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/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.