I’m not aging well. (Do ANY of us really?) What I mean is that I’m definitely NOT Aging gracefully! Do I have to treat Aging as a “co-existing condition”?! (tho it’s really no such thing – any more than being “female” is just such a “co-existing condition”, what with all the effects of hormones and all that …)
I mean, WTF!?
An example of the wonderful world of the muddling of Aging: I have fibromyalgia (FM) and I’ve had to learn NOT to run screaming to my doctor for every little thing (things that would make any normal person scream, btw) b/c it’s probably the FM that’s magnifying my perception of the pain signal blahblahblah. The general rule is that I only check out new and/or life-interfering things. So, first I moved and lost all my long-term doctors. Then, I went to these NEW doctors with NEW (to me) symptoms (I was having problems with my eyes).
Turns out, the eye thing? Aging. (One of those things that isn’t guaranteed to happen to everyone, but does happen to some of us if we stick around long enough! For example, my partner has hearing issues. I have blurry-eye issues. I guess some of us last beyond the “best buy” date!)
So, on top of everything else, my new docs think I’m a lunatic!
Now, I’m reluctant to see my doc about anything new to me b/c it’s probably just the aging process (or FM, or osteoarthritis…)! Balance problems? Sensitive hearing? Trouble walking? Blurry vision? Nausea?
Chemical sensitivity? A symptom of FM – even after quite some time – means that stuff I tolerated before now comes back to bite me on the ass. There are practically NO meds that I can take anymore – I’m currently one of “those people” who can only use medical cannabis to treat pain, nausea, depression, etc. (Tho I’m waiting for that one to go belly-up any day now too!)
So, non-pharmaceutical relief is the only kind I can seek, and when they (topicals, yoga, pot, distraction) don’t work, I’m fucked. (As is anyone within moaning distance! Again, my partner comes to mind.)