Darn Ouchies!

I get so tired of muscle cramps sometimes.  During the day, I can get finger-clenches  and rib muscle cramps.  At night I can get thigh or calf cramps.   It used to be seem there were causes.  If I did too much gripping of shovels while gardening, I got finger-clenches a few hours later.  If I lifted too much, I got rib muscle cramps.  If I just did too much walking, I got leg cramps in bed.

Now it doesn't even seem connected to physical activity.  I got finger-clenches a few days ago after just mowing the lawn and I don't exactly keep it in a death-grip.  Tonight I got them and I didn't do ANYTHING active.  Sometimes just holding a knife while preparing dinner causes it.

I try to stay hydrated.  I take a supplemental potassium tablet.  I have a good diet (not a "diet" diet, just good fresh foods with some meat and several colorful veggies).  A low dosage Ibuprophen helps.  Ointment rubs with aspirin or lidocaine help the finger clenches and rib muscle cramps.  

I saw that basketball players use a sort of rolling pin for leg cramps. so I bought one.  It's hard to use by yourself.  Walking around for 10 minutes usually works.

Mom had the finger-clenching thing and that was the first sign of Parkinson's.  I hope it isn't that.  Dad had lumbar muscle cramps in his 60s but that went away.  Neither are around to ask questions of.  I wish I had asked more questions of them, but who thinks about aging at 50?

I am beginning to wonder if the finger-clenches are from typing.  I'm a bad typist and a fussy writer.  I almost redo half my typing most days.  I took typing in high school, but never mastered touch-typing.  Well, my fingers and brain don't communicate all that well.  I can't play a musical instrument for the same reason. 

But that is just my latest thought about the causes.  I have no really good reason for the cause.  My Dr says these things can happen for many reasons and there isn't much that can be done about it.

I suspect the real cause is DDT exposure.  When I was a kid in the 50s, the town I lived in sent mosquito-fogger trucks around several days a week at twilight.  It was a DDT fog and supposedly harmless to people.  But we kids loved riding our bikes in and out of the fog.  

I developed hand-tremors after that and they remain to this day.  I got bad enough soon after that and I never could build a decent model kit (glue got everywhere).  These days, I have to be really careful handling a mug of tea or bowl of soup.  

It's OK; I'm just complaining out load.  Attaching notes to tumbleweeds, as some people say...  

Mom used to tell me that getting old isn't for sissies.   Dad was actually fortunate in a way.  He went into dementia before his physical health failed, so he really didn't understand what was going wrong.  

Yeah, I'm only 70, but I see what is coming.  It probably won't get better.  I see the downhill slope more lately.    I don't mean to worry anyone; I'm still mentally and physically active and enjoy my life.  But life passes in only one direction.  I'll never be 30 again.  Heck, I'd love to be 50.  Tell that to a 20 year old, LOL!

And I expect to be "compos mentis" til around 85-90.  That will have been a good run and better than average.  Lots of great experiences, lots of good meals, and lots of special cats.  And as Frank Sinatra sang once, love was good to me a few times.

I probably shouldn't even really post this, but my finger is over the button and...

Chess

I used to play chess very well.  When I was 12, I beat my Dad at it, and he never played me again.  I found a neighbor kid who also played and we had great games.

Wen I went to Univ of MD, it turned out the President of the Chess Club was 2 rooms away.  We played for hours.  I got pulled into the rated chess world.  When my friend the President was in an accident and became permanently (how do I say this) "not himself anymore", I took over.

Not that I was ever going to challenge Bobby Fisher, but I got a trophy or 2. 

Years later, I learned that some of the people on a discussion board also played chess (better than I did) and we formed an online team.  We did great.  I organized and they played.  I played some and won most games.

But there suddenly came a day when I couldn't play worth a damn.  I could defend perfectly well, but I couldn't arrange an attack at all.  I had just lost that. 

I quit the team and passed on the leadership to an other.

But I kept trying to rediscover the attack with books and chess apps.  I couldn't.  And AFAIK I didn't have a stroke. 

So I have been playing the chess app on my mac while waiting for things to process or download.  And I discovered that if the app was set to thinking 3 moves ahead, I could never win.  But if it was set to 2 moves ahead, I won every time.

I'm a 2.5 player, LOL!

There was a day when I thought I was still creative at things like chess, and I was.  And then, one day snuck up on me and whispered "you aren't anymore" and proved it.  I have some old written recorded games from years ago.  I replayed them. I don't even know what I was thinking in those attacks, but they worked wonderfully. 

Getting older sucks!

I don't feel dumber, but I have proof.  Dad lived here with me for 2 years, and went from slightly confused to totally demented.  One thing you can learn from aged parents is what to expect...  Well, at least if I follow his path, I have 20 years to go before that. 

Unless CoVid19 gets me.

I'm a downer today, sorry.

Cavebear