To say most people....

[TinaTeaspoons]

Have a long term health condition by the time they are 40?
DH has UC and RA both diagnosed within 2 years of each other in his thirties. He turned 38 yesterday and gone on a downward spiral despite both conditions being managed well. I think it was because at his party yesterday, he couldn't drink (due to his meds) or dance with the rest of us. Trying to make him feel better and see that many people have long term health concerns which may not be visible.

I'm sad to see how ableist loads of these replies are.

I think it may be that as we age things get diagnosed - I have a long term health condition but I've mostly likely had it my whole life (looking to back to teen years and earlier I can see what was actually symptoms). But it was only in my late 30s/early 40s that I began really struggling with combined family commitments and work and got properly investigated. Several people I know are in the same boat - some diagnosed with genetic diseases that they've had since birth! Just easier to push through things with younger energy, or be dismissed by health professionals who think someone young who 'looks' healthy can't actually be struggling.

Expected healthy life expectancy varies from about 50 to about 70 years and is very clearly linked with deprivation.
Not exactly the same as not having a long term health condition - but clearly depends a huge amount on social background.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthinequalities/bulletins/healthstatelifeexpectanciesbyindexofmultipledeprivationimd/2018to2020

Sorry but most people don't have long term health conditions by the time they are 40 or even 60. I'm very sorry your partner has been so unfortunate but it's very unusual.

I would say a lot of people do but not most. Personally I’ve had a couple of long term conditions from birth and another since teenage years (35 now), but most people don’t know this as I don’t let them affect my work or social life. I think a lot of people are like this, you wouldn’t know it unless they told you.

Sorry but that's ridiculous. Apart from anything else (statistics, etc.) this thread isn't about congenital conditions it's about people developing health conditions in their 30s or later.

Oh, there was me thinking that having a chronic illness that gets increasingly worse as I aged constituted a long term health condition but now I know that it doesn't count I'll let my people know and they too can showboat on MN about the health of their peers as though they have achieved something by the absence of sick people around them. Thanks 👍

Your situation is obviously very difficult, but people are just responding to the question asked by OP.

I honestly don't know anyone my age (41) with a long term health condition. The only person is a friend who is diabetic type 1 but she was diagnosed as a teenager. I'd say its rare to have a long term health condition at 40, my mum is 78 and doesn't even have one. My dad has been on blood pressure tablets since he was in his mid 60s, I'd say roughly around that age is most likely.

Mine all crept in at 60 and all together post covid!! It totally sucks!! Before that I was overweight by about 4 stone but suprisingly few ailments

Those are two big conditions to be living with at an age when most are still healthy. I'm 39 and thinking through my friends there's not much going on bar things like well controlled asthma - in the wider circle there's one with T1 diabetes, another with Crohns but that's in a massive circle.

A party with drinking and dancing sounds a bit shit if he can't do either, would he prefer something else in future? Who planned the party?

I'm almost 44 and have no health problems yet (touch wood) My Mum is 77 and is still very sprightly. She walks everywhere because she can't drive and looks after my 11 year of niece about 80% of the time.

I know..it makes for rather unpleasant reading.

And there's some kind of implicit suggestion we are maybe at fault (I think it's just easier for people to think being healthy and wealthy will make them immune).

Many people in your circles will have chronic conditions they don't speak about. I have only told a handful of people outside my family, mainly work colleagues on a need to know basis. So if you know me you would probably count me as one of your friends that doesn't have a condition. My symptoms are invisible and I just manage them quietly.

OP said "by the time they're 40". People are usually born before they're 40!

As so many of us have said, it's fairly usual for conditions that start early to be more manageable or overlooked entirely for decades. They become more insistent as middle age approaches - or, if we're lucky, even later. If you're relatively young, you wouldn't know how many of your friends are developing health problems. You might not even know if you are: I didn't, BUPA's finest annual health checks notwithstanding.

I agree there's a prickly undercurrent of health snobbery to this thread.

Yeah I agree. I haven't told anyone apart from very close family about my health problems. When I think about why it's because I fear the judgement that people on this thread display. I'm healthy, like it's some kind of badge of honor, like if you aren't 'healthy' you've done something to deserve it. Breathlessness is something I suffer with due the condition my GP thinks I have(waiting for diagnosis by cardiology), I feel so embarrassed that I can find myself feeling and looking like I can't catch my breath when I haven't really done anything at all. I do an average of 1.5hrs of exercise a day, it isn't that I am unfit but I know people judge me as being so, I've had comments on it which I just laugh off because who wants to tell everyone a detailed medical history.

It's hard seeing threads like this where you realise that actually your fears aren't unfounded and people do feel like they are better than you because you were unfortunate enough to get ill and they weren't.

It's hard seeing threads like this where you realise that actually your fears aren't unfounded and people do feel like they are better than you because you were unfortunate enough to get ill and they weren't.

yes, exactly

So my autism (sleep disorder since age 15) and blood pressure (since early 40s) are because I am in a lower class? Cheers!

I’m sorry if some of you are getting an ableist vibe from this thread. I’m sure it’s not intended and that posters are just answering the OP’s question.

I think some of the replies about class are in reply to my question upthread where I queried it.

I was viciously attacked and later received a diagnosis of chronic pain age 27. I've had OCD since a very young child, plus a few other mental health conditions including complex ptsd. Underactive thyroid, few other types of pain diagnoses all before 40. I'm 44 now.

YABU, don't think this is the case. He's been unlucky.

I wouldn’t say it’s normal for people with LT health conditions to be in the majority at 40, no. I would say that’s pretty unusual.

I’m in my early 50s, I sadly have known a few people succumb to cancer but aside from that my friends are in pretty rude health. There may be some autoimmune disease here and there but nothing that debilitates them.

Whoever mentioned class: it’s mainly demographics and wealth rather than class but I do think (at risk of being flamed) that certain historically “working class” attitudes are likely to correlate with if not cause poorer health outcomes. I’m talking mainly about poor quality food (high fat and sugar and too much meat) and tolerance of smoking; the middle classes drink as much if not more than poorer people. I think lower paid jobs tend to put far more strain on mental health, too. So the “class” label may be a blunt tool but it’s definitely a factor.

I'm 47. I started developing chronic conditions at 30. I've now got 9 fully diagnosed conditions at 47 years old. I thought I was fairly normal, clearly not.

Is that what you meant, OP? I took it you were including congenital conditions, which may be diagnosed at birth but often aren’t until later.

I'm in my late 50s, very fat, but I don't have any health conditions. I can't think of anyone in my circle of friends or colleagues that does suffer with a regular medical problem. I'm sure the time will come though!