things with my health follow my parents' with years delay

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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11 Sep 2017, 2:49 pm

Fair warning, this is a long one.

Interesting how things with my health follow my parents' with anywhere from 5 to 20 years delay.
What from today started that thought:

Went to see doctor about a possible ear infection which began being felt Saturday morning; and, was concurrent pain in scalp on same side part of it or its own thing.. Determination was no infection, just acute allergy symptoms. (I've had ear allergy and infections all my life but they have mellowed substantially since childhood, which is good, those so painful gotta scream ones are not missed) The scalp thing, though, after looking she said keep watch on it and look out for lesions from shingles.
Oh.
Great.
If that happens then Mom and Dad can't come visit next week because his immune system is mare screwed up than mine. And it may be also a factor that several years ago Mom had shingles.
...
on her scalp.

Which brings us to the opening thought about how things with my health follow my parents' with anywhere from 5 to 20 years delay.

-->Mid 1980s, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, CFS/ME, forced medical retirement from his USN career.
--> Mid to late 1980s, or near to it, Dad, and his mom, Grandma, diagnosed with neuropathy. Mid 1990s, yep, me.
20 years later, same ended my working days.
--> Early 1990s Mom had to have gall bladder out
--> Early 2000s I had to have gall bladder out while having concurrently gallstones, gall bladder infection, kidney stones.
Put a whole new perspective on a '10' on the 1 to 10 pain scale
--> Somewhere along the way Mom had a cyst grow on her throat skin. Yep, you guessed it, several years later, same for me.
--> Now the shingles thing, Mom several years ago, and potential now for me.
In the same place.

As an added bonus at no extra charge, in mid 1970s Mom had a couple disks blow in her spine while sitting at lunch table at home. High-powered Navy doctors at Bethesda gave her 50/50 chance of walking again. She got the best 50. But no more tennis and water skiing. Mid 1990s, I hurt my back working retail moving boxes and it still occasionally sends me to the ER and makes me use a cane for a time or, so far rarely, a walker.

I'd really like to skip the diabetes which runs in Mom's side of the family and the old age hearing loss which runs in Dad's.

Yes, I am a bit stressed at the moment.
Especially about maybe having to cancel visit next week when they go to nearby city to look at senior housing.
Because of my health it is they who have to drive the 100 miles to visit me since I can't make that trip on my own.
That's just wrong, at these ages I should be helping them, not them helping me.
But on the up side, I have parents who do help - not everyone has that, which is sad.

And in other news, several weeks ago Georgie cat started this thing of sitting or lying near me and brushing the tip of his tail back and forth against me.
Thanks to any one of 3 neurological situation, neuropathy, fibro, autism, THAT HURTS!
A solid touch, that's fine, a feather light brush against misfiring neurons - THAT HURTS!
Why after 8 years did that start NOW?
What's the deal?


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C2V
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13 Sep 2017, 3:19 am

Gah, health issues. I commiserate.
It's true some things can be genetic, or at least a genetic predisposition or supposed link, but I'm sure you know there are things you can do to combat something you know you have a genetic predisposition for.
I have about a dozen genetic diseases that all come from my maternal grandmother. In a way it's handy to know what she had, and what can be done to counterbalance that problem or what to look out for / be aware of, because it gives me the opportunity to take better care of my health than she did. She was a very unhealthy person.
Same for you - if you know the problems your parents had and they may be likely to affect you, you can get the jump on them early, so to speak, before they become as much of a problem for you as they were for your parents.
Especially for things like ruptured disks for example, there are strengthening exercises you can do to build up erector spinae and prevent this kind of thing happening or worsening, and stretches that can help of a yoga style. You might also be more contentious of keeping up bone and cartilage health and observing proper lifting techniques than someone who had never had that problem or been aware of it.
Just a positive spin. Hope you're feeling better soon. :)


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