61-yr-olds and immune systems -- yes, you, Doug

[Guest guest]

Doug said, addressing me:

The other hard part, for you specifically, is your age. Your immune

system isn't as strong as a 25-year-old's, so prolotherapy will take

longer to work, and may not work as beautifully for you as it did

for me

I say:

Doug, I hate to break your bubble, but people who are 61 are not old. My immune

system is just fine (as I've said to you before). In fact, I explained to you

before that old people don't die of weakened immune systems -- if that were

true, we would get opportunistic diseases exactly like people with AIDS do. I

get a cold about once every 2 years. I'm not even falling apart. My meniscus

damage was due to a plica. The one thing that does happen with people as they

get older is they don't repair as fast. Maybe that's what you mean. This is,

however, a process that comes on slowly. Certainly not at 61. When I get a

wound, I heal as fast as I always did. Immune systems, for the general

population of people 60 and over, are fine.

I don't know how old you are, but one day you, too, will be 61, and you won't be

able to believe it either, because you'll still feel like you did when you were

in your 30's. The photos of old, worn-out 50-year-olds from the 19th century --

they look old and worn out because they got worn out working hard to try to

scratch a living from the land, they worked in the sun w/o sunscreen, and they

didn't have the medical help we do, mainly immunizations and antibiotics. I

still look younger than my two grandmothers when they were in their 40s. You

can look me up in my profile. That picture was taken last year and is not

retouched.

Before you make any more negative assumptions about 61-yr-olds, please try to

envision yourself just as you are, but with " I am 61 - I am old - kick me "

branded into your forehead and maybe a little less hair. I've known people in

their 80s and 70s who could hike stronger than I could at 50 (because they'd

done it for a long time). There's a woman in SF in her 90s who teaches jujitsu.

Please look before you leap.

Are you the person I had the argument with over the " right " of young people to

get the zirconium knee implant because it would last longer, making 60-year-olds

wait till they're 70 so they can make it on the outdated cobalt/chromium ones,

merely because they're " old " and presumably useless? Here I go and finally give

some credence to your prolotherapy (about which you really are obsessed, Doug),

and you go and insult me on the basis of your prejudice against people over 50.

Ann

[Guest guest]

Hi Ann,

Just wanted to let you know as an outsider looking in, that I don't

think Doug was trying to insult you. In fact, I took from his

message that he was encouraging folks to be patient if prolotherapy

or other treatments don't work quickly for any reason (be it age,

etc).

> Doug said, addressing me:

>

> The other hard part, for you specifically, is your age. Your

immune

> system isn't as strong as a 25-year-old's, so prolotherapy will

take

> longer to work, and may not work as beautifully for you as it did

> for me

>

> I say:

>

> Doug, I hate to break your bubble, but people who are 61 are not

old. My immune system is just fine (as I've said to you before). In

fact, I explained to you before that old people don't die of weakened

immune systems -- if that were true, we would get opportunistic

diseases exactly like people with AIDS do. I get a cold about once

every 2 years. I'm not even falling apart. My meniscus damage was

due to a plica. The one thing that does happen with people as they

get older is they don't repair as fast. Maybe that's what you mean.

This is, however, a process that comes on slowly. Certainly not at

61. When I get a wound, I heal as fast as I always did. Immune

systems, for the general population of people 60 and over, are fine.

>

> I don't know how old you are, but one day you, too, will be 61, and

you won't be able to believe it either, because you'll still feel

like you did when you were in your 30's. The photos of old, worn-out

50-year-olds from the 19th century -- they look old and worn out

because they got worn out working hard to try to scratch a living

from the land, they worked in the sun w/o sunscreen, and they didn't

have the medical help we do, mainly immunizations and antibiotics. I

still look younger than my two grandmothers when they were in their

40s. You can look me up in my profile. That picture was taken

last year and is not retouched.

>

> Before you make any more negative assumptions about 61-yr-olds,

please try to envision yourself just as you are, but with " I am 61 -

I am old - kick me " branded into your forehead and maybe a little

less hair. I've known people in their 80s and 70s who could hike

stronger than I could at 50 (because they'd done it for a long

time). There's a woman in SF in her 90s who teaches jujitsu. Please

look before you leap.

>

> Are you the person I had the argument with over the " right " of

young people to get the zirconium knee implant because it would last

longer, making 60-year-olds wait till they're 70 so they can make it

on the outdated cobalt/chromium ones, merely because they're " old "

and presumably useless? Here I go and finally give some credence to

your prolotherapy (about which you really are obsessed, Doug), and

you go and insult me on the basis of your prejudice against people

over 50.

>

> Ann

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I agree with Kim. To me, Doug's intention seemed to be caring and

helpful, not age-discriminatory.

As we've said many times before, please be gentle and give other

members the benefit of the doubt. Email can seem " harsher " than face

to face conversations, because there's no inflection, facial

expressions, immediate feedback, etc. The same words can seem very

different when they are spoken versus typed. And remember that we

are all in this group for the same reason - our knees hurt, and we

want to learn and heal and support each other. The pain and

debilitation of CP can try our patience, but let's not take it out

on each other.

> > Doug said, addressing me:

> >

> > The other hard part, for you specifically, is your age. Your

> immune

> > system isn't as strong as a 25-year-old's, so prolotherapy will

> take

> > longer to work, and may not work as beautifully for you as it

did

> > for me

> >

> > I say:

> >

> > Doug, I hate to break your bubble, but people who are 61 are not

> old. My immune system is just fine (as I've said to you before).

In

> fact, I explained to you before that old people don't die of

weakened

> immune systems -- if that were true, we would get opportunistic

> diseases exactly like people with AIDS do. I get a cold about

once

> every 2 years. I'm not even falling apart. My meniscus damage

was

> due to a plica. The one thing that does happen with people as

they

> get older is they don't repair as fast. Maybe that's what you

mean.

> This is, however, a process that comes on slowly. Certainly not

at

> 61. When I get a wound, I heal as fast as I always did. Immune

> systems, for the general population of people 60 and over, are

fine.

> >

> > I don't know how old you are, but one day you, too, will be 61,

and

> you won't be able to believe it either, because you'll still feel

> like you did when you were in your 30's. The photos of old, worn-

out

> 50-year-olds from the 19th century -- they look old and worn out

> because they got worn out working hard to try to scratch a living

> from the land, they worked in the sun w/o sunscreen, and they

didn't

> have the medical help we do, mainly immunizations and

antibiotics. I

> still look younger than my two grandmothers when they were in

their

> 40s. You can look me up in my profile. That picture was

taken

> last year and is not retouched.

> >

> > Before you make any more negative assumptions about 61-yr-olds,

> please try to envision yourself just as you are, but with " I am

61 -

> I am old - kick me " branded into your forehead and maybe a little

> less hair. I've known people in their 80s and 70s who could hike

> stronger than I could at 50 (because they'd done it for a long

> time). There's a woman in SF in her 90s who teaches jujitsu.

Please

> look before you leap.

> >

> > Are you the person I had the argument with over the " right " of

> young people to get the zirconium knee implant because it would

last

> longer, making 60-year-olds wait till they're 70 so they can make

it

> on the outdated cobalt/chromium ones, merely because they're " old "

> and presumably useless? Here I go and finally give some credence

to

> your prolotherapy (about which you really are obsessed, Doug), and

> you go and insult me on the basis of your prejudice against people

> over 50.

> >

> > Ann

> >

> >

> >

> >