Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 12:00     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Catching my reflection in windows and seeing my mother. 😳

Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 12:00     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
My hands! They have a lot of sun damage and look much older than I am.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:58     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Bloodwork in the sh*t despite working out and eating salads for 2 decades.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:52     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Anonymous wrote:Tendinitis and random joint pain. Started at 52. I’m very active and workout a lot but this surprised me.

I’ve had a bit of grey hair since my late 40s. I don’t care. We’ll see how it comes in and go from there.


This is me exactly. Although those old sports injuries beginning at about age 8, have come home to roost.nNow it hurts to go down the stairs in the morning.

For me, it’s not in shape or an out of shape thing. It’s absolutely overuse injury leading to degenerative arthritis in my swimmers, shoulders, and my soccer player ankles.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:38     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Spontaneous injuries that cascade into permanent problems. I rented a car for a weekend that sat low and had the gas pedals arranged differently than my more upright suv.

It caused Achilles tendinitis, which wasn’t responsive to rest, booting, shockwave treatment, and a million other things and progressed to tendonosis and 24/7 pain for 2 years. I’m literally waiting for my Achilles to rupture so it can be surgically repaired- but of course I can’t be off my feet or not driving for months, so I also dread that. All because I drove a rental car for a weekend!
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:09     Subject: Re:Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Wieght Gain
Mood changes
Hair loss
insomnia

All of this is due to menopause. The black mood and insomnia was helped with HRT. I'm working on the weight and am now using Minoxidil for the hair loss that is helping too.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:07     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Needing progressive lenses (I’ve worn glasses since elementary school but the reading part came in the 40s)

Thinning hair
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:06     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Anonymous wrote:45F -

1. White hair starting in my 40s. Not complaining, my mother had white hair starting in her teens! I dye it.

2. Stiffness after periods of not moving, despite living an active lifestyle and being flexible. I have a hitherto invisible autoimmune condition that I was told would manifest in the joints. Maybe that's my first visible symptom of that disease.
\\

43F - Same!

My hair is black, and white hairs are starting to appear. I'm now dying every 6 weeks. I'm also so stiff. I'm getting back into yoga (and doing fewer long runs) because my body feels terrible.

Also, my face is already falling. I lost 25 lbs this year (140 to 115) and it just fell. I did an ultradiluted Radiesse treatment recently that was expensive but helped. I still have my same thin face, but it doesn't look so sunken anymore. I'm too young to have a sunken, droopy face.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:01     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
No longer GAF about so many things. In some ways this is good, in other ways not so much. Loosing a desire to keep up with new technology, new words, new celebrities, new music, etc.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:45     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Anonymous wrote:Vision changes. I’m only 56, but my eye dr saw signs of very early macular degeneration and has me seeing a specialist now.

Grasping for words sometimes. I write for a living, so this one is disconcerting. A couple of times a week I just can’t find what I’m trying to say.


My partner is a writer and this started happening to him recently. Don't know if you're a THC user, but cutting way back on the nighttime edibles helped him a lot. Even if not THC, is there anything like that you could eliminate?
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:44     Subject: Re:Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Anonymous wrote:Insomnia.


Me too-- my whole life but so much worse in my late 40s-- but HRT was a game changer. Progesterone is the best sleep aid I've ever tried.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:39     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Vision changes. I’m only 56, but my eye dr saw signs of very early macular degeneration and has me seeing a specialist now.

Grasping for words sometimes. I write for a living, so this one is disconcerting. A couple of times a week I just can’t find what I’m trying to say.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:33     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
My mind! I can feel like I'm just not as nimble mentally anymore, and getting out of the routine has consequences now. Anything out of the ordinary is mentally taxing and tiring. I'm 47.

Even when I was routinely not sleeping post-baby, and had brain fog, it didn't feel as bad.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:32     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Brown spots on my legs.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:31     Subject: Outside of wrinkles, what was your rude awakening to getting old?
Anonymous wrote:Mine involves literal rudeness.

A little self-entitled Gen Z girl pushed past my elderly father in a line to catch up with some friends. Didn't say excuse me or anything. Just literally pushed him aside. My father started to tell her off and she got combative. So I stepped in and told her to move along. She persists to argue so I repeated just move along. Finally, I told her to hush her mouth. She seemed shocked. She looked at me and asked, "How old are you?" (I'm 53). And then very seriously declared, "It's amazing that I'm only 25 and so much more mature than you."

Gen Z really is an obnoxious lot lacking in basic manners. But I've noticed a lot of ageism from them. It's wild.



Yeah, you escalated the situation. She's right. You should have declined to engage beyond the first "please don't push a senior citizen".