2020

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
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I'm hoping "Twenty-Twenty" will be a better year for me than the one just ended and I'm hoping to use the phrase as added incentive to MAKE it better.

I plan to lose 20lbs. My plan at the start of last year was to lose about a stone. I didn't have a specific target in mind; just enough to get back comfortably into my neatest-fitting 34" waist trousers. Long gone are the days when my 32"-waist grey 'work' trousers were hanging on my hips as I got my weight down to 9-10 on the Rosemary Conley Diet. I can still get into all my 34"-waist trousers but some of them are a wee squeeze. Then again, about four years back I could only get into one of them. On January 1st last year I took what I call the scenic route to church. I can do the normal route in 22 minutes if I walk as though I'm late for the bus, otherwise it's a 25-minute walk. The scenic route is another half-mile or so as it takes in the perimeter of the local park. I did this last year and couldn't walk for the next three months. At first I was diagnosed with gout but a later x-ray confirmed bone erosion in the joint of the big toe. So that was any weight-bearing exercise ruled out, effectively confining me to swimming. While I enjoy the occasional swim, I find it extremely boring as a longer-term activity.

I suspect my inactivity is at the root of my depression but it was then exacerbated by other factors I was powerless to do anything about. Then when I went for a game of snooker I'd end up with severe backache requiring prescription painkillers. I couldn't play golf unless I had a partner because I don't have great eyesight even with my glasses and my brothers live some distance away so I was limited to the range where it didn't really matter if I couldn't see where the ball was going. The other factors affected my availability for golfing too and I had to curb that.

I'm hoping for 20-20 eyesight by the summer. I've had serious problems with my eyesight since September meaning I can't study my hard-copy form. I've had two different procedures since then, the latter confining me to inactivity for six weeks, the first two of which prohibited me from moving for 50 minutes in every hour. However, all the signs were positive at my most recent check-up but my vision has changed and I now need further surgery to remove my cataracts and replace the eye lenses. Those procedures are due to start in March and I'm hoping to find out in Feb if the replacements will be prescription based, either eliminating the need for glasses or at least reducing the strength of prescription needed.

Social services have finally stepped in to help with the 'other factors' which have blighted the year and I'm hoping it allows Mrs O and me to be able to have a more active and healthier lifestyle for ourselves.

Because I've been unable to study the form the way I'd like to, I've massively reduced my betting. I won't risk big money on flimsy study so I'm really just betting for the sake of an interest in the better races. Maybe having more time to be more active will see that be a permanent situation.

Anyway, whatever may be your own plans and hopes for the coming year - dare I say decade? - may they all be fulfilled to the max.

Take care all.
 
Thanks Mo

Best wishes with the recovery and I'm all but certain that being more active will have a positive influence on you

I hope you can still enjoy racing
 
Sorry to hear of your problems, Mo. It`s a cliche but so very true that our health is our wealth. I`ve been retired 11 years now and in that time I`ve lost a couple of good friends and seen a couple more succumb to serious life-changing illnesses. Getting old is a bugger once health problems kick in. I`ve been fortunate with my health (if not with my gambling!!). What works for me is regular 4/5 mile walks. As well as the physical benefits I believe it`s a great aid to de-stressing and clearing the mind. I also always have a book on the go. Nothing too heavy, though!! Hopefully, I`m keeping both body and mind ticking over.

Of course, what works for me wont necessarily work for everybody. But keep positive and keep searching for ways to improve your lot, Mo....don`t let it ground you down. Good luck and take care.
 
If you can't do weight bearing exercises you could still do weights etc at the gym perhaps? Cutting out bread makes me feel better but every so often I start eating it again and that's what I'm doing now. I've got a Rosemary Conley book that's ancient that I refer back to sometimes.
 
There used to be an element of weight lifting in my gym routine. The year before last I sneezed while sitting watching TV and had to call the emergency doctor as it temporarily paralysed me. I honestly thought I'd broken my back but then it occurred to me that maybe if I'd broken my back I wouldn't even feel pain. I couldn't speak due to the pain so couldn't call for help. My wife was in another room but by a stroke of luck I still had my mobile next to me (I usually switch it off in the house) and was able to text "Help" to her. She was the one who called the doctor. It took me months to get over that, during which time I was told to restrict myself to walking and running. I didn't want to risk swimming in case I took another back seizure in the water.

For all that, I consider myself very fortunate in terms of overall health and well-being. I see so many of my primary school classmates on our FB site and most of those still going seem so much older (I'm 64). My younger brother has survived a heart attack and my older brother prostate cancer. Nothing serious ever comes up during my check-ups and lang may my lum reek.

The eyes thing was a scare at the time but I'm being looked after by one of the country's top ophthalmological consultants - again a stroke of good fortune - and he's making positive noises. I've been given permission to fly again, which is at least two months sooner than scheduled, and should be able to drive for a few more years yet, God willing.

I just feel I need to do my bit and keep myself in as good shape as possible. I wouldn't want to do anything to undermine the good work the health service has done and is continuing to do for me with these and other issues.

Losing weight and being more active should help. I tend to eat pretty healthily but do have a very hearty appetite for good old traditional meals. I tend not to eat fast food other than my friday night fish supper (which I halve with Mrs O).

I'm 8 years retired but worked part-time for the first three of them and I'd say not working is not conducive to keeping my weight in check. I do eat less to compensate but the 'other factors' mentioned elsewhere have put serious restrictions on our ability to just get up and be active so we're stealing half-days as and when we can to get out and about. As I said, social services have now recognised how much more help we need and are providing it so that's another step forward.

Thanks for the kind responses and thoughts.
 
Sorry to hear you are having health issues. How about an exercise bike? Weight bearing and adjustable tension? I always park as far away as the shop entrance as I can ..not much in a single instance but it all adds up.
Hope you have a better 2020. :) x
 
Keep fighting on, Maurice. The difficulties with your eyesight and your back would knock anyone's confidence and the "other factors" clearly don't help either, but I think you're adopting the right by approach by trying to take back some degree of influence over your health. Like you, I have found in the short period since retiring that it was doing nothing for my physical condition. For years I had resisted the idea of joining a gym but recently I gave in, and although there is not yet any visible evidence of the benefits I am enjoying it and definitely feeling the better for it.
 
Yes, definitely.

When I first joined the local gym about three years ago, i had already got a decent hold on my weight and was walking a fair bit on my own to compensate for the loss of my wee canine buddy.

I joined a circuit training class (all ages) and pretty soon was hammering through it. (Truth be told there was an exceptionally good-looking 40-something woman there I was trying to impress.) Between that and the swimming I felt I'd got into a proper routine but then the back went and it's been pretty much one thing after another since.

I'm a persistent little cuss though and am pretty determined to roll back these last few unfortunate years.

I'm still a helluva lot healthier and fitter than a lot of people my age!
 
I love going to the gym but either go all the time or don't go at all. Determined to start again next week as Mike is taking the demon dog away for a week so I can get on top of things that have slipped. On the subject of eyes, one of the few supplements I now take is Maccushield. It was recommended on Trust me I'm a doctor; normally they'll suggest a change of diet but said that it would cost too much to eat your way through the ingredients contained in the capsules, the important one being meso zeozanthin [sp]. I alternate them with a cheaper Boots version that contains zeozanthin [sp] and buy them when they're on offer. I think they're recommended by hospitals if anyone is having work done on their eyes. Also take turmeric. My cousins husband is one of the remaining people in my family that have always bet on the horses and he's losing his sight so can't study the form properly, but he still goes to the bookies each day and has a bet. He's on my dad's side of the family; they come from and still live in Peaky Blinders territory. I really wish I could get him a computer so he could listen to racing radio every day.
 
Thanks, Moehat. I'll look that stuff up.

I used to take Lutein supplements when I was first told I had macular degeneration but the specialist in the eye clinic who was treating me at the time didn't seem too enthusiastic about them. All she said was, "They probably won't do you any harm."

I haven't taken them for a while and at my last big examination I was told the degeneration appears to have stabilised. That was a wee brucie bonus for me. Long may that continue.
 
I find that a lot of consultants/specialists are very sniffy about anything they can't prove is 100% effective. I couldn't walk for nearly 9 months and it was an osteopath [or the other one] that got me walking again. When I mentioned it to the consultant that I eventually got to see he seemed pretty irritated by the fact I'd been cured by someone other than himself. When I worked at a medical centre they always kept some IQ tablets in the dispensary so they must have been prescribed to some people, but I bet they don't prescribe them any more due to cut backs
 
I had traditional acupuncture to try and sort my migraines out about a year ago. I usually get them every six weeks and they always last three days. Most of the time I can’t function and have to lie in a darkened room. I have tried every medication going but nothing touched them. Until I tried acupuncture. I was migraine free for 8 months after the course I had. But sadly I can’t afford to keep having them and my local NHS is happier to provide drugs which don’t work or useless physio appointments which don’t work either. But acupuncture isn’t deemed as being understood by doctors therefore they won’t prescribe it for free.
 
Big year for me in that I turn 60 (I know, how do I still look this good?) and in a month step down to reboot a new career after ~36 years building quite a comfortable life through Silicon Valley tech companies investing in Ireland. It's a great decision, carefully made, but I am, as they say in the part of Northside Dublin I come from, shittin' it. One of my fears is that injury prevents my golf, squash and cycling plans. I've suffered from back muscle problems for years, done all the medical stuff etc and then 6 months ago somebody casually mentioned tumeric with black pepper capsules as a remedy. Within two weeks my pain had eased and within a month was playing squash twice a week having been on/off for about a year.

I mentioned this to an eminent heart surgeon I know well and he laughed patronisingly at my gullibility. Ironically we were playing squash at the time.
 
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an capall said:
Big year for me in that I turn 60 (I know, how do I still look this good?) and in a month step down to reboot a new career after ~36 years building quite a comfortable life through Silicon Valley tech companies investing in Ireland. It's a great decision, carefully made, but I am, as they say in the part of Northside Dublin I come from, shittin' it. One of my fears is that injury prevents my golf, squash and cycling plans. I've suffered from back muscle problems for years, done all the medical stuff etc and then 6 months ago somebody casually mentioned tumeric with black pepper capsules as a remedy. Within two weeks my pain had eased and within a month was playing squash twice a week having been on/off for about a year.

I mentioned this to an eminent heart surgeon I know well and he laughed patronisingly at my gullibility. Ironically we were playing squash at the time.
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It's important to incorporate oil, pepper and heat with the turmeric. I make golden paste and make a milky drink with it. Supposed to help with memory related problems, too, although doesn't seem to be helping mine. Does thin the blood slightly so must be avoided if anyone is having an operation. I gave it to my last dog when she was getting a bit creaky and it really turned her around. note to self; start taking it again; like everything else I go through phases with it. When I don't get round to making a drink with it I don't bother to take a capsule, thinking it's not as effective, when it wouldn't do any harm just to take one.
 
jinnyj said:
I had traditional acupuncture to try and sort my migraines out about a year ago. I usually get them every six weeks and they always last three days. Most of the time I can’t function and have to lie in a darkened room. I have tried every medication going but nothing touched them. Until I tried acupuncture. I was migraine free for 8 months after the course I had. But sadly I can’t afford to keep having them and my local NHS is happier to provide drugs which don’t work or useless physio appointments which don’t work either. But acupuncture isn’t deemed as being understood by doctors therefore they won’t prescribe it for free.
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My DIL that had suffered with migraines for many years, had botox injections which seemed to help. Don't know how she managed to get them, though, although she does work for the NHS; perhaps it was to stop her having so much time off work? My migraines seemed to be diet related. Spent one New Year drinking just orange juice and the next day I was the only one that was ill. Also age related; the migraines disappeared with the hormones. And always at a weekend when I'd slept slightly longer than usual. They really are awful, aren't they. I know there was one drug in particular that worked for some of our patients but can't remember what they're called [although I can remember which part of the dispensary they were kept in, which isn't much help].
 
an capall said:
Big year for me in that I turn 60
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I must admit I just thought you were a 65yo who would pass for 60 :D

I just always thought you were older than me (regardless of appearances).

(You can tell me to stop digging any time...)

Re the turmeric...

Does it affect the stomach? Normally I can't take any Indian food stronger than Korma or Chasni as I have a hiatus hernia that doesn't take well to spices. I wouldn't mind trying something as an alternative to Naproxen or Meloxicam.
 
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One more little step forward...

I've been plagued with back pain on and off for years and when I had that crippling episode a few years ago I went to a chiropractor who spent a few sessions pummeling and massaging my back with some positive results but they were short-term.

Yesterday I had my first appointment with a different chiropractor who immediately pinpointed with painful accuracy one source of the pain. A long consultation was followed by a short session of massaging and then he told me he was going to pop two of my spinal joints back into place, which he did. I have to say it was a new experience for me but last night for the first time in as long as I can remember I had a pain-free evening and night.

I'm slightly tender this morning but he told me to expect that and he reckons he'll have me 'sorted' in another three-six sessions over the coming weeks.

Looking forward to getting as active as I want to be. He told me to do plenty of walking but no twisting etc for the short term. No boogieing just yet, then.
 
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