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cmama_gw

I am now "elderly"!

cmama
9 years ago

At my last visit to the dr. I was informed that I am now considered "elderly". I am 66. Although I have no problem with aging, I was taken back by my new classification.

How do you feel about being elderly? What age do you consider elderly?

Comments (37)

  • gmatx zone 6
    9 years ago

    Seriously???? I'm slightly older than you, and I would take umbrage at that term. To me, elderly should be those possibly in their mid to late 70s - definitely not any younger. I guess we can start calling those younger than 50 "wet behind the ears snot nosed brats". Wonder how they would like that!

    With today's longevity and encouragement to keep ourselves healthy and active, I think it is very counterproductive to classify anyone at 66 as "elderly". Would almost make you want to go home and drag that rocker out to the porch and just sit down and give up. Dratted labels anyway.......

  • glenda_al
    9 years ago

    Turning 75 soon, and still young at heart!

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  • grandmamary_ga
    9 years ago

    I don't have that word in my vocabulary. lol I think it is how you feel that makes you elderly. Then there is that gray hair and wrinkles too. I bypass most mirrors, as I can't see that far, lol. I never think of myself as elderly (73). I Guess I am. Age is just a number and I don't even think about it. (most of the time).
    Mary

  • jim_1 (Zone 5B)
    9 years ago

    Why would your doctor bring that subject up anyway? Was that doc trying to qualify any health issues that you might have? That's d-u-m-b!

  • angelaid
    9 years ago

    I got copies of my chart notes to take to another doctor and was flabbergasted to read that I was "mildly obese"! I'm 5'6" and weighed 135 lbs!

  • ellendi
    9 years ago

    Along those lines, how old are you supposed to be to be considered a senior? To get a senior rate at Metro-North for a discount ticket you need to be 65. At the movies it's 60 or 62.
    AARP starts sending those membership magazines when you're 55!

    I think the word elderly should be used when you're in your 80s or 90s. For the rest of us rest of us, we're seniors, or whatever age it takes to get that discount! LOL

  • lucillle
    9 years ago

    It sounds like an 'eligibility word'. At 65 you qualify for Medicare so perhaps he just didn't say anything when you were 65?
    There are several programs linked to Medicare that use the word 'elderly' for qualification. I think it is just an age reference and not any kind of descriptive adjective.

  • linda_in_iowa
    9 years ago

    I just turned 72 and don't consider myself elderly. I have gray hair but no wrinkles. I can chase precious Finn around the park or playground and that keeps me physically young He has me climbing ladders to get up to the play structure and going down the slides with him. I love the swings. A friend told me I am a "young 72".

  • Deeby
    9 years ago

    I'm 61. It feels weird even to say, "I'm in my 60's". What I really hate is store clerks calling me "Dear". It was a real shock the first time. It also bugs me to be given the senior discount after the cashier glances at me. I have no gray hair (Thanks, Clairol !) and no wrinkles at all. Wonder what they see that automatically confirms senior... Uh, oh... Oh, the circles under my eyes, the getting saggy neck, and IS THAT A WRINKLE???? I guess it is... OK then you snot nosed brats...

  • pekemom
    9 years ago

    I'm 67, if someone mentions the word "elderly" I'm looking around for a person 85 or so...no, I'm not offended to be called one, just surprised....

  • sylviatexas1
    9 years ago

    Good grief.

    Y'all need some new doctors.

    Not only is it obnoxious, offensive, & disrespectful for a doctor to toss around denigrating & trivializing & *inaccurate* words like 'elderly' & 'obese', it's sloppy & inaccurate & therefore dangerous.

    So many times doctors, like teachers, have attached labels that have stuck, to the detriment of the person labelled.

    Think of all the kids who went through school with the notation "under-achiever" in their files, & all the women who were tranquillized because they had "nervous disorders".

  • lucillle
    9 years ago

    I'm thinking 'elderly' is an age descriptive word, maybe connected to Medicare.
    'Obese' is certainly not an inaccurate word, there are objective charts with weight and BMI that show exactly where one crosses into 'mildly obese', 'obese' and 'severely obese'. (Unfortunately I'm on that chart).
    It is part of the medical world.

  • alisande
    9 years ago

    I'm not liking that. In fact, I think many classifications are overused by the medical profession. I was beyond furious 30+ years ago when my second baby's pediatrician wrote FAILURE TO THRIVE on her chart because of her weight standing in the national averages. I knew she ate well, was enormously bright, and very active, and I knew that ugly stamp didn't belong in her chart. But there it was.

    And here we are. By the criteria quoted to you, I'm elderly too. See how your doctor likes it when s/he turns 66 . . .

  • chisue
    9 years ago

    Because we now have a lot more people living a lot longer, perhaps we only think 65 is not 'elderly'. It sure used to be! Women were commonly great-grandparents by this age. (A 'generation' was considered to be 20 years.)

    Now we have 'elderly', plus 'the old', and 'the old, old'. It is no longer extremely rare for people to live to be 90 - 100.

    I guess today we feel young enough *by comparison* to bridle at the word 'elderly'. Maybe that's why the descriptive "Senior" evolved.

  • joyfulguy
    9 years ago

    A couple of years older than I, I figure.

    Landlord asked the other day (he who expanded the garden substantially a couple of years ago, prior to consultation) ... how much of the earlier garden he should cultivate ... and I've been cogitating on the situation since ...

    ... aided some by my son who reminds me that I'm not quite as young as I was .... (though he likes getting the veggies).

    This afternoon he said that he sprayed both gardens, so the vegetation should be shrivelling apace ... without any discussion about "size" ... so I'm assuming that he's assuming that we operate over the whole sphere of what we did last year. I was more or less thinking along that line ... as when it came to thinking about what to not plant, I had difficulty in coming up with a certain space ... and it would have been easy to say to let the north (the original, and much smaller) one lie fallow ... it's where our great patch of asparagus lies ... but I didn't like the thought of that.

    So ... guess I'd better go buy some (more) seeds.

    Chief problem ... a bit of arthritis showing up again (started a couple of years and my doc put me on glucosamine sulphate, which has helped a lot) ... but it doesn't give me trouble in the range of operation that's involved in the gardening.

    Plus ... in the past few weeks, I've developed a corn on my second, hammerhead toe, which causes me some discomfort ... and the thought of operating a little over a mile of garden row provides me with a bit of a cautionary tale.

    Oh, yeah - the landlord (who's a big guy, wearing big boots) ... gave me a surplus pair of work boots a couple of years ago, that I haven't used, as I figured they were too big ... but there should be more than usual room in there.

    But ... as I said ... I figure that "elderly" should label a person a couple of years older than I (who's something like 85).

    And ... thankful to be enjoying the measure of health that I do - it sure is nice to seldom hear your body tell you, "Listen, you darned old fool - I can't DO that for you, any more!" ... right?

    ole joyfuelled ... with some help from (anticipated) home-grown veggies (plus frozen, from last year)

  • Deeby
    9 years ago

    My Mom's doctor put dementia as the cause of death on the death certificate. She died of a pulmonary embolism. I am angry to this day, damn that thinks-he's-God little SNOT.

  • mare_wbpa
    9 years ago

    If the MD has the statistics regarding age and wt, it would seem that adjectives are unnecessary. He could have said pt is a 66 yr old woman who weighs 135lbs. That says it accurately.

  • socks
    9 years ago

    I consider myself "older," but not "elderly." I have friends my age (67) and up into the 80's, and I don't think of them as elderly either. They are mentally clear, go to gyms or exercise, keep up on current events, teach at community college, drive out of town, one runs a small business, my friend in her 70's still plays tennis, actively volunteer, take care of grandkids, etc.

    When I think of elderly, I think of someone who has substantially slowed down in most every way: physically as well as mentally.

    I think "obese"--ugly a word as it is, has a basis in medicine. Someone whose health is negatively affected by weight. I do not believe "elderly" does have that meaning.

  • joyfulguy
    9 years ago

    Does "obese" ...

    ... have anything in common with "obtuse" (as in doc)?

    o j

  • Georgysmom
    9 years ago

    I've seen people in their 60's that I would consider elderly, and I have friends in their 80's that I would not consider elderly. However, from a medical standpoint, I'm sure there is a different standard.

  • petra_gw
    9 years ago

    135 at 5'6 is not even overweight, let alone obese!
    As for 66 being considered elderly, Merriam-Webster defines elderly as "rather old; especially being past middle age". If the average life expectancy is 83, older than 41.5 is elderly. :o)

  • chisue
    9 years ago

    I'm 5' 6". I was overweight at 138. (I would not argue with being termed 'mildly obese'.) DH is 6'. He was 'mildly' overweight too. We had middle age spread'! We started paying more attention to what we ate about fifteen years ago. Now I'm trying to keep above 110, and he is trim at 185.

  • sylviatexas1
    9 years ago

    I've always had a healthy appetite, but many years ago something upset my innards, & I couldn't eat!
    After maybe 3 or 4 days, I went to the doctor, who turned out to be a *huge* woman, I mean close to 300 pounds.

    She gave me a prescription to calm my stomach & said that if that didn't help, she'd refer me to a psychiatrist "for this anorexia".

    I was so shocked & scared that I called my roommate, sobbing.

    Roommate had worked at the hospital & knew this doctor, had known her for a long time, in fact.
    had known her since the doctor had been treated for anorexia.

  • petra_gw
    9 years ago

    According to BMI tables, 5'6 and 135 pounds is a BMI of 21.8. So well within the normal weight category of 18.5 - 24.9.

    Here are the BMI categories:

    Underweight = Normal weight = 18.5 - 24.9
    Overweight = 25 - 29.9
    Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

  • Chi
    9 years ago

    I feel that a doctor or the individual is more qualified to make that determination than the BMI charts. People are all built differently. What could be a normal weight for someone can be overweight for another, all depending on build.

    I've known small people who are "normal/healthy" weight despite having a significant layer of flab on them, and athletic people without any spare fat who are overweight or obese according to the charts.

  • petra_gw
    9 years ago

    I agree that a lot depends on build. But in my opinion, even if someone is very small-boned, at 5'6 and 138 pounds there is no way they can be even mildly obese. Maybe slightly overweight, but not obese.

  • pianolady2008
    9 years ago

    "Elderly" is always about 15 years OLDER than I am !! LOL Age is only a number.....so......don't worry about it !! : ) BTW.......I'm 71.....but don't feel like it !!!!!!!

  • eclair
    9 years ago

    "Elderly" depends on the person. I have a sibling who was born elderly. My father died at 86 years of age. He was never elderly.

  • jemdandy
    9 years ago

    To me, elderly is personal frame of reference. It is different for each individual. For me, I did not feel my age until the summer I hit 76 and then someone pulled the plug and let the air out. I began to really feel it. Aches and pains associated with being elderly set in. For me, that was when I became elderly.

  • MM_gw
    9 years ago

    Well, I'm 69 but I don't consider myself elderly. My aunt is 95 and I consider her elderly...maybe.
    But I'm thinking she probably doesn't. Isn't elderly a state of mind? :o

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    9 years ago

    The thing I find ironic is, we pay these folks to tell us we're overweight (for me), and now, I'll have to look forward to them telling me I'm old. Oy! totally kidding! That's ok. It's their job to keep us straight.

    This past weekend, my brother was telling me how he was considering giving me a car. He'd modified it for a friend's daughter and they're considering giving it back to him because she's (get this) being defiant (um, what teenager isn't?) about not smoking in it. Any way, he said he'd modified it for her since she was "height challenged". And I said, Oh, and you thought I'd fit in it, cause I am short! Thanks! I'm not short any more than someone who is 5'6" and 135 is obese. I'm average (5'4"). I won't claim to be tall, but short? Nope. I won't believe it.

    This post was edited by rob333 on Thu, May 15, 14 at 9:23

  • joyfulguy
    9 years ago

    Hi again Rob

    You wouldn't happen to be a little short ...

    ... tempered, as well, now, would you?

    Or would that be something like "equanimity-challenged"?

    Sometimes our brothers are skilled at rubbing us the wrong way.

    If he does actually offer the car ... take it, smile brightly ... and be thankful ...

    ... as long as the price isn't too high.

    Enjoy whatever your wheels may be while you can.

    I live a dozen miles from town, and figure that I can continue to live here as long as I can drive. Old uncle lived here for a while after he couldn't drive, hiring a friend from town to drive him as needed, an afternoon or two a week.

    I figure that if I were able to get out into society for only a short period, a time or two a week ... I'd go stir-crazy!

    ole joyful

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    9 years ago

    Nah, we all guffawed at him. He laughed too. Totally ok.

  • just_imagine
    9 years ago

    Pianolady has it right. Elderly is always 15 years older than your current age!

  • socks
    9 years ago

    Joyful, don't you mean "weren't" in that last sentence?

  • jemdandy
    9 years ago

    deeby:

    You do have cause to be angered about the error on your Mom's death certificate, but it may not be entirely the doctor's fault. A staff member may have filled out the document and the doctor merely signed it without checking the facts. A coding error may have been made. The doctor may have dictated his notes and there are ample opportunities for errors when transcribing.

    Its too bad you did not get the chance to review the data before it was submitted.

  • wantoretire_did
    9 years ago

    I was the daughter who had financial, dr. appointments, laundry, etc. care for my mom when she was in assisted living then nursing home. After she passed, I didn't go over the details of her death certificate until weeks later and found that the cause of death had been noted as "liver cancer". I was stunned, as cancer had NEVER been diagnosed in any form or even discussed! She had had several TIAs and just gave up and finally slipped away.

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