To wonder how my Aunty Margaret is still alive?

[Marie2023]

My Aunty Margaret has just turned 70. She’s 15 years older than me and all the time I’ve known her she has been an alcoholic. She hasn’t been invited to any family gatherings since the 90s because she always gets drunk, causes a scene and ruins the event. She hasn’t had a job for years but has a partner who looks after her financially.

Aunty Margaret currently drinks a litre bottle of vodka during the day and more drinks when her partner gets home from work. She also smokes around 60 cigarettes a day. She rarely eats and is stick thin.

Recently Margaret wasn’t feeling very well so her partner took her to the doctor. The doctor ordered some tests which came back fine. His summary of the situation was: “Margaret is as fit as a fiddle, although should probably consider drinking and smoking a bit less.”

🤔

I am honestly amazed she’s still alive, let alone “fit as a fiddle”. Why is it that some people can abuse themselves like that for years with no consequences?

It's all genetics. Let's hope you have the same set as Aunty Margaret!

This is a fascinating thread. A relative and I were discussing another relative the other day. He is 68, 21 stone (125kg approx), type 2 diabetic and his blood sugars are often in the 30's, but generally around 28. Paramedics attend him regularly. He eats takeaways most days, 20 large bags of popcorn a week, 4 eggs and 4 toast for breakfast. He takes more medication than I could list and yet the doctor said his heart, lungs and all are fine. His brother says his iron constitution is down to the fact he is impervious to any stress or concern for others. He is selfish, greedy and happy resting all day. I am in the funeral business and I do funerals for far healthier people. So, as previous poster said, it's simply a case of when your time is up, it's up!

This is my mum, except she's nearly 90. She's had a stroke 15 years ago and this is how she deals with her very restricted life. Drinking and chain smoking. Though more like 1.5 bottles of spirits a week now as she can't get to a shop to buy more since the one in her building closed.

She's alive because she's pickled and smoked. Two excellent preservatives.

And my mum was the most annoyingly fit and healthy person ever. Grew all her own food (was brought up that way so ever ate anything processed), never touched alcohol, never smoked, ran everyday, never, ever ate anything that didn’t come out of the ground it wasn’t meat from a known farm. No sugar, no fun, nothing.

She got colon cancer in her 30s and died at 45.

My dads dad - drank everyday, smoked woodbines, lived off utter shit, died in his sleep at 98 of “old age”, he’d never been near a hospital, still living independently and riding his bike home pissed from the pub most nights.

What ever is going to happen is going to happen. And i’m not being glib or insensitive about that - I’ve just been told I am going blind at 43, just shit luck.

I love smoking!! I'm an ex smoker and so I don't smoke now :( too worried about my health and I never liked the smell on my clothes and breath! But, if there were no health implications, and no foul smell, I would more than happily smoke 3, 4, 5, 6 or more cigarettes an hour!! 🤣🤣

My dad's a heavy drinker. He told me he went for liver tests once and was told a normal liver produces this chemical to break down alcohol (may be paraphrasing) but his liver produces more of it than your average person.

Maybe their bodies are adapting?

But the doctor did tests probably blood tests, so iron, kidney check, apparently liver damage doesn't show up until it's too late - he didn't tell her to run on the spot, stand on one leg or do pressups.

I have a relative just the same and going strong at 96. She is the eldest of 7 siblings, most deceased but all living past 80. She has always had a stress free life as spoilt by her husband and never worked, lots of money. In later life, everyone does everything for her and she's never worried about anything, zero stress!!

Some relatives of mine are like that. I have no idea how they’re alive and so healthy, they drink and smoke loads and eat badly. The whole family live to 90 plus - but in great health, no infirmities. I think it’s just luck.

You do realise you don’t need to be brown to be a Muslim, right? And daft comments about genetics really do need to be backed up by evidence, not just “a Muslim said”.

Grandad was 20 stone + chain smoked his pipe, not one for alcohol in later years but cream cakes were a principal element in his diet which lacked any fruit and only peas or tinned tomatoes (technically fruit I know) occasionally on the veg front. Lived to 92 when covid got him

I can think of a few famous people (generally rock musicians) that are still alive, against the odds so to speak.

68 isn't old though, many people with really poor health can make it to that age. Hopefully he'll live a long life but with all those health problems it isn't likely. I think with medicine now it's more likely you'll live longer but with bad health like that your quality of life will be garbage.

Luck and genetics

And this is what frustrates me about a lot of the narrative around health at the moment. I know so many healthy people who have been diagnosed with devastating illnesses. And people who smoke heavily/don't exercise etc who live long and problem free lives. And thats fine, but I wish we would realise that there is a huge element of luck.

There was a thread the other day about pensions and retirement and people were smugly assuming they would have a long and easy retirement because they are healthy. It baffled me. Of course it's a good idea to be healthy, but it doesn't come with any guarantees

I was slim fit and healthy all the way until my mid thirties. I then developed a serious neurological disease and have to take mounds of pills every day and can't exercise much

Oh that always gets me too. Tomorrow is never guaranteed no matter how fit and healthy you are at this moment in time.

All the stats about lifestyle, illness and death relate to large scale studies. So we might all know someone who smoked and drank till their 90s, but they're the exception rather than the rule. And yes, luck and genetics play a large part.

But my take on it has been that its best to try and be healthy to avoid regret. As I GP I've heard so many patients express massive regret that their lifestyle may have contributed to the fact that they won't see their grandchildren grow up, or they'll be leaving their spouse widowed. Being terminally ill is just horrendous, and many times worse if you feel partly responsible.

I have a similar thing in that I can't figure out how some people get up in a morning.

I don't drink, smoke, or consume much caffeine. I eat nose to tail, am very active, and am always outside. I can't remember the last time I had a take away.

But some mornings I feel so daggy, and I just wonder how other people do it. I guess their bodies just adjust, but in my head, I can't compute how they get up at 6am and do a full day at work.

Just hope you have her genetics.
Consider she might have lived to a very very old age if not for her lifestyle.

You are so right, his quality of life is very poor and he is housebound.
In addition to the diabetes, he also has early stage Parkinsons, a fatty liver, a benign adrenal glad tumour, asthma and various skin conditons!

I know someone like this. He's probably a bit older, pushing 80 maybe, but he should have drunk himself to death a long time ago. He's a completely abusive arsehole and his wife, who is a few years younger, has been trapped looking after him for so long now. Her life has been ruined. Meanwhile, he's fit as a fiddle.

Genes. Who doesn’t know someone who always did all the right things and still died of cancer far too young?

Same reason some people seem to be virtually COVID-proof.

@Moopsi

Today 07:26

I think this about my Dad. He's been very overweight and a functioning alcoholic for about 30 years. High blood pressure, glaucoma, takes SO many pills every day. Has sleep apnea and can barely breathe while he's awake, he basically snores watching TV while he's awake. Yet he's never had a serious illness in his life.

Whereas I'm slim, fit, eat very healthily, never smoked, barely drink etc and have had cancer and other serious illnesses.

Would his "taking so many pills a day" not be an example that if he stopped the medication it would all come falling down like a house of cards and his health would be affected? The drugs are a crutch to his life choices.
All prescribed drugs have side affects on the body too (although more acute than the treated symptoms) so I'm sure over time it's sadly affecting him.
Hope you respond well to your treatment and get back to good health soon 🙏

In European countries, water was purified by turning it into a mild beer. If you were alcohol intolerant, you would have struggled to survive.

Most of these examples of "healthy" relatives in this thread don't seem to be that healthy. Heavily medicated people with poor quality of life.

It's no fun dying whatever you die from but Lung cancer or alcoholism are both particularly shite ways to die.
Everyone 'knows' someone who smoked and drank their way to a merry old age and were as 'fit as a fiddle' but the statistics don't lie. The risks of heavy drinking and smoking are massive and typically take years and years of your age of death.

Is anyone here actually disputing the statistics?