Anyone in their 40s/50s plus had a health wake up call?

I've had a recent serious health scare but I've not changed my lifestyle. I need a big kick up the backside. I don't know what will do it for me if this health scare hasn't. I'm scared of the consequences of carrying on as I am but familiarity and routine are entrenched, I am autistic and these are my routines. Someone please give me that kick. Telling myself I'm killing myself is just words.

Yes I have somehow backslid from active non drinker and non smoker to both being daily habits and have piled on weight under chronic stress. I have had a series of infections, anaemia and looking at having a hysterectomy due to adenmyosis. Currently getting divorced and ND wjth ND kids. Life feels unmanageable and I am out of work. I'm scared and not coping well and do not have much social support around me. I don't know how to reverse the trend when every day feels so hard.

@BreakfastAtHeathrowTheBeerAndTheVino same. Am ND and even though I know I need to change I haven't. Maybe this thread will be the trigger.

I’m between 50 and 55 and my joints have started hurting like crazy. At 11.7 I’m the heaviest I’ve been so I am on a diet to lose 2s to help with this stiffness/ soreness. I already walk the dog for 90 minutes a day.

I'll be 50 next year and I know I need to lose a couple of stones, as much to mitigate cancer risks as anything else. Two good friends have already had breast cancer, which was a wake-up call. I already do cardio/strength training/yoga 4-5 nights a week, plus daily dog walking, and don't really drink but I could cut a lot of carbs. I did a Thriva blood test last month, as my DM had Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, but luckily everything came back normal.

I put on weight when I started HRT but the brain fog and depressed mood were genuinely making it impossible to do my job. Now at least I've got the focus to do something about it, whereas before I was drowning in a grey sea. HR announced yesterday that new headshots were being arranged soon so that's a short term motivator to avoid the biscuits!

I turned 50. Six months later I was in resus in fast atrial fibrillation with a heart rate of 180. Then started with vestibular problems leaving me with permanent tinnitus.
Am now on cardiac medications and awaiting possible ablation. A recent blood test also showed my cholesterol is slightly high, and possibly fatty liver.
Completely fit and well before this. Non smoker etc.

cptartapp crikey 😱 I'm sorry you've been unwell

Reddress2023 I've just read your post. I'm so sorry that you are going through a rubbish time. That's a lot on your plate. Could you work towards cutting back on the two habits and putting other habits on place?

Could your GP refer you to support for getting fit?

I turned 50 last year and was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’ve come through the other side but it’s left me feeling old and very tired. No amount of sleep helps. I’ve just started back at the gym to help me get fitter. It’s certainly been a wake up call that growing old with good health is a privilege and not all of us will manage it!

I'm 51 this year and a mess. I have 2 chronic conditions plus secondary stuff going on. I haven't worked since last May after a condition flare up that saw me bed bound for a few months. Up till then I was managing well, working exercising etc and losing weight steadily and had dropped a size. Now, 10 months later I've added a stone, I'm flabby, still recovering from condition flare and eating far too much fat and sugar. My gall bladder is grumbling and I'm doing slow pottering dog walks. Today I've decided to change a few things beginning with the sugar and fat intake. I attend the GP every 4 weeks for a check up so will ask about my BP and see what it is now. Please let this be a fabulous at 50 support thread 🙏
Xx

Almost 50...

Age 46 was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer (3 weeks into lockdown #1). 6 weeks later had a mastectomy and lymph node clearance, then usual chemo and radio. Considerably upped my fitness and lost weight when informed my BMI was too high to have a reconstruction (had to lose weight, as I was finding it difficult to grow taller!). I upped fitness sessions to three times a week, cut down on carbs and chocolate, and lost 10kg. Then got 20 days notice of a 10 hour op. During that time I did 15 hours of aerobic exercise. Day after surgery, physio said I was an anomaly and shouldn't be able to do what I could. Big lights and sirens time as to how being fitter/eating better can help in the real world - I felt it never applied to me before and I was just fine how I was🤔. I am now itching to get back to regular exercise (though currently banned as still recovering) and NEVER thought I would feel like that. The key was to find an exercise I enjoyed (only took me 46 years!)

💐🌟 for women on this thread

Me too! Just had a blood test and cholesterol is at 6, with poss indication of early kidney disease. Liver is miraculously considering the amount of wine I have (until recently) consumed, but it's been a bit of a wake up call.

Last May got down to 61kg from 78kg but have put a bit on do need to wrestle with that and work on reducing my stress, putting me first and recognising that if I don't look after 'me' then there will be no 'me' to do my job/caring responsibilities/parenting.

So today is the day I put on my oxygen mask!

I am 45 but need to do this
Have aches and pains and dreadful headaches

This is a lovely, encouraging thread. Thanks for starting it, OP.
8
I'm 49 and have a family history of cancer (breast, stomach, pancreas...) on my mum's side and heart and stroke on my dad's. My wake-up call was having a TIA (mini stroke) a couple of months ago. It really made me take a long, hard look at myself. I'm taking blood thinners and statins, probably for life now, according to my gp, but also need to make some lifestyle changes.

I'm a size 14 and would like to get down to a slim size 12, the size I was until about ten years ago. I am also quite unfit and very untoned so have recently recommitted to daily yoga (Adriene) and have been doing short workouts with Lucy W-R.

Diet-wise I've started 16:8 style fasting again (no breakfast), am eating smaller portions, greatly reducing sugar, carbs and crap and eating lean protein and even more veg. I find I can't tolerate heavy, rich foods very well these days, same for alcohol. I'll have an occasional glass of wine or a cocktail and that's enough.

I've been doing this for about a month and am starting to see the benefits. I have a beach holiday booked for the last week in April which is keeping me motivated but the aim is to make the change to a more healthy lifestyle that I can maintain as I get older.

I need to build in some gentle cardio to my routine too, probably walking and swimming. The plan is to gradually progress to weights and some more intense cardio as my strength and overall fitness improve.

Well done to all those who have started to make positive changes. I think it's especially hard for a lot of women who have a tendency to take care of everyone and everything else except themselves. It may sound a bit dippy, but I am making the changes because I am finally making a conscious effort to love and care for myself. If I don't, who will?

Exactly, I do think we get to an age where we realise we can't continue as we have been doing. I've worked from 14yo, run after family, exh, worked stupid hours. I've allowed myself to listen to my post body and if I want it to carry me into my next life stage I need to take care of me. I'm loving the freedom of saying no. 💐
Hugs to the amazing women on this thread ✨️

Oxygen masks! What a fantastic way of putting it, this is so true.

This is a really interesting thread. 💐to you all.

I'm mid 50s now and prob about 2 stone overweight. Joined a gym at the end of last year as I'm working from home permanently now and life felt very sedentary. My old commute meant 10,000 steps every day without thinking about it.

Go to gym once or twice a week and do yoga or step class two or three times. When I started I felt faint after the 15 min gym induction, now I'm smashing through the classes. I haven't lost weight but feel so much stronger and fitter.

I eat fairly healthily but drink far too much wine which I need to address. Blood pressure is usually ok but haven't had it taken for a while. Never had a cholesterol test.

Same as many of you... I'm 53 and have health issues which have given me a wake up call. Was in hospital with Pericarditis last summer (random viral cause) but it took until Christmas until I was not spending most days in bed because of it! So put on a load of weight! Finally I have been medicated to reduce my heart rate and can live again.
But that, coupled with finding I have very high cholesterol through random bloods taken when ill has made me try and live a healthier life since the new year... cut out the crap in my diet, cut caffeine, fewer carbs, only have a drink once in a blue moon now and I'm trying to up my exercise. I find this the hardest part as I have CFS - have done for 20 years and I really do have to pace myself or I find it overwhelming again.
Also post menopause and weight doesn't shift like it used to... but I'm feeling determined to keep on this road as I think I will open myself up to too many problems and diseases if I don't. I'm finding it hard but health has to come first!

A helpful mental shift for me has been repositioning all this as a health issue rather than a strange emotional guilt about 'good and bad' foods, thinking I look fat in jeans, etc. somehow it's easier to be supportive and kind to myself when I'm doing Body Pump to ward off osteoporosis, not because I've got 'wobbly arms'. Doesn't matter if I'm not lifting the heaviest weights or what I look like, I'm there and I'm doing it.

@DysonBison Completely agree... If it's for vanity issues then I never stick to it, if it's for health and a healthy future then I find it much easier.

I had a breast cancer scare in 2018 and managed to lose a couple of stone after that. I got complacent during the pandemic and put it back on again as I think my health focus shifted as I was CEV and it was all about staying safe. That now compounded with the weight gain from no activity during Pericarditis and I have more than ever to shift!

Great thread but some of us can randomly get things like high BP and heart disease even though we have always looked after our health.
Genetics is sadly something we can’t avoid. I feel sad that I can’t actually do anymore apart from taking the meds..

Reading. I know I should've lost weight but I haven't.

You really need a fasting test to check your LDL,HDL and triglycerides. My mum’s is around 7 (as probably is mine) and she was told that her good cholesterol is high. She was diagnosed with this over twenty years ago and she’s 83 now and fine. Statins made her very very unwell so be careful.

I find building more brisk walking into my life rally helps my cholesterol plus w eight. Aged 59 and post menopause. I am much more physically active plus have sold my car today. I work at home and can no longer justify it. Looking forward to getting even fitter as will be using buses more frequently. So more walking required as ten minutes walk to the reliable bus ro ute. I love walking it gives the requisite endorphin boost that we can all benefit from.