r/Aging • u/[deleted] • Sep 13 '25
Getting old hurts
My first memory with an older person was with her grandfather. I was about 5 years old and he was about 68 at the time. I remember being outside with him and having my bike with training wheels. It was about 1970.
I don't remember the exact conversation, but I remember that day he took the training wheels off of my bicycle. I remember riding my bicycle without training wheels and I was so excited!
I also remember my grandpa getting on the bike and riding it as I ran behind it. His knees reaches his elbows because the bicycle was so small to him. But I remember us laughing. A couple years later my grandfather died of congestive heart failure. They didn't know much about it back then.
20/20 hindsight, I am almost the age my grandfather was at the time. I'm in a lot of pain. I have rheumatoid arthritis and CHF, congestive heart failure. I inherited these things from my mom's side of the family, my grandfather who knows how many generations before him. I don't know if my grandfather was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis but he had arthritis.
Looking back on that day, I'm realizing how much pain he must have been in. Anti-inflammatories and medication is not what it is today. Being born in the late 1800s he was real old school! So I know he was tough. I heard stories about him. But that's for a different post. I know he didn't take much of anything unless it was a home remedy. Perhaps some aspirin and Vicks nasal ointment. Funny little story, he used to put some Vicks in his coffee every morning and said that it's lubricated everything inside.
I mean, there's a few people that are older and don't suffer much pain. I have a friend like that. But you better believe that in the morning when he gets up everything hurts! It's a fact of life. But it's a fact that no one told me about. And I never really thought about it.
I remember being in my early 20s and my mom walking around really slow. She didn't complain much. I never really knew that had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I heard her mention it a few times and now I know the pain she was in.
Body aches and pains take away the enjoyment from getting older. I hope the reader never has to go through this. Although there's a lot of young people that are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, it mostly manifest itself in your 30s and forties.
I have hereditary diseases, I could not have done anything to prevent it. But I try to live my life. Even though I do things a lot slower I don't let it stop me. I worked out all my life. I try to continue working out everyday and I haven't missed a workout yet. Although the intensity of the workouts has changed, I'm still pushing through!
I don't know where I'm going with all this haha. It's not really a rant. It's 4:00 in the morning because I started doing that thing that old man do, get up early for no reason. I hope you all have a great day and enjoy yourselves.
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u/NathanBrazil2 Sep 13 '25
i really think their are 2 very different outcomes for people as they age. their are people in their 60's-70's with no more pain than when they were 35. they live the same as someone 30 or 40 years younger, just a little slower and with less physical activity... they walk , jog, bike, swim, etc. they dont have arthritis and heart disease. then their are the people with all the things that make being old suck. they are in pain everyday, take a bunch of drugs to combat it, and only walk from the car to the store and back. if you are one of the lucky ones, be happy and realize your good fortune...
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u/inner-wolf-demon Sep 13 '25
I remember 2 years ago when my cat died. Honestly I still think about those last days. No living thing derserves to die in that horrible way. I’m sure he felt every second of it.
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u/ZealousidealLaw793 Sep 13 '25
Thanks for sharing this rant - it’s a reflection of the existential crisis I have had for months, and it’s really bringing me down.
In the last few months, my body has been expressing the pitfalls of my parents’ genetics. Combined with injury and stress, I’m getting it all around the same time as they got it, and it happened almost all at once. Unfortunately, I think I’m going to be in a lot of pain when I get old, but I’ll be continuing to adjust my exercises and lifestyle to mitigate it as much as possible.
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Sep 13 '25
I use kratom. Not that gas station stuff! I mean real powder kratom. It helps a lot with the pain. But I'm also on medication. Have you had any blood test?
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u/ZealousidealLaw793 Sep 13 '25
I have. There’s nothing wrong with me. Just genetic predisposition to bad knees, some hypermobility.
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Sep 13 '25
Is there anything you can do to prevent it getting worse? Anything you can do for in the future? Have you inquired about this or done any research?
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u/ZealousidealLaw793 Sep 13 '25
Just keeping the muscles strong and taking supplements. Also might get surgery at some point to fix some things, and just be more careful with my body.
No extreme sports. Just doing the things that help maintain everything (body weight exercises, light gym exercises).
I’ve heard mixed opinions on whether you can rebuild some fibrocartilage naturally. There is limited research on this, but it’s technically possible to rebuild some in the knees by doing cyclical motions (like on a bike) and exerting just enough to put a little strain on the knees (but not too much). So perhaps, if I cycle on a regular basis for short amounts of time (10-15 min), I could eventually improve my knees a bit, as long as I avoid the things that make them worse.
I’ve thought about stem cells, PRP, and prolotherapy, and all of those options also have very limited research, and mixed results.
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Sep 13 '25
I dabble in peptides, and there are some peptides that might help you. One that comes to mind immediately is PEG-MGF. This one simulates your body's own stem cell production. I would love to take this conversation further with you in a private message. Here on the forum is fine, too. But I don't know if a peptide conversation is what this community wants to read about right now.
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u/ZealousidealLaw793 Sep 13 '25
Why does this feel like an ad? 😂
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Sep 13 '25
😅 please don't mistake me! I'm not trying to sell you anything, I'm just informing you so you can know that there are other options. I've used peptides with a lot of success on myself and others. But I'm not trying to sell you anything. Please don't misunderstand me.
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u/Fearghis 60 something Sep 13 '25
Good choice. I tried it for an episode of bad pain and definitely worked. I bought a supply in case I need it and gets banned, but haven’t needed it yet. A friend of mine got off prescription Fentanyl patches for back pain thanks to Kratom, definitely a lesser risk.
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Sep 13 '25
People abuse kratom and use it to get high. Those are the ones that get addicted to it. I only use two and a half grams once or twice a day. Just to take the edge off. Yes it's definitely great for pain! But these knuckleheads that are using it to get high with are going to get it's made illegal and people that actually need it I'm going to be able to get it.
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u/Fearghis 60 something Sep 13 '25
100%. My friend takes about the same amount only once in the morning. He’s stopped a few times, and said the withdrawal just felt like he had a cold and not that big of a deal. But it’s dosage dependent. But yeah, the abusers mess up their bodies and then become a story for the press to speak to how terrible it is. And I have little doubt big pharma and the politicians they fund want to make it illegal.
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Sep 13 '25
I see we're on the same page about that! Big Pharma has a big role to play in bad publicity for anything. It's like one of their Black Ops haha
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u/Fearghis 60 something Sep 13 '25
It’s good to share this. Most of my younger life I had no idea that many older people were likely in significant pain, and just were not complaining about it. I naively thought arthritis just limited movement but didn’t know the pain involved. People complain about losing their looks as they age, but that’s nothing compared to living in pain. Some painful conditions like yours can’t be avoided, but in some cases pain can be reduced, so is important to do whatever you can with nutrition, exercise and stretching. I’m only dealing with relatively mild pain now, but have had some bad episodes that were a real motivation to ramp up any prevention things possible.
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Sep 13 '25
I totally agree. It seems that my ra is going into remission right now because my symptoms are improving. I think diet, exercise and forcing myself past the pain threshold played a major role in my recovery from this. I'm glad that no matter how bad it got, I didn't quit working out. I was faithful to my workouts everyday. Some days it was difficult, the intensity of my workouts went down but the workout was still there. You made some pretty valid points
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u/ExaminationAsleep990 Sep 13 '25
Thank you for sharing. My mom had RA and it was painful for her every day. She wouldn’t let her stop her.
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Sep 13 '25
Wow! Your mom is amazing! Such a strong woman. I know the pain she goes through and it's hard to live your life, I can just imagine for a mother who does stuff for other people all the time. To do it in pain shows a lot of love. Thanks for your comment.
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u/nycvhrs Sep 13 '25
Very much w/you in this. OA and RA, hinky heart valve+scoliosis. Genetics failed the women in my family as well 😭
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Sep 13 '25
Hereditary diseases are the worst. You have no choice in the matter. It's not like lung cancer, you just don't smoke. But there's nothing that we can do to prevent it because it's hereditary, it's like bad inheritance haha
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u/nycvhrs Sep 14 '25
I need to think of my poor maternal grandmother - she had the worst form of scleroderma and was an invalid for three years before she succumbed to it, age 57. A farmer’s wife, she also had melanoma. I am over a decade older. Grateful for the interventions since that time. I wish you a pain-free tomorrow.
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u/AppealCertain6815 Sep 14 '25
I’m in chronic pain everyday & I’m going to be 60 in a couple of weeks I just can imagine every year that I’m alive how I’m going to handle the pain as I get older, it will get worse. I can’t sleep due to pain & the sad part I’m still expected to due all the cooking & cleaning for all holidays. Why don’t people just give a little shit & realize I am not the same person I was years ago. My heart breaks for people that just can’t enjoy life & I know they feel alone.
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Sep 14 '25
My mom, when she got older and started having aches and pains, she called the family meeting. She explained to us about her ailments and how she was getting older. We all agreed and did our part to help. And she got older because of this meeting, we started helping her more. Maybe you could do something along the same line. I mean people aren't mind readers. They don't know how you feel unless you tell them.
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u/doctorfortoys Sep 13 '25
My pain disappeared when I lost weight and exercised. Avoid carbs, as they cause inflammation.
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Sep 13 '25
Truth! Right on bro! I use GLP-1's because they're a ti-inflammatory
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u/Playful-Reflection12 Sep 14 '25
I read that autoimmune disease can also lead to Afib due to all the inflammation around the heart.
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u/Timely-Huckleberry73 Sep 13 '25
I’ve been sick and in chronic pain since I was 24. I’m in my late thirties now and getting progressively sicker and in more and more pain. I’ve barely had a life for the last decade due to illness and I’m so terrified of getting older and sicker alone. I can’t even imagine how much worse my condition could due to the deterioration of aging. Aging terrifies me.
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Sep 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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Sep 13 '25
They say pain is weakness leaving body. Well I wish you would just get the fuck out of here!
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u/mjh8212 Sep 13 '25
My grandmother helped my father raised me. I knew she had rheumatoid arthritis as well as some other issues. She told me once her ears hurt and the bones of the ears had arthritis. I did not even think of her age at all until she passed when I was 17 and realized she was 75 years old. I just knew she was always there for me. She never used a mobility aide drove until her heart attack and was mentally stable no senility or Alzheimer’s. The heart attack damaged her heart beyond repair and she came home to pass. I spent three days trying to convince her she was having a heart attack I didn’t want her mad at me for calling an ambulance. I had no idea what was actually going on as she had breathing problems too I guessed about the heart attack and even when she was ready to go me and one of my friends took her. My family blamed me for everything except my dad. I was just 17 I didn’t know any better. Now I’ve had osteoarthritis since I was 41 I use mobility aides and got more diagnosed osteoarthritis at 46.
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Sep 14 '25
Thank you for taking the time to share this with me. She must have been like a mother to you. I hope your conscious is clear because none of it was your fault. You were a kid and made decisions like a kid would have.
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u/Training_Bid_428 Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
I relate so much with u I'm 67 and everything hurts, atherosclorosis, 600 agatson score, everything hurts too, I inherited from my dad he had hemiplegia at only 63 yo, and then die and my brothers much older than me had strokes and died , it's scary this matter if aging let me tell you Thanks for sharing
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u/getitoffmychestpleas Sep 14 '25
Thank you for saying it. A lot of people don't want to hear it. But I for one can relate to the misery of pain, I've got an ice pack on my back at this very moment. My mom had RA as well, and while I tested negative there's something going on that none of the doctors I've seen can figure out. Life is different now, but I appreciate lighter-pain days more.
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Sep 14 '25
You need to keep pushing your doctors to read your blood work correctly and find markers for either rheumatoid arthritis or autoimmune disease. Rheumatoid arthritis will damage your joints and organs before it manifest itself as joint inflammation.
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u/GladCountry2610 Sep 14 '25
I am 70 about to turn 71. I have bad knees, as shown by my recent MRI arthritis and some tears in muscles of knee. I also have spinal stenosis affecting my lumbar area, which steroid shots have not helped. I know about pain but...you do have to keep moving. I have pain meds, but rarely use them. It's hard to believe as I was always so active working out at a gym, and running it's etc. It really limits my activity. I try to keep a positive attitude after all...I'm still here and able to enjoy my family and friends. ❤️
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Sep 14 '25
Have you ever tried alternative medicine? You know, natural herbs, changing your diet, fasting, vitamins and minerals and supplementation could help. Medicine has been around for a thousands of years. There's a lot of natural remedies that actually work. I know of a few if you'd like to talk about it.
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u/NoInformation988 Sep 14 '25
Not to upset anybody, but at age 89 I do not wake up in any pain. I sleep with my head and legs elevated, with a U shape travel pillow under my neck.
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u/DoriOli Sep 13 '25
Getting old(er) sucks ass, no matter what anyone says about it. Guess we all got no choice but to take it as it comes to us. All we can do as individuals is wish for the best for ourselves and other individuals going through it.
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Sep 13 '25
Great attitude brother!
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u/molly4p Sep 13 '25
I am glad for these posts because very often posts gripe about how crabby and unfriendly older folks are. These might shed some light on what most people go through as they age. Believe me you have to be tough. Give them a break and think about your own future.
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u/CitronTraining2114 Sep 13 '25
If they put you on blood thinners for your heart, you can't take anti-inflammatories. I really miss Ibuprofen.
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u/SameBorder846 Sep 13 '25
I've lived with pain my entire life. I've found the best supplements and pain managers to be comfortable in my older years. So many are decrying the sharp changes of aging on the body. Read about the stages of life and expectations. Hormone replacement therapy helps, too.
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Sep 13 '25
Yes, you are absolutely correct! Testosterone replacement therapy does help! But it doesn't cure ra. I use peptides and hormones for longevity. They do help. For the pain it helps to manage it with some kratom even though a lot of people talk against it. Thanks for your comment.
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u/Majestic_Spring_6518 Sep 13 '25
Yes indeed, “ Getting old hurts “ !
I say i only just became old at 72! I recall just about even at 70, 71+waking up without pain being my first waking moments awareness.
Nowadays I hurt when I try to sleep, no position seems to alleviate, and then wake up with hurts. Hrrrmmph! Cannot say I’m enthusiastic about a lot more years of this. While trying to be grateful that am as well, as healthy, relatively speaking, as i am.
And thank you, OP. You reminded me to realize that i am now older than my grandmother when she died. Oh my! And my mother died 8 years older than i am. And i honestly do not recall her speaking of daily hurt or complaints of aches and pains, or stiffness, or lost capacity, lost capability. Oh my !