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?

How much is a packet of 20 Bensons? 3 packs a day and a giant bottle of vodka? Bloody hell. That's a lot of money.

The health information is not made up,there is no doubt that tobacco and alcohol has negative impact on health. Statistically if you smoke heavily you are more likely to develop respiratory illnesses , heart problems etc. If you drink heavily you are more likely to ruin your liver and your brain .
But that doesn't mean that everyone will be affected this way. Some people are very lucky but many aren't.

Exactly this with the pickled and smoked lol, and genes of course. I bet if she stopped drinking and smoking her body would go into shock 😲

Alcoholic fil also told us 'doctor says I'm fine'. He was of course lying and was dead very soon after.

That was my grandmother. Then at 72, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, sadly she'd kept quiet that she had found a lump so by the time she was diagnosed, she only had a few months.

Some people have longevity genes. My grandad smoked roll ups and lived to 91. The disgraced politician Cyril Smith was hugely obese and lived to over 80

Another thing which has just occurred to me is another program I watched where they compared identical twins, their lifestyles and their life expectancies. There was a set of twins where one of them had a healthy lifestyle and a high powered and high stress job. The other was a bit overweight and was less arsed about her lifestyle, but she was semi retired quite young. When they ran tests, the chubby, less stressed one was predicted a longer life expectancy and the other one was (understandably) miffed.

Wonder if stress is a factor people don't really consider. My smoky boozy gran didn't really work and never did anything like babysit. Just went to mass, marched about and got pissed. Maybe it was low stress which helped her live a shockingly long life

I'm a community nurse, working with patients for 20 years.

I agree a lot of it seems to be luck and genetics.

I've cared for young patients they have been super healthy, ran marathons and eaten all the right things and then died of cancer.

I've also looked after patients in their 90s or older who have abused their body in every possible way but keep going on cigarettes and booze. Nurses usually only popping in to check bloods or blood pressure.

I have also cared for patients who have alcohol or smoking related health problems and that's been enough to put me off drinking and smoking for life. The fact that some patients get away with it is not enough of a guarantee for me.

My mum is 72, was an alcoholic for years and smoked so much it turned out living room ceiling yellow. Hasn’t exercised in 40 years, sits in a chair most of the day (which is meant to be terrible for you), just the most sedentary person you could imagine.

Still going strong.

I had a couple of relatives like this. Both drank enough Scotch to keep a distillery in business single-handed, ate whatever they pleased, took very little exercise and got well into their 80s. I can only conclude that they don't make them like that any more.

My dad is very heavy smoker and drinker. He is 74 and had no health problems until 2 years ago. He got prostate and bowel cancer (sailed through the treatment) both in remission. Got double pneumonia, bladder infection and sepsis last month, nearly died, hospital were very surprised her survived. But they diagnosed with him with emphysema (we suspected he had this) and he is fairly unwell at the moment.

Through all his hospital appts many of which I attended, I realised that dad was hearing what he wanted to hear eg dr took check xray and told dad his lungs were “clear”. Dad took this to mean healthy lungs no ill effects from smoking when really what it meant was no infection.
Dad took in the positive information and didnt hear or misremembered the negative stuff.

@Marie2023 My paternal grandmother was the same an alcoholic chain smoker all her life. Died at 83 from a massive stroke quick and sudden. Still as sharp as a tack. She had started drinking and smoking before she even hit her teens ( her father was an alcoholic too). She easily smoked 100 cigarettes a day lighting each cigarette from the previous one and drank at least a litre of whiskey and a fair amount of brandy every day. She was pretty awful as a person it has to be said but seemingly had the constitution of an ox despite her petite 4feet ten frame.

Aunty Margaret might have won the genetic lottery, though who knows if she is really reporting accurately what the doctor said.

It doesn’t sound much of a life, though: nicotine stained, perpetually sozzled and barred from family occasions due to her behaviour.

I had an alcoholic neighbour once who was also a heavy smoker, came knocking on my door once at 5am because he had an emergency. The emergency being that he had run out of fags and didn’t have any money. He was most contrite the next day when he had sobered up. Poor guy, was quite a pleasant bloke, but died of liver failure in the end. He went bright yellow and was terribly unwell, still couldn’t give up his bottles of White Lightning. 😢 He was only in his 60s. I suppose it was quite something that he made it that far.

@hiredandsqueak I think I've read that shorter people tend to live longer than taller people actually. The difference is only a couple of what's though and there might not be any reason for it!

FIL died from cirrhosis of the liver in his 60's, he was always very over weight but never to the point where he couldn't get around or where it stopped him doing anything, he smoked and liked a glass of wine with dinner but was never obviously drunk or slurring. I always wondered with the number of very over weight people around and the number of people who drank far more why he got it, but maybe it's far more common than I'm aware. It's a horrible, horrible disease though, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I just does seem there are some people like this - people who live to 86 despite a diet of chips, people who make 40 a day and make it to 90. One of life's mysteries!

@Choconut obesity and smoking can cause liver disease, even if he wasn't a heavy drinker. Just because someone can still move about doesn't mean they aren't terribly unhealthy.

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.”

yeah, thats what the doctor couldn't tell you due to GDPR and Aunty Margaret wanted to hear so tells everyone else, the dp keeps stumbling or lies as well

Maybe it's that generation, and the natural world order correcting the balance?

I read somewhere that after the massive loss of men during the world wars, more boy babies were born. Of course lots of both men and women died.

Maybe that generation were ordained to live longer ?

I know nothing about science and I've just plucked this thought from thin air so am sure it'll be thoroughly debunked !

It’s luck and genetics.

Though I have never seen anyone who drank/smoked heavily who didn’t look awful. The blotchy red skin, smokers mouth, stained fingers etc tell the truth.

I read somewhere that after the massive loss of men during the world wars, more boy babies were born. Of course lots of both men and women died.

Maybe that generation were ordained to live longer ?

or maybe sugar rationing played a large part

My old college friend died last year from cancer, she was a medical professional who was incredibly fit and ate healthily the absolute opposite of your Aunty she died from an aggressive cancer aged 54 leaving behind two daughters aged only 10 and 12. My chain smoking Mother was almost 94 when she died, she had also been pregnant 11 times which takes a toll on the body, had six living children, married four times. One DH was unfaithful, one beat her on a regular basis and another was an alcoholic, plus she suffered when her Father committed suicide in the family home, related to his service during WW2 when she was 15. To say she was a survivor is an understatement.

Would explain my grandad. He cared for noone but himself, checked out of family life, did as he pleased and expected my gran to have everything ready for him even though he wouldn't ever tell her when he'd be back or give her enough money to run a house whilst he pissed the rest up a wall. Even when she passed he then imposed himself on his daughter and just lived as he pleased just drinking himself stupid.

Because she’s basically pickled herself?