At what age did you go downhill..........

43. Sore knee.......probably cartilage problems.

don't like walking shirtless in public on a hot day anymore.

should lose a few kilos.

don't seem to do much other than work and eat and sleep.

weekend plans seem to consist of working on the house instead of going away somewhere.

do the older guys remember roughly when the wheels fell off?

I'm 48 and still feel like I have wheels. Started to slow down a bit around 45, but it's mostly due to being a little bit lazy, and tired from work. Sure I could stand to lose a few pounds and maybe I'm looking a little older these days, but in general, I still feel good. Hell, I worked a twenty hour shift a few weeks ago and felt like I could do ten more no problem. Once I stopped it was all over. A few lifestyle changes like getting off the cigarettes, changing my terrible eating habits, and I figure "good" could move on up to fabulous.

Since my teenage years its been all downhill..

46, when I had the stroke, & 47, when I tore my knee up. That was really worse than the stroke.

I'm 50 now, and feel it every morning I get up. I've got 10 good years, at the most left in me. Then I will be nothing more than a, slow moving, drooling, farting, soup eating, dirty old man.

I don't know. I may be to scared to fart then.

Was one hell of a feller till age 34: 6'4" & 230 lbs of twisted steel and sex appeal (well that's probably a slight exaggeration).

Then one morning I woke up, blind in one eye. Over the next year I went from working 14 hour days, and playing even harder than that, to having days when couldn't even make it back and forth to the bathroom without help. MS... It sucks!

Downhill? What hill, I didn't see no damn hill.

I was born three months early, and (they think) I had a stroke when I was a few days old...due to trauma of the whole situation...I was completely blind until ~1 year old, now I see OK out of my right eye, nearly legally blind out of my left. I was run over by a car at two years old. As a result, I have one leg longer than the other, and I am flat footed on one foot. As you can imagine, this has always caused me to be a little "off center" when standing, walking, running...these days (like in the past couple years) it's been catching up to me...I can't run too well, and I have foot issues, hip problems, and back pain. I try to stay in good shape, walk, bike ride, etc. which helps a ton...however, I'm 25 now, and already have joint pain from the hips on down...at 50 I'll be a mess oh well.

I'm 53.......five words sum it all up.
Growing old.....aint for sissys

Oh, yeah.. Had a heel spur operated on when I was in college, Uncle Arthur set up shop in that foot, sometimes I could barely walk. Got better for awhile, though... Before the knee business, I'd walk a mile or so about every day, now I'm doing good to walk to the end of the driveway & back..

When I was 35 I thought felt like I was "50", although I didn't know what 50 was. That had come from a life of 80-90 hr work weeks and heavy drinking. See that mountain in the background of my avatar? Focousing exercise and energy out there helped save my friggin life. I'll be 50 this coming week and I feel like I'm a healthy 28. Sure, I get a lot more twists and turns that don't heal instantly, but I just consider those "mechanical". I'm more careful, eat wisley, no smoking or drinking and take the body into the shop to get it fixed when it breaks.

I've had chronic back pain of varying degrees for abut 5 years now. Joints pop for no good reason (knees, back, neck, etc). I'll wake up sore for no good reason most mornings.

Thankfully no diagnosed medical conditions!

Horray for being 27.....?

I'm 53 and the wheels have not fallen off yet, just gotten slower.

I started playing tennis a few years ago, and play mostly younger guys. My reaction time and foot speed are slower, but once I make decision to run forward to that drop shot, I can still cover a lot of ground quickly.

In some cases I think the biggest handicap of my age is the mental aspect. On the court I tend to think too much, sometimes hesitate (out of fear) to try a shot I can probably make. The younger guys just go for it.

Almost 52 here, and I think I'm doing pretty well, considering. Fell off a ladder about 5 years ago, and thought I'd never get back into shape, but though I get tired a little more easily, I'm still moving around.

At 18 months I fell on a Pyrex cover for an electric frying pan, sliced my neck open from one side to the other and nearly cut my left cheek clean off. My father told me about it when I was a little older.

At 5, had my appendix cut out. That hurt.

At 15, had my face put through a windshield. No Meds. That hurt

At 16, my buddy flipped the Ford XL convertible we were in at 85 MPH. No Meds. Messed up my arm, back and hip. That hurt.

At 20, got drunk and stupid and had a "lets jump out of the window" competition (2nd story apartment), my buddy tucked and rolled like one should, gracefull me, landed right on my ass, knocked me out, couldn't walk for a couple days. No Meds. That Really hurt.

At 36, my heart decided to stop beating normally. Had a corrective surgery called the MAZE procedure at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Died twice over the 2 day ordeal. That really sucked. Lots of Meds. 2 years later, I was like new. I Thank God often and sincerely.

At 47, my pars bones in L1 broke. That really, really sucked. Had a spinal fusion. That really, really, really, sucked. Lots of meds. Getting more used to this everyday.

Through it all, I "...just keep on truckin'..." What don't kill ya, well...it don't kill ya!

I don't look at it as going downhill, just going a little sideways .

Earlsays, after an argument with a laundry truck at age ten one month in traction left me with a 1/2" difference in legs. Chronic backpain was cured with a 1/2" lift for the shorter leg. The amusing part of making this discovery was that my doctor (in Ottawa) had X-rays done and the Osteopathologist said he could not see any problem. I said to the nurse "Well there must be something amiss with my back or else it was Pierre Trudeau as I still have a pain in the ass." They sent me back and it was while I was laying on the examining table he found the difference in leg lengths.

He also noted the tendency for me to get bone spurs on the vertebrae in my neck but about five minutes of head rotation in the morning breaks them off.

Oh boy,this is gonna be a long one.

From about 16 years old i was hell on wheels,worked about 60 hours a week,drank heavily every night & was in a fight atleast once a month,that continued until i broke my back in a work accident,spent close to a year in rehab & getting my strength back,after healing i should of learned a lesson & slowed down but i didnt.

I still had back pain but i was young & the drinking numbed the pain so i didnt slow down but the drinking & fighting got worse,this time around the fighting landed me a 2 year vacation in Jackson Prison,not a good place to be but it taught me to keep my hands to my self & to learn to drink responsibly if at all.

After being released i went right back to working 60 to 70 hours a week of heavy manual labor,i was 25 years old then & strong as a bull,worked like that till i was about 35 years old,then i was in another construction accident where i was burned in the 3rd degree over 12% of my body,lots of rehab this time,wound cleansing (more like peeling a potato) skin grafts & an ass load of pain,still i returned to working 15 hours a day but it was hard & my back hurt like hell all the time.

Through all of this i was stupid enough to keep riding hard tail motorcycles,every bump felt like a shock to my spine but i sure looked cool.

Kept going like a maniac till i hit 42 years old,this time i blew my back for good,i severely herniated 3 discs,had 2 bulging discs & tore another disc,pain beyond comprehension this time around,:tears:spent 4 months in extensive rehab & started the merry go round of pain killers,i see a "pain management" doctor once a month & will be on some form of pain medication for the rest of my life,i also have a "Traction" machine in my basement that i must use 4 times a week or the painkillers wont touch the pain.

Im 45 now & feel like im 90,getting up out of bed most days is a chore,manual labor is out of the question & gone are the days of riding my Panhead,it just sits in the garage under a cover,every so often i go out & uncover it & think about going for a ride but just looking at the kick start makes my back hurt.

I have two other Harley's (Road King & Fatboy) that are slowly collecting dust next to the Panhead,i got balsy enough to take the Fatboy out for a ride early this summer but after about 20 miles i had to head for home,that 1 hour ride laid me up for days.

I dont do manual labor any longer (management) & im pretty sure that touring on my bikes is all over with, which breaks my heart & my wife's heart too,this was something that my wife & I really enjoyed,i also dont lift any of my gear anymore,i get my son's to do that for me:yes:

When I got around 40 and the eyes sterted getting bad, my gut started growing, and the hangovers started....

I won't get into all the physical damage and surgeries I've had before then. I've just learned to live with that... Same here.. getting outta bed sounds like I just poured a bowl of rice crispies..

It's the fact I gotta plan 3 days in in the future before I try a night on the town I knew I was getting older :tears:

The real lesson learned? Life is too short to drink cheap liquor...

merrylander said:

Downhill? What hill, I didn't see no damn hill.

Click to expand...

So it was more like a cliff, then?

a lifetime of activity and sports. I felt great till I had a horse wreck in 2005, broke 4 vertebrae in my lower spine, broke 4 ribs, punctured a lung. now after 2 1/2 years I still get up in the morning and have to work the kinks out I'm stiff in my back most all the time and at 56 its not goint to get alot better if any I think its slippery slope time..but I still work my horses everyday and just getting back in the saddle my wife doesn't want me to but I have to, nothing like being on horseback..all that power man its great..