Getting Old

I don't fear many things, but getting old is one.

I might be perfectly fit now but what if I'm knackered by the time I'm 75? What if I can't even go to the toilet by myself? Is the state going to look after me? Is it fook. Will I have the money to pay for a care home or home help? Maybe, but is it fair that you work hard all your life then have to piss all your money away on simply existing?

My gran is currently in a home suffering from dementia. The quality of care seems good but it comes at a cost - around £1500 a month. That quickly ate up her meagre savings and now my folks are having to sell her house to cover future costs. Although I don't want to brand my gran "lucky", at least she has a house to sell to cover costs, many people don't. What happens to them?

It angers me that absolutely nothing is being done about this. And it's only going to get worse.

Do you fear getting old?

Sorry to hear about your gran. 

I don't fear getting old, even though it is shit. I take care of my body though and am in top shape, I'll continue to do that until I die. I do fear getting something that you cannot prevent though such as dementia. 
 
Hopefully my hard work pays off and I stay healthy way into my later years

You'll just deal with it, it'll be shit but everyone gets old.

There are so many points I could add to this thread, but I will bring it down to one. I believe that a major change in the future management of the old, will be the possible introduction of euthanasia.

I believe that it will enter society in one form or another, which to some extent it is already doing, and that unless you have the wherewithal to pay for your self, it will be considered. The world, especially the UK, puts a price on everything, but with the abundance of the old, and the increasing difficulties of caring for them, plus associated ailments, etc, it seems a logical progression.

Its not a very nice solution, but I can genuinely see the conversation arising more and more.

So your answer to the problem of growing old is to bump them off?

It doesn't scare me.
I'm 63 now,and I'm not sure what the future holds,but I'm so accident prone,my life could be cut short in a second.
I wake up,and if I'm still breathing,I get up and toddle off to work. 
I've made no financial provision whatsoever to see me through my final days,I'm spending it on the things/people I love. 
I'm having a great time.
I expect to be found dead in my nineties,after other residents of my sheltered housing block,notice a strange smell,and call the police.
I'll be buried by the state,due to my family being too cheap to stump up for a decent burial.
God only knows what will happen to my Brucie memorabilia,not to mention the Wanderers stuff.

Natasha Whittam wrote:So your answer to the problem of growing old is to bump them off?

No, not mine. Its more likely to originate from the bean counters who can't make ends meet, after all, I'm probably about to join the queue soon. It'll be like a turkey voting for Christmas.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Do you fear getting old?

No. It would be an achievement as I always thought I'd be dead long before this.
Getting old would be great but infirmity and/or dementia worry me but I believe it's possible to age without being unduly ill for long periods and that's exactly what I'd like although it's unlikely to happen.

Euthanasia is an interesting option. I think we should have the right to decide for ourselves if we want to shuffle on but the State criminalises that and anyone who facilitates it. There are risks with giving people that decision especially in the areas of whether or not they are capable of making the decisions themselves - because if they are not, anyone who made that decision for them e.g. the family or Courts would effectively be handing out a death sentence. But with the right caveats in place, the idea has merits.

Where it gets really interesting is if we get to the point that we can legally decide, what reasons are acceptable? For example if I was very old, had no friends or family left and the money to keep me ran out so that my future looked even bleaker, would that do? Economic reasons? Should we even have to give a reason?

boltonbonce wrote:It doesn't scare me. I'm 63 now

63 isn't old.

I'm talking what happens if you reach 85, 90 or even older. Ok, some people will be able to afford care for as long as they live, but the majority won't.

The government should start some scheme that makes it compulsory for young people to save for their old age care.

Let's go champ

Natasha Whittam wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:It doesn't scare me. I'm 63 now

63 isn't old.

I'm talking what happens if you reach 85, 90 or even older. Ok, some people will be able to afford care for as long as they live, but the majority won't.

The government should start some scheme that makes it compulsory for young people to save for their old age care.

My Dad died at 68,so 63 probably feels old to me.

Really can't say how well I'll be in my eighties,but I'm not worrying about it now.

Let's go champ

The one thing I fear about growing old is losing my sight.

boltonbonce wrote:The one thing I fear about growing old is losing my sight.

But you can help somewhat in preventing that Boncey by going having a yearly glaucoma check and an eye test.

The one thing I dread is Alzheimers

The one thing I dread is Alzheimers

Can you print that a bit bigger?

We were having this discussion on Sunday on our way back from our monthly trip to see Mrs B's 96 year old Gran in her care home in Congleton.

She's basically slumped in a chair all day, waiting to die.

She doesn't know where she is, what day it is and what her own name is half the time.

She spends her days in the communal day room with about ten other prisoners and it's a truly depressing sight - Nobody speaks, nobody makes eye contact and it's generally stony silent apart from the radio playing in the background.

My Mum went when she was 67.

That's too young, obviously.

But equally, is being 96 and not being able to wipe your own arse and not having a clue what's going on too old, so to speak?

There must be an optimum point where you've lived long enough and enjoyed life but you're not yet at the point where your brain's fried and you can't feed yourself.

Mid 80's probably.

Current research is looking into a couple of potential causes of alzheimer's one of which is the accumulation of amyloids and other waste products in the brain over long periods of time. These can be washed out by the glymphatic system that circulates spinal fluid around your bonce during deep sleep. However from the age of roughly 40 onwards, people tend to sleep less deeply and for shorter periods (there are a bunch of reasons for this) so scientists are looking into ways to help younger people sleep longer and more deeply as a preventative measure against Alzheimers.
Deep sleep is good for us all in preventing it but it doesn't help if you've already contracted Alzheimer's which can take a few years to manifest itself as the neural networks disintegrate and simultaneously we lose the ability to form new neural connections. Interesting research but probably a bit late for most of us on here. But for the rest of you, 10 o'clock bedtime from here on in if you don't want to be a cabbage.