Do you ever wonder what part of your body will fail as you get older?

[PermanentlyExhaustedPigeonZZZ]

In my early 40s and the saying about what you neglect in your 20s comes to bite you on the butt in your 40s is starting to come true. I'm overweight and can't get up off the floor like I could. My DH has a whole plethora of health problems but I think it'll be his joints that get him.

I sometimes wonder if my mind, my hearing or my body will affect me the most in my 60/70/80s. Anyone else?

I had always been super fit, fell running, mountain biking. Hit forty and everything went wrong. I’m 45 now and have bad hips, nerve pain, foot problems. It’s sad how much has changed for me physically in five years.

I’m 61, and looking back, I suppose it was inevitable that if anything caught up with me later in life, it would be diabetes. Sure enough, I developed type 2 diabetes, although I'm pleased to say it's now in remission.
I was a classic yo-yo dieter throughout my 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. My weight fluctuated dramatically over the years, ranging from a size 8 to a size 24.
The health issues I've experienced have included gallstones (which appeared in my 30s), a fatty liver, high cholesterol and diabetes. My hearing is still fine, although I do wear glasses now.
Having said all that, I'm actually fitter and healthier today than I was in my twenties. With the help of Mounjaro, statins and, most importantly, finally getting control of my eating habits and weight, I've turned things around completely.
My cholesterol has fallen from 9.4 to 2.8, my HbA1c has dropped from 80 to 34, and my visceral fat has reduced from 14 to 3. All of my blood tests are now in the healthy range, and I have no aches or pains.
I'm incredibly grateful for that. It's never too late to make positive changes, and I'm taking much better care of myself now than I ever did when I was younger.

65 here with no diagnosed issues apart from ongoing childhood asthma which is now negligible.
I’ve always done yoga/Pilates/Tai Chi and average three classes a week and try to get my steps in.
I’ve had a couple of bouts of sciatica recently which has floored me a bit as, whist I have a high pain threshold, it was difficult to function.
My weight has yo yo’d a bit tho and could do with losing a stone and that’s the one thing I wish I’d kept more if an eye on as it’s very hard to lose now and I need virtually no calories to survive 😆
I want to live healthily to a great age but watched my parents struggle on to 93 and 96 with ever diminishing quality of life and that really scares me.

Interesting. My GP friend has always said that she thinks I have some sort of autoimmune problem - when I was young I could turn my ankles right round, and I am now over 70 but have no wrinkles.

After decades of living well, in recent years I'd been doing all the wrong things as day to day life became overwhelming and I lost the motivation to look after myself.

I've recently retired, and my focus at this stage is purely on regaining physical and psychological wellbeing. A good brisk (wasn't brisk at first but it is now!) walk and a mix of strenth/stretch/cardio/yoga/ballet moves has been great. On that note, if anyone looking for an easy app, I'm using "sworkit", I select the things I want to do and then it puts them together in to a workout and I can edit as I gain strength or want to try new things.

I'm only a few weeks in, but I've noticed my muscles "want" to move now (I don't know how else to describe the feeling). I have very lazy, restful mornings but I can feel my legs are raring to go for the morning walk.

I don't know for sure what awaits me. I have some known things but won't worry predicting how they'll progress. For today, I'm freed up with the luxury of time to focus on wellbeing and I'm enjoying that.

I spent my younger years being repeatedly told that my mild hypermobility would mean extensive arthritis as I got older.

I kept myself fit and strong but I'm sorry to report that they were right.

I only have x rays for some of it but from the aches and pains it's in both ankles, both knees, both hips, both elbows, both shoulders, both wrists, all my fingers (x-ray) my back (CT) and my neck.

Sorry!

Keep moving. The more you move the less pain there will be. I know when I need to walk or jog by the pain that builds up in my legs. Cartilage has no blood supply, it's "fed" only by pumping fluid round the joint with exercise.

Just to mention for those of you with arthritis/rheumatoid/psoriatic - I have a friend who is my age (68) and was crippled (and I mean couldn't get up from a chair and get moving kind of immobility + pain) for many years. Two or so years ago she was started on Biologics, a new drug and honestly, that woman is in better shape than ever now. She injects it once a month I think, but could be wrong about the timings. Anyway just saying that all hope is not lost with arthritic issues, as new treatments are coming along every year.

Osteoarthritis is really the only one that doesn’t have anything beyond pain relief for management. The autoimmune ones have great drugs these days.

Just to warn people who might want to try it, in NHS England you have to fail with hydroyxchloroquine, methotrexate and sulfasalazine before they will prescribe biologics, because they are so expensive.

This is why I keep banging on about HRT.

Oestrogen is anti-inflammatory and when we start to lose it, this is when the problems start to occur & ramp up, autoimmune diseases for example. We have Oestrogen receptors in cells every organ system in our bodies, including the heart, joints & brain.

Evidence now shows that HRT is better than statins at preventing heart disease & cardiac events. It also protects against Dementia, diabetes, cancer etc.

I'm not sure if I'd call them "great". They are immunosuppressant, which makes you subject to all sorts of infections. You have to stop them if you need to be treated for infections, get pregnant, have dental work. They're better than incurable pain, certainly, but I don't think they're a walk in the park.

And as above, you have to go through the old (cheap) drugs first before you can get them, and it can be trial and error before they find the right one for your particular immune system because they're so targeted.

Even if you have axial involvement? They are not particularly effective for that.

Given my family history, I strongly suspected it would be heart and it has been (early 60s) Could be worse. Also had bilateral cataracts done in mid 50s, but again on the cards due to severe myopia.

Sorry, I don't know, my experience is all with rheumatoid arthritis. I've read that axial issues are difficult to get acknowledged at all and that first line treatment would be amitriptyline, but hopefully that's not the case now.

But with the NHS in the state it's in I wouldn't be surprised. We had to fight like buggery to get my husband onto a newer and much more expensive drug for his epilepsy even though he was fitting.

And bad news for you youngsters, that epilepsy didn't start until he was 71 and came out of nowhere.

God how depressing. Do your best to prevent these ailments and try and enjoy your life.

The older cheap drugs are much worse than the newer targeted biologics so you are much less susceptible to opportunistic infections. I went straight on to a biologic and have had no problems with them in terms of infections. But I’m not in the UK and also have axial involvement.

I did have to skip a dose for a minor surgery and am post menopausal so pregnancy etc not an issue.

It’s terrible that they don’t go for the most effective drugs with fewer side effects. I know they need to consider costs but there should be a better balance.

I’m lucky I went straight on to a biologic but I’m not in the UK. I don’t know if to they’d have started me on a traditional DMARD if I didn’t have that.

I'm 60 and my right leg has been and always be that what stops me .I smashed my ankle up at 22 , suffered through the years with a joint erosion and finally had an ankle fusion at 50 and last year a knee replacement ,so practically all my life I have had mobility problems and pain but always adapted my life around it and coped .It is becoming increasingly difficult however and now lymphoedema and constant pain is harder to ignore.Other than that I am never ill .My immune system is just exceptional .I never get colds or flus or any common illnesses so at least I have that in my favour .

I’m 70 and have just had a knee replacement. It followed worsening osteoarthritis after a meniscus tear a few years ago. I’m doing well and focussing on strength training now. I’ve recently lost two and a half stone on Mounjaro, so being a healthy weight is helping. I’ve made a lot of changes to my diet and eat more protein and fibre now.
I’d also say looking after hearing, sight, teeth and feet is really important.

Haha, no curiosity here! My left knee has been killing me since 25! (now 27) And physio hasn't helped at all and also have issues with the left foot also (tingling, numbness etc) had to convince my GP that it wasn't just something that physio could fix (suspect neuropathy but havent had a formal diagnosis yet as still waiting) I also have hypertension which runs in my family which I wasn't made aware of until after I got diagnosed and found out by accident, so now I'm on medication for that. I also have PMOS/PCOS which also makes me higher risk of other conditions (including hypertension!) not sure how much more I can take! 😂

Awesome thread. I love a bit of knackered back and knees chat. I had totally knackered knees in my 30s from running. So I stopped running and just did swimming.
And in my 50s the part that went wrong was my head. I got migraines and they slowly ramped up until the buggers took over my life. Luckily I was referred to an excellent Nurse consultant and eventually got the new drug which has beaten my brain back into line. I did have to go private for the drug. My GP laughed when I went for an appointment about something else. She said she knew her surgery hadn't prescribed them as they were far too expensive.
I had the last laugh though as I have very high cholesterol and turned 60 so I get statins for free!

Most of my issues come from being either overconfident or clumsy, so mainly going to be hit by joint issues i suspect.

I've been fit and active my whole life. Vegetarian for over half.

However, there is heart disease in both sides (although one lot are all living to 80+) and lots of dementia on the other.

Having seen one lot whose bodies are failing and one lot whose minds are falling, I think I'm just going to end it fit myself when either looks likely. I can't bear the thought of being unable to run around anymore or to not be in control of my own mind.

My mum died from pancreatic cancer in her early 60’s. Healthy woman, good diet, plenty of exercise and fresh air, healthy weight, non smoker etc.. So, no, I don’t! Just live and enjoy it when and while you can.

I’m 54 and in good health but don’t take it for granted. My mums symptoms were sudden and untreatable.

My DM had a stroke at 40 my DB had a triple heart bypass at 50. Im not looking at a long life.... My DDad is still alive at 86 but has dementia. Hes rapidly loosing capacity. Id prefer to die young.....

I've had RA and OA for years. There isn't really a treatment for OA although it's considered less serious.
A year ago I was in pain and really struggling with all my joints after years on hcq and sulphasalazine. Methotrexate worked like magic but my goodness you have to tolerate some awful side effects.

Our parents and grandparents are the best indicators of what our old age will look like. Bones and heart in my case. Plus breast cancer.
My health was fine until mid 50s then it's been one thing after another.

Also by my age, 68, you've seen a few people die or go through dementia. I'd prefer to have a shorter life than a long death.