it is a diagnosis. She called me a few days later and wanted to schedule six weeks of physical therapy as a precursor to getting an MRI, but I told her that I'd want to wait until after the pandemic died down a bit more.

In the meantime, I've taken all sorts of steps to keep it from getting any worse than it has to be. I've tweaked how I sit and sleep. I've added some exercises into my routine (planks, pelvic lifts, and stretches) which should help.

Two months later, and it does seem to have helped, and quite a bit. Between sitting less, the muscles holding my back in place getting stronger, and the stretches, I'm in a lot less pain. It still aches if I move certain ways, but it is an improvement over the past few years. I've also forced myself to sleep on my side with my knees bent and a pillow behind them. It's not terribly comfortable (and my hips start to ache after a couple of hours until I flip over), but it does reduce my back pain during the day.l

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:48 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:46 pm Regarding skin stuff, my wife and I see a dermatologist twice a year. As seniors, we can't afford to take risks. We also check each other's body out periodically

I now see one once a year. So far even things that looked bad to me are normal to them.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:05 pm

Anyone who remembers this discussion will understand why this thread is now creeping me the fuck out.

Seriously, my hands got shaky and sweaty just reading some of the above.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:40 pm

Like I said Ive had some bad sunburns. So bad Ive had chills. Some I couldn't take a shower for days with due to it burning so bad even with cool water. The touch was awful. The only good stuff with a sunburn was putting Noxzema on it..ahhhhhh and then the day to where I could peel it like a lizard.

I love the smell of sunscreen especially the oil type and coconut. Takes me right back to Florida with my dad and fun trips and lots of fishing so far out you couldn't see land. The salt air. Mmm.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:15 pm

As I have always said, you're all so OLD!

I'm now 36 and I think I started posting here when I was 12.... maybe? Wow, you're all old. So, so old.

That said, I have a herniated disc in back from about six years ago. Originally when doing things I had pain immediately and for days afterward; now I mostly just have pain immediately and for a few hours afterward. I also have a skin fungus issue on my back (how the fuck is that even a thing?) that makes my back itch like crazy when I sweat, which is three quarters of the year as I am very much descended from people who prefer cold weather.

Also, you're all old.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:26 pm

When I was young I used to say "Old age is no achievement, nor youth any sin." I might have been quoting somebody like Shakespeare or the Bible. I forget. Now that I'm old I can see that continuing to wake up every morning is an achievement.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:18 am

I passed from olde to ancient about ten years ago.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:58 am

I'm also 36 and have become preoccupied with aging and the passage of time lately. This last happened to me a few years ago as part of what could be considered a significant depressive episode and existential crisis. I can't stop thinking about the eventual decline and loss of my aging parents, and probable loneliness in my later years as Mrs. Nym and I haven't and probably won't have children. The last decade has just blown by, and while my young life so recently seemed full of potential, I'm not starring down the barrel of middle age. I know this likely sounds ludicrous if you're older and is a "welcome to the club" moment, but it's really ravaging my mental health lately. I know that I can still do so much with the time I have left, but it's all going by so quickly.

In other news, leg pain and ankle swelling has turned into a chronic issue over the past several weeks. I really need to get my fat covid ass moving. I don't even go out for supplies more than once or twice a month anymore, it's all delivered.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:22 am

When I got to my 60s and started falling apart I used to worry about all these problems. Then an epiphany hit me and I realized that at this period of my life things were not going to get better. I was olde and there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing. So I accepted it and stopped worrying. I get temporary repairs but no fixes.
Remember......... nothing.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:44 am

Sudy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:58 am I can't stop thinking about the eventual decline and loss of my aging parents, and probable loneliness in my later years as Mrs. Nym and I haven't and probably won't have children.

That's OK. If you'd had children you'd spend that time thinking about how most of your adult life was totally built around and for them, and about how they're going to leave very soon and all those things you've lived for for decades will vanish and turn into occasional holiday visits.

I still remember being 15 and thinking, "Wow, it seems like I've been alive forever, but if I'm lucky I could do everything in my entire life over five more times! That's so much time!" Now it's unlikely I could do it even once. Chances are that I'm most of way done. Stupid 15 year old me!

There's no getting around the feeling that comes from getting older. Whatever you didn't do, whatever you did, and whatever you're losing, all of it will be there, breathing down your neck. My solution? Enjoy today. Yesterday's irretrievably gone, tomorrow hasn't happened yet. I have today. I can enjoy today, and when tomorrow gets here, it'll turn into today, and I can enjoy that, too, as long as I don't let myself dwell too much on yesterday or tomorrow.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:48 am

Going back to the weird skin bumps, I have something on the edge of my nose that appeared maybe 10/12 years ago. It almost looked like a zit - roundish and red - but is hard and can't be popped (lord knows I've tried). It started out pretty small, but I recently noticed that it seemed to have grown a bit bigger over the last year or two, maybe to the size of a black ant's head. Google seemed to suggest it was something called a "fibrous papule". So the other week I decided to try to use one of those freeze-away wart kits on it, despite the instructions clearly warning that it should only be used for warts and never near your face. I zapped it for about 20 seconds. It was slightly painful but nothing too bad and over the last two weeks it has gone through various stages of bleeding and scabbing over. It is close to healed now and is about 1/4 of it's original size, So great success? Once it's fully healed, I'll probably try giving it another zap. Hopefully that'll get rid of it entirely without burning my nose off...

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:16 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 1:40 pm I scrunched my back clear aback in 1995 when I flipped a car. The front wheel dug in and it flew upside down and backwards for about 30 feet before it landed. It knocked me out for maybe ten seconds - the only time in my life I've been knocked out by a blow. I had a lot of back pain for the next six months or so, but it wasn't broken and I didn't have medical insurance for most of that, so nothing ever came of it. I've had problems off and on ever since, usually just lower back pain when I sit wrong or sleep wrong for too long.

Holy crap. 20+ years this has been hurting me. For 20+ years I've had pain in my lower back. I have done back exercises to strengthen the muscles, plus so many back stretches that I can't keep track. I've tried braces. I've tried multiple sleeping positions. I've tried leg spacers for in bed. Legs up on pillows. Some things helped a little, but my back always hurt. Since I've started playing VR and standing it's gotten worse. I figured it was just something that I'd have to deal with.

A few days ago I found this guy. He's a gamer and a physical therapist for the army, and his YouTube page is videos on solving physical problems associated with gaming. One of his videos was on transitioning to a standing desk. He made a comment in there that stuck with me that I'd never considered before. So, last night I was lying in bed reading, and my back was absolutely killing me. Same place as always - lower back, mainly on the left, and it was sharp. Remember his video, I googled a couple of quick stretches and tried them out. Two stretches, 30 second each. 60 seconds total, and my back pain stopped, and I slept all night with no pain at all - something that very rarely happens.

And it was so simple: My back wasn't the problem. My hips were. Specifically my hip flexors, which connect the upper leg to the spine. I'm now thinking that the problem from the wreck is a different pain that only comes up occasionally that I always just assumed was the same thing since it was in the same general area. Thinking back on it, though, the pain that occasionally pops up is different from the pain that's always there. It's more in the center, focused on the spine itself. The pop-up pain was always helped by the exercises, while the constant pain wasn't, at least not much. From what I'm reading, the hip flexor pain is likely just from sitting on my ass so much over the past two decades. It's shortened the flexors so much that they hurt.

So, hip flexors. And now that I know, I can do some exercises to strengthen them, and some others to stretch them. For the curious, the two stretches I did last night were the butterfly stretch an the figure four stretch (you can find thousands of google results on each.)

Some signs that I've discovered that it could be your hips/hip flexors causing you pain or problems:

~You have trouble getting out of low car sets
~You have to lean far forward getting out of chairs, then have trouble straightening up
~You tend to stand with extra weight on one leg (you're putting the weight on the bones rather than the muscles to compensate for their weakness)
~When standing or walking for a while you get sharp pains in the lower back to upper butt that sometimes feel like they're radiating down your leg.
~You wobble when you walk
~Big test: Stand facing a wall with your feet a comfortable distance apart. Bend one knee to left the foot straight up. Your hip on that side should go up slightly. If your hip drops, that's a strong indicator of weak/stiff hips.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:37 pm

Well, I just got put on gabapentin. So there.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:34 pm

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:37 pm Well, I just got put on gabapentin. So there.

My wife was on that. They tried to put me on it and I declined.