Senior Health Issues

How’s your hair doing, ladies? Are you or your friends experiencing a little hair loss? Has your shower drain become the gift that keeps on giving these days?

I have introduced myself to my skull in several spots and find I liked my skull better with hair.

According to a WebMD feature on MedicineNet, “According to the American Academy of Dermatology, it’s a growing problem, affecting some 30 million women in the United States — with some forms of loss occurring at earlier ages, and being seen in increasing numbers. . . .” And, from this same article, “Experts say our tresses usually grow at the rate of about one-half inch per month — with each hair having a growth phase of two to six years. At that point the hair “rests” for a period of time, then falls out — and the follicle from which it sprang soon starts growing a new strand. And so the cycle continues, usually well into our senior years.”

So it appears that, for genetic, health, of follicle reasons, many of us may be browsing the net to find a cure for our problem or eying wigs narrowly.

Do a Google search for senior women+hair loss and notice the sites that emerge, many promising to make everything ok again. You may even run across a blog devoted entirely to discussion of Alopecia.

If you have found or found something—a site or a treatment—that actually works, share it here. Please do not post links to products since we do not endorse or recommend any product or treatment. But if you have information to share, please do.

Every once in a while we want to include some information for those seniors beginning to wonder about the value of an exercise program. We make no pretense to be doctors or professional exercise advisors. But we, too, have grimaced when, after sitting for an hour or two, at getting up and wondering why we wanted to scream.

So do your own research, consult with your doctor, and explore the very reasonable possibility that some sort of exercise routine will make normal activities way more pleasurable.

I remember when I first realized that I was mortal: I had squatted down to get some cat food from a lower kitchen cabinet, and when I started to bounce to my feet I had to grasp the counter top to haul myself up. A sobering moment as some of you know.

My secret—not always practiced—is six miles a day on the stationary bike with a little free weight (8 or 10 lbs or less depending on what works for you) work in a nod to my bones that keep wanting to lapse into osteoporosis.

But you may find what works for you in yoga, stretching classes at the local gym, or one of the exercise programs such as this proposed by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

I firmly believe that exercise is a brief pain in the neck in otherwise terrific days. But when I skip it, I remember it fondly as I drag myself upright with gritted teeth.

Are you finding yourself not being able to pull out a name or date in a conversation? Ever go purposefully into the kitchen and not remember why you have come into that room? Do you ever feel awkward with younger friends because you cannot remember what you started to say?

Most of us royal elders have such experiences to a greater and lesser degree, and probably most of us harbor at least some apprehension that we are joining the growing list of the Alzheimer’s affected.

You have probably heard this statement: If you lose your car keys, that does not mean you have Alzheimer’s. If you look at your car keys and do not know what they are, you may have a problem.

The U.S. Alzheimer’s Association web site lists ten warning signs for Alzheimer’s, including—
1. Memory loss. Forgetting recently learned information is one of the most common early signs of dementia. A person begins to forget more often and is unable to recall the information later.

What’s normal? Forgetting names or appointments occasionally.

2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks. People with dementia often find it hard to plan or complete everyday tasks. Individuals may lose track of the steps involved in preparing a meal, placing a telephone call or playing a game.

What’s normal? Occasionally forgetting why you came into a room or what you planned to say.

To read the other eight signs and find mountains of additional information, go to the site here..

And a reminder, if you or a loved one wants a 24/7 online private support group for Alzheimer’s, just send me an email at puffin@puffinsplace.com.

I thought this might be a good time to collect a few online resources on health for seniors so you can have quick access when you are researching a question. All of the sites I mention below provide good basic general information as well as reliable discussions of specific health issues.

Remember I am not a physician so neither I nor this site offers any legal assurance that everything on each of the following sites is accurate. But I have found them all useful now and then.

The Medline Line site, part of the US National Institutes of Health, offers specifics on areas like nutrition and the latest news and reference tools as well as information on finance, clinical trials, specific diseases and conditions, and more.

Similarly, the MayoClinic.com Senior Health site provides a sweeping range of topics including end-of-life issues, health care options, depression self-assessment tools. The larger site also offers in-depth discussion of health conditions and current treatments.

I have not used the BenefitsCheckUp site but it promises to be an excellent resource. Designed for limited income and resources seniors and developed by the National Council on Aging, the site “BenefitsCheckUp includes more than 1,550 public and private benefits programs from all 50 states and the District of Columbia . . . .”

And what resource list would be complete without a link to the official US Medicare site? Get the latest info on drugs and the Prescription Drug Plan. Learn about long-term care, keep your personal health records, get replacement cards, and tons more, including a place to appeal Medicare decisions.

If you bookmark all of these sites, you will at least have a starting place for finding the information you need for yourself or someone you love.

Today’s online edition of The Washington Post contains a short piece on a new report of the use of prescription drugs in the US. According to the report, the Post notes: "The study found that among older Americans, 28 percent of women and nearly 22 percent of men take five or more medicines on a regular basis, the AP [Associated Press] reported."

Here is a question for you: How much of this additional use of Rx drugs is the result of markers like blood sugars and blood pressure being constantly lowered by the health community?

It seems to me that there are tons of people I know taking Lipitor, BPmeds, etc. for levels that would have been considered normal 10 or 20 years ago.

One of the things I would like to do in this blog is to make it a resource on any major news about senior health issues, so you don’t have to read all over the web to find info you might want or need. Feel free to contribute to this venture.

Salespeople pounding on your door with Medicare  supplement plans?

Addressing a flood of consumer complaints, the Bush administration proposed to bar insurance agents from using aggressive tactics to enroll seniors in Medicare’s fast-growing private plans and its prescription-drug program.

To read more about this Bush Administration proposal, check out in the online Wall Street Journal this article.

US Presidential Candidates Health Care Plans

To read about and/or download Clinton’s plan, go here.

To read about Obama’s plan, go here.

To read about McCain’s plan,go here.

Am I the only person on the planet who knows the value of physical exercise but cannot make myself do it on a regular basis?

Does anyone have any secrets to sustaining an exercise program, especially one that does not involve hiking out to a gym, paying $$, and all of that?

The internet is filled with sites that offer various common-sense suggestions, for example check out this site.

Trouble is that all of this fails to get me going.

I want magic! Got any ideas?

As you will notice, there is no magical organization to this blog—at least for the moment. And today I came upon this: Caregivers frequently sacrifice their own physical and emotional needs to help a family member or friend. Although done for the best possible reasons, overextending oneself may lead to feelings of depression and being overwhelmed from an article warning about caregiver depression. If you are like the cg’s I know at my private Alzheimer’s forum, you spend all your time NOT taking care of yourself, so this article is well worth a read.

On another matter, there are two aspects to aging of which I am not fond: vanishing from this earth and, more immediately, the frequent bizarre and unexplained discomforts as first this muscle and that manages to get pulled without my conscious knowledge. Today I am being repaid for a splendid several days working in the yard cleaning out winter and planting some flowers. Who knew muscles live in as many obscure places as they seem to.

Welcome to Puffin’s health blog.

We need you to comment, add information, share your experiences, and just have some fun as we explore some specific health issues and generally enjoy what I hope are some of the best days of your lives. These are surely terrific days for da boid.

So read and chime in and tell us how the horizon looks from your spot on the planet.