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?

""if you didn't smoke you could afford a Bentley""

You hear the same about not having children. I am not a millionnaire despite not having children...

People's diets were (generally) healthier in ww2 because of rationing.

😂😂 indeed! Great point.

I think we all have a relative like this. My aunt is 60 and is a heavy smoker. And when I say heavy, I mean she used to smoke 40 a day for decades until cigarettes became ridiculously expensive. She now smokes 20 a day and puffs a vape in between lighting up. She also spent ridiculous amounts of time under the sunbed. She used to have one of those lie down ones in her spare room which knowing the safety standards of the 80s probably used nuclear materials. Her diet is about 90% sugar and builders tea and she’s always been very skinny.

To top it off, her teeth are absolutely fine too! How in the hell did she manage that?

There’s no specific blood test for chronic liver damage, it often goes undetected until quite late stage. If they scanned her liver it may tell another story.

@Gwenhwyfar in the UK it still leads a lot of people to an early death but is not as bad as in a lot of countries, about one in five or one in six deaths worldwide is due to air or indoor pollution.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-pollution-applying-all-our-health/air-pollution-applying-all-our-health

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

I say the exact same about my 84 year old relative.
Shes been a drinker since age 14, smoked since 10 years old, still going just fine. Had a stroke about 5 years ago, was fitted a pacemaker, still smoking and drinking, has altered diet somewhat. At this rate she will outlive me.

@Gwenhwyfar but it's interactive, so if you have COPD or asthma, you are more likely to be affected. Richer people in cities have other protective factors that help them live longer (e.g. less likely to have money worries, unemployment, chronic stress, chronic ill health, better food, better housing etc).

She’s 70 which really is all that old. It is very unlikely that she’ll make to 80.

It’s easy to smoke 4 cigs an hour when drinking.. drinking makes me smoke more don’t know why x

Even really simple things will be problematic for her, if she needs surgery, smoking makes the blood stickier, so she's more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.

I am not for living a boring life, but surely you understand the concept of not stacking the odds against you?

About 7% of deaths in London are attributable to poor air quality. There are estimated that pollution causes between 4,500-9,000 excess deaths in London per year.

I do as well. As a lifelong teetotal non smoker why aren't I a millionaire?

She's probably just pickled herself with all the alcohol and will last a long long time...

@Marie2023 I'm sure PPs will have suggested it, but obviously you should encourage Aunty M to leave her body to medical science.

Same here 😂. As an ex-smoker I’m utterly repulsed by it, yet would happily chain smoke my days away if I could.

I’ve known healthy people to suddenly drop dead and raging alcoholics to live till their 90s. It’s luck I think

Surely to be applicable on a population level it must be applicable on an individual level to some extent also.

Agree though that lifestyle is only part of the picture and genetics and luck play a big role, and its influence will vary hugely between individuals.

I think there’s got to be something in the stress idea though. Like other posters, my 80 year old mother smokes like a chimney and pretends not to drink litres of whisky, has kidney and heart disease, and survives on next to no food. She doesn’t really give a shit about anyone or anything though so she will probably outlive me who spends 90% of my time stressing about her.

My Dad smoked around 80 cigarettes a day from 20years of age. He died aged 60 after having suffered from COPD for years and had a total of 6 CVAs.
The financial cost of his and Mums smoking, really impacted on our childhood. There were no holidays and very few treats.
Their addictions came first.

This is such a refreshing honest post
OP is obviously sitting at home thinking ‘how the bloody hell does she do it’
Wouldnt we all like to be like that, not worrying if we re eating too many eggs and not enough cabbage🤣

Think I’ll dust off the bong and have have a large gin tonight

Agree but think it comes down to luck also. It's the same with my family.

Sorry that it impacted your life in such a way. I think this is more likely the norm if you smoke 80 cigs a day, most people aren't going to live a long and healthy life.

I had an Aunt who lived until she was 98. Died in her sleep. She chain smoked. During the war she smoked leaves. She was also stick thin. She also never married, and had a succession of younger men as partners (like decades younger), even into her 90's. She was pretty (in)famous in her town. There are always some who just live forever regardless.

But then living life as an alcoholic is not fun either! So the benefits of being healthy are kind of instant.

I used to smoke heavily and drink quite a lot, and now that I no longer smoke, and drink just occasionally (days in the sun at a festival, a nice glass of wine with dinner, a pint after a hike – maybe once or twice in a month), quality of life is so much better. And I thought I enjoyed it at the time! But in hindsight (and by comparison) I felt like shit and my wellbeing was poor. So it’s not like you’re missing out by being healthy