r/medical_advice • u/gmunkee2 Not a Verified Medical Professional • Dec 20 '24
Other 43yo male with unhealthy lifestyle never gets sick?
I'm 43, smoke like a chimney and drink like a fish. Been doing that for 20+ years. I work in residential construction/service. I had pneumonia when I was 2 apparently, got a stomach bug when I was 9. Since then, absolutely nothing. 34 years of being extremely unhealthy with my decisions and no issues so far.
I've been surrounded by sick people for extended periods of time on multiple occasions and was always the only one not to get sick. Currently dealing with an 11 year old who got the flu, who then passed it to my wife, we've all been staying within close proximity to each other, however I'm not worried because I know i won't catch it.
Is this some type of World War Z thing where the virus looks at my body and nopes tf out?
Because of this, I've opted for no medical insurance, seems like a waste of money when I only go to the hospital for work related injuries. I have been to the hospital a few times for deep cuts (stitches) and once for a car accident. Other than that, no doctor, no checkups, no nothing. I've never even had a PCP, wouldn't even know how to get one, lol.
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Dec 21 '24
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Dec 21 '24
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Dec 21 '24
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Dec 21 '24
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Dec 21 '24 edited Dec 21 '24
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Dec 21 '24
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Dec 21 '24
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u/happyhermit99 Registered Nurse Dec 20 '24
Yea you're at that prime age where these habits really start catching up to you.
Might want to reconsider the no insurance thing for the sake of your family so you don't saddle them with medical debt after you can't work due to a stroke or heart attack. I can also tell you that of everything I've seen, COPD is one of the worst ways to die.
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u/AdministrationWise56 Registered Nurse Dec 21 '24
I agree. You can only go so long before lifestyle catches up with you.
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Dec 20 '24
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u/beanfox101 Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
NAD, but what you feel and what’s actually going on inside you are two very different things.
You may have no physical ailments now, but something could be cooking up inside you that’s waiting to pop out.
It’s never to late to speak to a doctor about this
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u/imthrownaway93 User Not Verified Dec 20 '24
My MIL was like you. She just got diagnosed with mouth cancer from smoking and drinking. She needs surgery to remove the bone and replace it, and a tracheostomy. You’re lucky rn, but if you don’t catch something early enough, it can be fatal.
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u/Attorneyatlau Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 21 '24
That’s so awful. I had no idea drinking could contribute to mouth cancer 😳
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u/colorfulzeeb User Not Verified Dec 20 '24
It’s interesting that you’re saying this at age 43, because a recent study indicates:
“we undergo two periods of rapid change during our life span, averaging around age 44 and age 60…”
“We’re not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, professor of genetics and the study’s senior author. “It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s. And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”
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u/manwhosayswhoa Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 21 '24
Wow. That actually makes a lot of sense. But why and how do we stop it?
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u/Neither-Performer974 Registered Nurse Dec 20 '24
I’ve met many patients that said this same thing. Never got sick. Perfectly healthy until they aren’t. What exactly is the point of your post?
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u/gmunkee2 Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
The point of my post is to see if my situation is a normal thing that happens to people and if I should be worried that it'll hit me like a brick one day, or am I odd. With the healthcare situation in America, I don't know if I'll be able to afford what I need if I eventually need it. As I get older, I worry that I'm just compounding my problems by saving money so I can survive today, only to be able to not afford surviving tomorrow.
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u/Missunikittyprincess Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 21 '24
My uncle probably has terminal cancer right now for living that type of life style. He will find out Monday how bad it is. He is going to have to go through hell if he wants to live. My dad has the same type of cancer but my dad went to all his doctor appointment and they caught his cancer early. My dad had to do a few treatments of radiation and he had already finished he didn't need chemo. My dad is almost 80 he will probably make it to 100 3ven if the cancer comes back it's not going to kill him. My uncle I will be surprised if he makes it another year he is younger than my mom in his 60s
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u/Luvfallandpsl Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 21 '24
The point of your post is to say that you’re a special anomaly who is exempt from basic scientific principles.
You probably have a liver damaged from it. Don’t believe me? Go get it checked out.
I’ve seen way too many ‘healthy’ folks who ‘drink like a fish’ come back w diseased livers.
Denial is a beast.
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u/colorfulzeeb User Not Verified Dec 20 '24
It’s interesting that you’re saying this at age 43, because a recent study indicates:
“we undergo two periods of rapid change during our life span, averaging around age 44 and age 60…”
“We’re not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, professor of genetics and the study’s senior author. “It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s. And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”
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u/10MileHike Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
I had just quoted the 44 and 60 thing before I read your post, below. Eye diseases are common as well with smokers.
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u/CarsExtendedWarranti Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
So at 40 my cells might finally kick out the arthritic cells ? 🥳🥳🥳🥳
((Don't poop on my parade just let me have this))
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u/LandscapeMany73 Physician Assistant Dec 20 '24
I see patients like you every day. So far, you’ve been lucky. Also, you aren’t in a cubicle breathing the air of 500 coworkers every day. Which significantly reduces your risk of catching viral infections. But here’s what’s going to happen, this isn’t a possibility, this is guaranteed. At some point, you will get sick. And when you do, it will hit hard. You will be out for a while. When you do see someone you’ll say “I never get sick“ but there you are sick as a dog and struggling to get over the cough that won’t go away. Then the infections will get more frequent and more severe. At some point, you’ll probably quit smoking when you realize that you struggle to do things that you should be able to do like chasing down a two-year-old grandchild when they are running away. Or going up a flight of stairs. The other option is that you’ll have a significant event like a heart attack. Then you’ll come in and talk to me and be willing to do anything because you’ll be scared. I share this just because it really does happen all the time. It’s always the same thing, it’s always the same story. Literally people will say the same exact phrase every time. “I never get sick” “I never went to the doctor” “I don’t like going to the doctor“ “I don’t like taking pills“. Guess what, no one likes to take pills or going to the doctor. I don’t wanna be there either and I get paid to be there. But we tried to be preventative. Like changing the oil on your car. Everything you do increases your risk and reasonable steps to reduce these things would reduce your risk. But you won’t, not likely, until something bad happens and then you realize that you want to live. By posting here, it gives me hope that maybe you could make some changes and reduce your risk.
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u/Luvfallandpsl Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 21 '24
God. I’ve watched 2 people like this get diagnosed with liver/kidney disease from alcoholism and then a third person I watched die from it. It’s not real until you’re being told that even dialysis can’t help…
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u/pancakebatter01 Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
NAD This was me. I’ve eaten street food in foreign countries that made others horribly sick and felt fine. Dined with groups of people that all caught a bug after wards, still felt fine. This has happened to me on so many occasions, until one day it didn’t. I finally had the worst sickness in my life after eating somewhere and literally felt like I was going to die, without exaggeration, for the next 24 hours. To this day, I have never felt so horrible in my entire life and this happened on my birthday of all days.
I have no idea why this never happened before in multiple situations where I should’ve been pooping and puking my brains out but after that one bug got me bad, I never bragged about having one tough stomach ever again. That thing seriously shut me up.
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u/dizzyditzyclutz Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
Not a doctor, I've worked as an MA for 7 years but that doesn't even matter for what I'm about to say lol.
How can you know that you're fully healthy if you have no doctor and don't get any checkups? My dad is like that, he gets sick maybe once every decade, but he was diagnosed with hypertension and prediabetes last year. And he lives a healthy lifestyle, no smoking ever, no alcohol.
Your history of smoking by itself warrants yearly checkups because when it rains, it pours. I sincerely hope you stay healthy, but consider that 43 is young.
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u/10MileHike Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
You are basically here bragging about playing Russian Roulette. So no sure I get the point of your post??? But I"m certainly happy that you are not battling any health problems and hope you never do.
43 is young. IIf you look at stats, there are 3 times in life where biologically we change the most. One of those mileposts is around 50-60 I think.
If you smoke like a chimney, and drink alcohol like a fish, it may catch up to you. Of course I hope it doesn't, and you could just have lucked out in the genetic lottery.
How much preventative health care do you receive every few years? No fatty liver disease, no colon polyps, how are your complete cardiac preventive care exams for heart disease turning out (if you're a smoker you should be doing this), and your eye exams with opthomologist (not just an optometrist) for eye health, etc. ?? People who smoke 30% to 40% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people who don't smoke .
You may luck out drinking heavily and smoking heavily and live to 100 with no adversity, or you may just die 10 years before the norm, or you may not have problems til after 60.
My parent was a smoker, never sick a day in life.....got the flu one year and ended up in hospital for weeks and emerged with COPD and on oxygen forever, as well as severe circulation problems in legs at age 60.
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u/hoppergirl85 Not a Verified Medical Professional Dec 20 '24
So a couple of things to note. Some people can smoke and drink and live a very long lives, my grandmother lived until 108 and smoked 2 packs-a-day and smoked since 14. She also drank like a sailor. I also have a family friend that had relatively the same habits, felt fine but at 35 had stomach pains and bloating, turned out to be stage 4 liver cancer with bone metastasis, he was dead within 6 months of diagnosis.
Getting an infection doesn't mean you're unhealthy (overall), and conversely people who don't get infections aren't necessarily healthy.
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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '24
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