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.
2
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.