The Atlantic: Why I Hope to Die at 75

[Gilgamesh]

The biggest criticism of it (other than the crazy-exorbitant cost) is that the TA-65 studies have only been done on mice.

... and the PubMed studies I'm glancing at now seem mostly (entirely, so far -- but haven't gone through them all) funded by the company that makes TA-65.

It was one of the substances Stephen Spindler tested on long-lived mice (long-lived so that we can tell whether the substance is having an anti-aging effect, or just curing a disease, a disease any particular human may or may not have). Result? No effect on lifespan.

Still, I've been taking astragalus for a couple years.

Then this (in Spanish):

http://www.abc.es/20120805/sociedad/abc ... 42107.html

So... I STILL think TA-65 is exceedingly cool and worth keeping an eye on! Not ready to take the plunge yet, though.

GB

[Doctor Lost]

Problem with our prospective fate is by the time the disease really bites, you're gone, it's just those people who love you that are hurt. the lingering disease really plays hell on your caregivers

[Welcomeaboard]

I may just have to wait on the generic form of TA-65.

[Tincup]

I've seen both sides of the coin. Caring for my mother with dementia in her 80's. The other side is I have associates in their 80's. They are still dynamic and full of life. I have one who is 82 and routinely makes all-day complex technical presentations to investors. He is one of the best I've ever seen and has a wonderful skill of communicating complex ideas in a way anyone can understand. Another is equally sharp and enjoys life to its fullest. He's heading off for a month sailing on a tall ship in the Adriatic and Western Mediterranean. He is also great at creating new ideas for our business. I'm hoping my lifestyle will delay me getting my mother's fate and allow me that of my colleagues...

[pgf54]

Hi well I am not so worried about the growing old and physical limitations but more being in a society that is alien to me...........if I outlive my friends and family.
By alien I mean the ever changing technology that I don't really want to be a part of even at 60 years of age..... One of the reasons I have moved to a remote country town.
I get on a train when in the big smoke and everyone looks dumbed down, plugged into machines and poking at keyboards.They don't see what I see when at one with nature, growing my food or wandering amongst the giant trees.
I am afraid I wanna be a savage in the reservation, the Brave New world isn't for me......Makes me wonder some time why I try to live as long as long as possible by adopting all the right life style strategies. Guess I just want to be one of Huxleys savages but a healthy one...........

[hairyfairy]

Nature has set a lifespan of about 70 years for most of us, which is why so many people older than that tend to suffer from ill health & are being kept alive by ever increasing medication. Some of us are lucky enough to have longevity genes, but for the rest of us, medical science has let us down by treating the illnesses of old age with drugs instead of trying to extend life by keeping us healthy instead. Frankly, I`d rather drop dead at 70 than live to by 90 plus with an ever increasing list of infirmities the way most people seem to nowadays. My grandfather dropped dead from a heart attack waiting for a train to work at the age of 70. He was healthy and independent until then.

[NF52]

Nature has set a lifespan of about 70 years for most of us, which is why so many people older than that tend to suffer from ill health & are being kept alive by ever increasing medication. Some of us are lucky enough to have longevity genes, but for the rest of us, medical science has let us down by treating the illnesses of old age with drugs instead of trying to extend life by keeping us healthy instead. Frankly, I`d rather drop dead at 70 than live to by 90 plus with an ever increasing list of infirmities the way most people seem to nowadays. My grandfather dropped dead from a heart attack waiting for a train to work at the age of 70. He was healthy and independent until then.

Hello my friend,
I hope you don't mind my using that term, since I had the good fortune to reply to your first post and you and I are only a year apart in age (I'm 66). I think you've mentioned the NHS and are in the the U.K.. On my father's side I'm sure I still have relatives in Liverpool, Lincolnshire, the Borderlands of Scotland and possibly Wales. So I claim the right of friendship with anyone from the other side of the pond. Especially one who's struggling with the news of ApoE 4.

I don't think "Nature" has set a lifespan for us, any more than "Nature" wired us to read and write English, or Mandarin or Arabic. Nature set forth an amazingly complex, yet versatile system that is based on what an old friend of mine calls "adapt and adopt". My paternal grandfather died at 28 in a logging accident at the boat company he owned (not a natural death.) His 2 sons each died of stomach cancer at age 48, almost certainly caused by toxic levels of nitrites in sausages. My father died of cardiac arrest at 67, with poorly controlled diabetes and no monitoring of his heart until too late. Yet his son, my brother, is still healthy and working at age 65. My two sisters are almost 70 and 69 and cognitively intact and healthy. And I'm a 4/4 and have no signs of heart disease although like you, I didn't live the life of a Puritan when younger (My vice was sugar, not alcohol.) So while we are wired to eventually wear out, we can try to help the parts to keep moving using our best current knowledge.

We all have dark nights, dear hairy fairy, and I suspect you have had a few lately. Please know that nature and doctors try hard to extend our "health-span", not our "life-span". I think we can help them by choosing not to worry about the 65 years we can't change, and focus on the days and weeks just in front of us, choosing instead to find something of purpose, or small joys, or interest. Please feel free to reach out to any of us to "talk."

Hugs from a fellow traveler on this journey.

[hairyfairy]

Thank you, It`s good to hear from someone with 4 4 alelles who is still going strong. It`s true that the weeks since I got the results of my genetic tests have been just about the worst that I can ever recall, Iv`e had a lot of times in my life when I felt that I`d been cursed, & finding out about my genetic status seemed to confirm that. Iv`e done endless ours of research all over the internet, & all Iv`e read is doom & gloom about how we can`t drink alcohol, eat fatty food or sugary food, which really hacks me off with my birthday & christmas coming up. If you can`t have something nice to eat as a treat or the occasional tipple, then life looks pretty grim. There`s also other stuff that Iv`e been reading about things that help protect other people are no good to our genotype, curcumin for example & fish oils. It`s as though nothing we do can really make things easier. On the plus side, Iv`e signed up with dementia uk & offered to take part in trials for new ways to prevent dementia, so even if nothing can be done for me, at least I`ll be doing something to help future generations avoid dementia.

[NF52]

... On the plus side, Iv`e signed up with dementia uk & offered to take part in trials for new ways to prevent dementia, so even if nothing can be done for me, at least I`ll be doing something to help future generations avoid dementia.

Cheers for you for signing up for possible trials!! I am in a clinical trial here (Generations 1, which is a study of a BACE-1 inhibitor and an anti-amyloid therapy). It was one of the things that made me feel that I might be doing something for my children (who are all ApoE 3/4, like you) and for others. Even trials that are stopped or ineffective can advance science. My grandfather, a physics teacher by training, was a great admirer of Thomas Edison was able to get a signed letter from him giving permission to name a new high school after Edison. Edison knew a thing about persistence.

Here are 2 quotes I like from Edison:
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work” and especially for those of us with ApoE 4: “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

And here's some advice about taking a break on birthdays, Christmas and other important days, from Stavia, a wonderful doctor with ApoE 4/4 who, like you, is in a country with beautiful places and limits on what health care will cover:

Cheating: of course we all do. I cheat randomly, on special occasions, or for instance when we went to Cuba for 3 weeks, I will eat bread, drink alcohol, cake, eat food fried in industrial seed oil etc. Probably once a month or so. I think two aspects are important here. Sustainability, if an occasional cheat helps you maintain this, that has to be good...I do the most I can sustain and don't beat myself up when I cheat. I do this because I don't want to have any regrets in the future.

So tell us when your birthday is, hairyfairy, and we will shower you with well wishes and even give you permission to have "a wee dram" or something similar. If we're doomed for having sweets once in a while, then I'm doomed, yet I refuse to feel doomed. I insist on deciding what is the best I can currently do for my brain and my spirit. Sometimes it's a healthy helping of grandchildren; sometimes it's a sweet treat.

[Fiver]

I agree with much of the article. I would consider being healthy up to 75 to be a great victory....and vindication for all my healthy habits that my friends find so odd and annoying.