The biggest age-related change I've noticed in my parents and grandparents is related to sweets. My dad (72) now stocks the house with cookies and such but he never ate any kind of cake or cookie before. My grandmother (90) will eat nothing but candy, cakes and cinnamon buns if left to her own. I think for her it's the taste but also the decadence of it that delights her. On the flip side, my mother (70) had a crazy sweet tooth all my life. If i was late for curfew, I knew to bring home a peanut butter tandykake, chocolate bar or a donut to soften the blow! Now she doesn't eat many sweets at all.. and she's taken a liking to margaritas much like your mother took to root beer! (lol) I have noticed many other changes in my father but he had a series of pretty catastrophic strokes 15 years ago. He's regained his speech to the point that you wouldn't know that he'd had a stroke if you met him on the street. He still odd pockets of memory loss and he confuses pronouns (mostly he/him for she/her). The biggest change is just in how he processes information. Again, while age may have compounded some of that in the recent past, it's primarily related to the strokes.

Posted by silversword (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 08 at 14:20 Someone mentioned PAS Syndrome, so I looked it up to see what it is. This is the definition of PAS as described by R.A. Gardner who discovered the syndrome and has become an expert in dealing with the issue.Gardner's definition of PAS is: "The parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent."(Excerpted from: Gardner, R.A. (1998). The Parental Alienation Syndrome, Second Edition, Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.) Basically, this means that through verbal and non verbal thoughts, actions and mannerisms, a child is emotionally abused (brainwashed) into thinking the other parent is the enemy. This ranges from bad mouthing the other parent infront of the children, to withholding visits, to pre-arranging the activities for the children while visiting with the other parent. http://www.paskids.com/ I don't know very much about it, but this is what my mom used to do with my dad. It really is sad how children get in the middle. Posted by sue36 (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 08 at 19:39 A good friend of mine had this happen to him. He had custody and then custody got transferred to his ex-wife after she cleaned up her act. She had basically abandoned the kids (after cheating on her husband, our friend) and after getting custody she set out to systematically eliminate our friend from the children's lives. It got very, very ugly. He now has no contact with the children. Many years ago I dated a guy who was recently divorced and something similar happened to him. While he was in the military, away on deployment, his wife moved out of their on base housing without even telling him (he learned when he got back from a deployment, can you imagine?). She moved back to her home state and they got divorced. They agreed she would have custody (the child was young) and he would have visitation where he would go to her home state until the child was a certain age. She then married a former boyfriend very soon after the divorce. The custody arrangement wasn't worth the paper it was written on. She decided her new husband should be the child's father (not just step father). She would disappear with the kid when he showed up for court ordered visitation (he had to fly there). She wouldn't answer the phone when he called to speak to his child. The court (the court in her home state) wouldn't do anything. He eventually gave up his parental rights and her new husband adopted the child. He couldn't take it anymore. Both of them spent small fortunes fighting to enforce the visitation orders and got nowhere. Â Posted by moonie_57 (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 08 at 20:45 And I don't think that PAS is necessarily one parent against another, although I didn't read the link provided. Just from the explanation, I feel like this is what my DD's adult friend has done. She bad mouths DH and I to DD. Even after going to court, and the woman being found guilty of contribution to the delinquency of a minor, DD still has contact with her. I'm just trying to find proof. Â Posted by silversword (My Page) on Thu, Oct 2, 08 at 15:42 Moonie, I didn't think of it like this, but you're right! "And I don't think that PAS is necessarily one parent against another" I have seen this happen as well. It must be really hard to deal with your individual situation because this is probably an older, "cooler" person than your DD and she must look up to them. It's hard to see sometimes, especially as a teenager, that your parents really have your best interests at heart and aren't just trying to keep you away from your "good friend". I remember my mom telling me one of my friends wasn't a nice girl, and I didn't believe her. In retrospect, she was right. I only hope this girl removes her tentacles from your daughter before more damage is done.

Our 40s were the most fun. We were 41 when DD went to university, our alma matter. She was close enough to home for weekend visits and we enjoyed football weekends with her. Our income was stable enough to pay for college out of current earnings and no need to get into college savings. My mother was still in her prime, so no worries there. An empty nest meant we had time to really get into outdoor activities, particularly whitewater kayaking and we still had the physical ability to go all out. We took some wonderful trips -- a kayaking trip to the French Alps, three 8 day wilderness whitewater trips down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, kayaking trips to Colorado and lots of long weekends to the Smokies. DH and I both went through the process and training to become certified whitewater kayak instructors and he also was a certified Swiftwater Rescue instructor. We both enjoyed volunteer teaching through our local club. Although we had been skiing for years, when we were 41 we finally bought a ski condo in the resort town where we now live (as of last November) and upgraded to a second home here when we were 49 (and DD had graduated from University and moved here.) We usually made at least two, sometimes three, ski trips a year out here along with summer trips. Our 50s were kind of blah (except for DDs wedding), multiple health issues for DH (knee replacement, back issues, a bout with post concussive syndrome, gastrointestinal issues, etc. ) and I needed to have to take more time taking care of my mother (as well as DH). All this slowed down our outdoor activities almost entirely, except for some skiing and an occasional whitewater trip, but without the constant practice our skills suffered. Our 60s are starting out well. Most significant is the birth of our DGS last year. We've built and just moved into our dream house in our dream location, with DD, DSIL and DGS next door. My Mom still takes a lot of attention, but instead of living alone an hour away, she is thriving in a very nice Senior facility, less than 5 minutes from us. DH still has some back issues but other issues are much improved and he skis at a very high level on his new knee. With a season ski pass our skiing is picking back up both in endurance and skill. I might even be able to get back into kayaking this summer since a fun little whitewater river runs right through town and DSIL is interested in learning. DH can't kayak anymore because of his back problems and a fusion of cervical vertebrae, but has bought a raft and hopefully his back (now lower back problems) will allow him to do some rowing. We still aren't completely retired, but working more part time --2 days a week for him and a couple of hours most days for me. However, full retirement is planned in the next couple of years.

From People's Pharmacy: Researchers have established that pickle juice promptly eases electrically induced muscle cramps (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, May 2010). They also have demonstrated that the mechanism of action of pickle juice or mustard is not through electrolyte replenishment (Journal of Athletic Training, May-June 2014). Nobel Prize winner Rod MacKinnon, M.D., and his colleague Bruce Bean, Ph.D., are neurobiologists. They also are prone to muscle cramps. While kayaking several miles off Cape Cod, Dr. MacKinnon suffered debilitating cramps, which was dangerous that far out in the ocean. Fortunately, they made it back to land, and they began a quest to better understand the causes of such incapacitating cramps. By thinking creatively, they discovered that muscle cramps are actually triggered by misfiring nerves rather than dehydration or electrolyte imbalances. These brilliant scientists came up with a revolutionary idea that might transform the treatment of muscle cramps. They hypothesized that strong flavors would trigger nerves in the mouth, throat and stomach. This neuronal stimulation might in turn overwhelm the misbehaving nerves that were causing muscle cramps. They concocted a spicy beverage containing cinnamon, ginger and a hot-pepper extract that “directly influence and regulate nerve function.” They call the product Hotshot (www.Flex-Pharma.com). We suspect that yellow mustard or pickle juice also may work by stimulating the same nerves. Visitors to our website report fast relief from such remedies that cannot otherwise be explained by the slow absorption of sodium in the case of pickle juice or turmeric in the case of yellow mustard. Perhaps it’s time for skeptics to recognize that just because a remedy may seem strange doesn’t mean it should be rejected.