Life expectancy

My sister an IFA says most people underestimate how long they will live. According to: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/articles/lifeexpectancycalculator/2019-06-07

Yeah… no.

The problem I have with that calculator is that it is not asking if one smokes, drinks, is on some form of medication, has a history of cancer in the family, whether they have private healthcare, etc etc. It’s simply plugging your current age into the “people are supposed to live this long” statistic.

I’m supposed to live to be 84. Mom was supposed to make it to 88, however for her 70th birthday she got the diagnosis and the inevitable took just a year and a half.
Personally, if I have to work until I’m 67 or 68 ¹, then I hope I at least get a few years of retirement.

¹ Noting that people retiring now do so at 60 or 62.

Another factor to check is whether you’ve upset Mr Putin or not…

From a software project I was involved in years ago for an insurance company, there are actuary tables they use to determine life expectancy for the calculation of premiums, pensions, etc. But when it comes down to it, no-one really knows – it’s just an estimate based on averages. What’s noticeable now is the number of older people in their 80’s upwards who don’t look much over 60. When I was young, someone retiring from a life of work looked old and very soon after looked even older and died. Lifestyles, healthcare, work environments, etc. have all improved the overall outlook, but there’s still the chance of being an outlier in either direction.

My next-door neighbour died last year at 93 after a short illness. I would have said that until he was 85 or so he was fitter than I was. Up ladders clearing gutters, maintaining our rural water system etc. It was only in the last couple of years that he bought a foot-operated log spitter rather than chopping by hand.

Another factor to check is whether you’ve upset Mr Putin or not…

Possibly, if he’s really petty.

Moreso than that, I think our governments and media are doing the annoyance on our behalf, between mocking the great superpower having it’s arse handed to it by armed grannies, and sending an entire country economically back to the dark ages…

But when it comes down to it, no-one really knows

True, but there are many factors that could be counted that weren’t in the website linked.

When I was young, someone retiring from a life of work looked old and very soon after looked even older and died.

Ah, so that’s why my pension age is… okay, I’ve figured this out. ;)

Up ladders clearing gutters

Guy at the top of the road was like that. He cleaned the gutters, washed the doors, mopped the stone floor, said he felt a bit under the weather, fell over, died.

Sadly, since we’re rural, it took the ambulance about half an hour to get here, and this was before the defib was installed by the church in the village (though the problem there is it means of you’re alone you’d have to leave for several minutes in order to get it).

Since I was thinking about stuff like this, I left instructions for the HR people at work to call somebody I know to rescue Anna, should I be killed or seriously injured in a way that would imply being in hospital rather than at home.

They… uh… overreacted. ;) My boss invited me into her office and asked all sorts of questions. After a while of this, the penny dropped, so I said “oh, I see, you’re trying to find out if I’m planning on killing myself”.
She went white. Remember, subtlety isn’t in my repertoire. ;)
So I said “god no, but if something should happen, I don’t want to think of my little furry fiend starving to death because I’m not around to provide for her; it’s called planning for the future”.

She thanked me and said she’d pass that on to HR.

Jeez… :/

Like the commonly seen meme – “If I should die suddenly, please delete my internet history”.

After a while of this, the penny dropped, so I said “oh, I see, you’re trying to find out if I’m planning on killing myself”.

The latest effort to treat my peripheral neuropathy is a drug which has in its information leaflet:

in anxiety it stops your brain from releasing the chemicals that make you feel anxious

but:

thoughts of harming or killing yourself – a small number of people taking pregabalin have had suicidal thoughts, sometimes after only a week of treatment

What is there to be anxious about?

please delete my internet history

Had access to stuff you wouldn’t believe when at boarding school. That was more than enough for a lifetime.
Never understood why people seemed to think it was okay to watch other people. Seems… voyeuristic.

As for my browser history… <cough> TheRegister, ROOL, xkcd, and googling the named of various pills ¹ that I spot the wrapper of in the bin.

What is there to be anxious about?

Ah, but the difference is that you’ll off yourself with a smile on your face.
After all, no anxiety. See that ledge? No anxiety. Wow it’s a long way down. No anxiety. I believe I can fly No anxiety.

Well, I guess it’s either that or a different med that’ll turn you into a zombie – Largactil anyone? :(

Sometimes I wonder if a non medicine based approach wouldn’t be better for this sort of thing.

peripheral neuropathy

Google tells me that’s due to nerve damage. A pill might make you feel less annoyed, but I’m not sure I’d go as far as to call it a “treatment”. What about physio?

¹ Hmm, I wonder which one of my cow-orkers is on meds for schizophrenia? (Haloperidol 10mg). And I won’t make any comment about the estrogen supplement found in the male changing room…

Sometimes I wonder if a non medicine based approach wouldn’t be better for this sort of thing.

It is obviously much easier for doctors simply to give you a pill. A pill may ameliorate the symptoms of some condition, without anybody having the slightest idea of the cause of the condition. Back in 1960 my younger brother was diagnosed as schizophrenic. There were lots of current theories about schizophrenia: from RD Lang’s psychopathology of the family to Biblical possession by demons. Since then, brain scans have pointed to more physiological explanations. There is a great danger that unscientific approaches to mental disorder are adopted out of desperation. Convulsive electrotherapy was still used in my brother’s day. One is reminded of the Professor who asserted that frogs had ears in their legs. I say jump! and they jump. I cut their legs off, and when I say jump! they don’t jump. Isn’t that proof enough?

Sometimes I wonder if a non medicine based approach wouldn’t be better for this sort of thing.

Part of the reason for easing off on the “cannabis is drugs and very bad” is that the research shows the individual components of the oils (and there are many, many compounds in there) do a better, non-addictive, job than the numerous sleeping pills, anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, anti…
So, they (big Pharma) have to find the proper packaging and marketing to charge lots for a cheap to grow and extract product and labelling “bad drugs” doesn’t help the marketing.

to Biblical possession by demons.

Yeah… From time to time I watch an interesting YouTube channel called This Trippy Hippy which is a teenage girl trying to deal with life amongst seizures and tourettes.
It’s rather depressing how often this “you’re possessed” nonsense turns up in the comments.
Even in this day and age doctors don’t really understand (so isn’t it lucky there’s a girl putting their crap on YouTube? ;) ) so maybe all those sages and visionaries and witches and all the stuff that people attributed to god and/or satan was really just varying degrees of mental illness?
I dread to think how a girl like that would have been treated in the Middle Ages.

than the numerous sleeping pills, anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, anti…

Ellipses indeed.
There seems to be a pattern of thought around these parts that if you don’t walk out of the pharmacy with a full bag of pills, your doctor isn’t caring for you.

He was in his element when mom was ill. Mom, being a former nurse, took the paracetamol and threw the rest of it into the bedside cabinet. My god, two of the boxes of pills were purely there to counteract side effects of other pills.

When my doctor last saw me (when I had flu at the end of 2019) she had difficulty in understanding that I wasn’t medicated until she remembered that mom was a nurse (I’m guessing it’s a bit of a theme). She said that as flu is viral there’s not much she can do except give me pills for vertigo and headache and to reduce swelling (of what!?). I told her not to waste the Sécu’s money, if it’s a virus I’ll just buy some paracetamol.
But I can give you ones with codeine!
No. Thank. You.

I haven’t been back since. Not because I don’t like her (actually her English accent is adorable) but simply because doctors and hospitals are places you go when things are wrong.

I have a very simple philosophy in that respect.
If:

• I faint more than once
• I bleed unexpected amounts or from unexpected places
• Body parts fall off
• or Chemical contamination (external as in at work, or internal as in serious food intoxication)

Then it’s a visit to the doctor or hospital. Otherwise, put the kettle on, take a 500mg paracetamol if it hurts enough, and carry on.

My god, two of the boxes of pills were purely there to counteract side effects of other pills.

Pretty much the reason my grandmother died of kidney failure, primarily, although the heart and liver were pretty close behind.

Otherwise, put the kettle on, take a 500mg paracetamol if it hurts enough, and carry on.

Tea seems to sort most stuff, and anything that overwhelms a paracetamol is heading for the big league :)
The “gap” year¹ was unpleasant, and I actually took Co-codamol for a short period.

¹ 2018,2019,gap, 2021,2022

Two of those can be treated by duct tape and TCP gel, just remember to put anything that falls off in the fridge.

Tea seems to sort most stuff

and:

Two of those can be treated by duct tape and TCP gel

So. Very. British.

:-) :-) :-)