Life as an elder is tragic.

[Seranthor]

Yes the children of my grandma supported her very well. But without children she would have have had a rather sad life.

I think its pretty normal to atleast spend a few years in a nursing home before you die.

no, its not normal to spend time in a nursing home... neither of my grandmothers lived a single day in a nursing home, the only reason one of my grandfathers did was because of an industrial accident and the only people in the area qualified to take care of him were the local nursing home, my other grandfather on the other hand, never lived a day in a nursing home. My father before he passed never lived in a nursing home, although he was over 70 when he died... my mother also has never lived in a nursing hom and she just turned um, 73.

---------- Post added 2012-12-20 at 02:51 AM ----------

Ah yes, wonderful Norway. Where the elderly have worse conditions than prisoners.
It keeps getting worse as well, it's constantly in the media about the elderly's conditions. Not getting proper food, bedtime early in the day, very few staff etc.

It's simply ridiculous how they are treated.

I thought this too, why should your mass murders that take life be treated better than your senior citizens that brought forth life?

[Ichifails]

Just come to realise the current situation of the elder's standards.

I live in Norway. One would think there was no such problem here.

My grandma when she was alive, may she rest in peace experienced something many other elders do around the world.

To live in a single room at an elder care senter. She was to old and to sick to take care of herself it cost 1 628 euros a month. Thats 2 156 euros.
Her pension was 1 696 euros a month. Thats 2 246 dollars.

The room consisted of ONE cheap chair. And one white hospital bed. Perhaps 5-15 square meters. Oh I almost forgot it had a lamp over the bed.
Its already sad enough growing old. Spending the last 10 years of your life in like this is not even worth living for. I would rather die before I live like that.

Its quite sad your left to live with nothing but a chair and a bed and your entire pension is used to pay for a chair to sit in and 2 frozen meals a day.
I hope the situation changes in 40 years when its my turn to live like this.

I'd say that it's a bit arrogant but that's from the standpoint of someone that live in a country where there's no way someone that works for the "state" could earn that much a month while working.
Why does she have to pay to go to a retirement home? My grandmother has to live almost alone at 72 after my grandfather died and she only has a ~40 euro pension.
It just seems weird that people complain so much about money when for others it seems so much. I guess different cultures are different.

[Dezerte]

Screw that, I'll rob a bank when I'm 80. Prisons are more luxurious than nursing homes, ironically.

[Djuntas]

OP what you describe are social heritage. Take my grandmother, lives inn a huge house (Well, it could room 5 people np, trough its abit out of shape, alot of work needs to be done) for many years, now looking to sell it to move into something smaller and more new.

She's got plenty of resources, her health is not to good but it she's still able to walk abit, drive etc.

And then take my mothers mother (word for that?), she's proboaly on happy pills, and lives inn some small appartment with barely anything going for her.


Its all about the bejamin. When my grandmother got sick she could afford hired private sector help, while my grandmother has lousy state-gourvment help for cleaning etc.

Soon christmas and you can bet my grandmother again buys us all presents, and prolly some of the kids gets big once to.

[Fuiking]

My grandmother lives at home, together with the rest of my family.

She's somewhat active, even though she doesn't go out much anymore. She can take care of herself, but if she couldn't, my family would be there for her. Especially my mother. My mother has a fucking strong moral backbone, and she wouldn't just leave her to rot in a nursing home, no matter what it takes.

It's good that nursing homes exist, because it's good that places where old people are taken care of exist. But some of them have unacceptable conditions. And while it's understandable that not every family could take care of their elders, it's sad to see that so many of them are being sent into nursing homes, or live alone with no one to take care of them and no visits from their family except once in a lifetime. It's a real shame that our society has such low respect for elders (Paradoxically, I find that the same goes to the youth, and such problems could be solved if there was more investment in the youth and its abilities. Pretty much everyone is screwed these days, except middle-aged people with established careers)

My grandmother actually decided that she wanted to live in a eldery peoples home. As much as she hated, but she was from the time grandparents lived with there children and she had bad bad bad memories about that (just like my mom had) luckily it was only my grandmother as my other grandmother had died in the 70's, my grandfathers respectively in the 80's and late 90's.... so yeah.

[Yemiena]

I live in Norway, and i see the situation as fairly serious. Breaking news: it wont get any better. Soon we will have more old people than young, and even less money prioritized to elders. Ill probly kill myself or move somewhere else for when i grow old.

[Deleted]

Just come to realise the current situation of the elder's standards.

I live in Norway. One would think there was no such problem here.

My grandma when she was alive, may she rest in peace experienced something many other elders do around the world.

To live in a single room at an elder care senter. She was to old and to sick to take care of herself it cost 1 628 euros a month. Thats 2 156 euros.
Her pension was 1 696 euros a month. Thats 2 246 dollars.

The room consisted of ONE cheap chair. And one white hospital bed. Perhaps 5-15 square meters. Oh I almost forgot it had a lamp over the bed.
Its already sad enough growing old. Spending the last 10 years of your life in like this is not even worth living for. I would rather die before I live like that.

Its quite sad your left to live with nothing but a chair and a bed and your entire pension is used to pay for a chair to sit in and 2 frozen meals a day.
I hope the situation changes in 40 years when its my turn to live like this.

Yup, my grandpa just passed away and I experienced exactly the same thing. It's just sad how they are sitting there every day (and often the night because he couldn't sleep from the pain he had) without even getting something to do or... I really dunno really tbh, it's just hard to come with a solution. I feel sorry for every second I wasn't with him when he was alive because he just couldn't do anything, except waiting for us (his grandchildren) to come. Sad situation really, I dunno if you experienced quite the same thing with yours.

But to answer your question, I think this was and is one of the worst times to be elder because of the huge gap they experience with the real world right now. Most elder only read books, watch TV or maybe play some slow pace game if it's a special occasion. But for the rest nothing, there isn't really nothing to do for them either. I think (and hope) we have a bit better experience because we have grown up with the internet and so much stuff to do that we won't be so bored. I atleast don't want to have pain every day without anything to do. And i hope my grandpa don't have pain anymore either

R.I.P. OPA

[Deleted]

Thankfully my father had the good sense of checking out in his 60's from an infarction, but my mother has Alzheimers, and she's in a home. Now, the home isn't that bad; there's decent staff, I guess, and a lot of other seniles to play around with. Still, for the past several years now, and whatever she has remaining, her life is waking up to a world she doesn't recognize, being pushed around by people she doesn't recognize, and having to be confused why she's not in her childhood home. Haven't seen her in years, and am not planning on seeing her ever again. What would be the point?

That's just to give you short preface so you know I know what I'm talking about.

I think we should send our senile elders out on ice floes, or into the wilderness to fend for themselves or rather be eaten by wolves. Perhaps some kind of a fight to the death -style of a gladiator tournament. You may be laughing or horrified, but you've got no fucking clue until it's your own parent who looks you in the eyes and doesn't know who the hell you are.

I personally will make sure my time comes long before I lose who I am. I'm confident it will, on it's own, in the form of some disease, infarction or stroke, but if it doesn't, I can always catch the next train.

Also, the title of this thread shouldn't be "Life as an elder is tragic", but rather "Life with an elder as a loved one is tragic." It's not just the elders who suffer, and often they suffer less than those of us who have to watch them slowly rot away for decades.

[Deleted]

Ah yes, wonderful Norway. Where the elderly have worse conditions than prisoners.
It keeps getting worse as well, it's constantly in the media about the elderly's conditions. Not getting proper food, bedtime early in the day, very few staff etc.

It's simply ridiculous how they are treated.

Exact same situation in Sweden. I would rather live up all my money and then make sure to die happy, than live at a place like that...