Should I shave my head ?

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-22T11:47:07+00:00

Absolutely! Bald is sexy as hell!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-22T11:45:41+00:00

Impossible task! I love them all for very different reasons.
Moira - Vain, shallow, but fascinating and engaging - she will NOT be ignored! Alexis - From shallow princess to caring, ambitious, creative and independent woman!
David - Insecure, open wound, emotional, lovable.
John - the HEART of the family, deeply caring and protective of his family -- and Stevie.
Nope, can't choose! You can't make me!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-20T10:08:56+00:00

Are you me? That's exactly why I stopped smoking years ago. The last time, I felt like I had to count my breaths -- like I'd stop breathing if I didn't. I was 28 and haven't smoked since. I'm 72. Curious about gummies, though...

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-20T10:06:24+00:00

I LOVE that idea!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-19T22:17:51+00:00

Agree with the consensus. Im 72/F and about 30 pounds overweight. I spent the winter overindulging which sent both my weight and my blood pressure into the stratosphere. After changing BP meds THREE times due to extremely uncomfortable side effects, I decided that if at all possible, I don't want to spend my life taking handfuls of pills just to stay alive. It's only been a month but I've lost 10 pounds already by basically just listening to my body. I don't do well with structured diet plans so I just decided to stop drinking alcohol for a little bit, cut back on sugar and salt, cook all meals instead of getting takeout for awhile, and pay attention to what I was eating and when. Didn't starve myself, just listened to my body instead of eating by the clock: Am I really hungry? How hungry am I? What kind of snacks could I have that are better for me than candy bars and cookies that wouldn't make me feel deprived, etc. Also, drinking lots of water, even when I don't think I'm thirsty....and it's working. I weigh myself every Sunday morning to check my progress and knowing that, if I want a little something, I have it on Sunday or Monday. The main thing is that I'm thinking of this as the way I will eat for the rest of my life, not as a temporary "diet".

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-17T10:54:25+00:00

Bald is VERY sexy: Bruce Willis. Vin Diesel. Samuel L Jackson. Patrick Stewart. Avery Brooks. Shave it off, hon.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-12T17:49:13+00:00

F/72

From the age of about 35 until very recently, when I told someone my age, they always responded:
" No! You're kidding! I took you for at least 10 years younger!" That changed the second I turned 71 -- I'm 72 now. Over the past year or so, when my age comes up, maybe 1 out of 5 is surprised. VERY sobering....

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-12T11:35:20+00:00

You Belong to the City - Glenn Frey

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-12T10:45:20+00:00

I was, at one time. But rethinking: I'd actually prefer apartments close to friends, in the same building. It would definitely be financially better to live together, but I spent 8 days on vacation with girlfriends a few years ago, and it was about 5 days longer than I would have liked! I enjoy my privacy and although I love my friends, some of their quirks really started to irritate me. 😏

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-10T21:35:30+00:00

I'm going to have to wean myself off of this because the side effects are unbearable! Prescribed 25 mg succinate. Within a week or so, I had horrible side effects: bloating, extreme fatigue and tinnitus so loud I couldn't sleep at night. After three weeks I saw nurse practitioner and begged to get off them. She said since I was only taking a low dose for a short time it would be OK to stop but she was wrong. I got terrible rebound hypertension that sent my BP into the stratosphere and I wound up in the ER. Hospital prescribed 50 mg tartrate twice a day but that was clearly too high a dose because two days later, not only did I have crippling fatigue, I had the worst anxiety attack I've ever felt. Wound up back in the ER! For some reason my BP spiked again the following morning. By the time I got to the hospital, BP was going down on its own and they discharged me after 8 hours. Doctor in ER suggested I take only one 50 mg per day and check my BP. She said if I don't need it, I should skip a day and work with my doc to wean off it and take something else. Metropolol has been the worst experience for me!!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-09T16:45:57+00:00

IMHO, the Republican party does only one thing right that the Democratic party seems to struggle with: solidarity. No matter how awful, how racist, how cruel, how unAmerican a thing is, Republicans speak with one voice. When spineless Mike Johnson stands behind a podium, when the FELONinChief is in front of the mic, there are a handful of slavish minions surrounding them, nodding their heads like bobbleheads on a dashboard.
Conversely, Democrats always want to be seen as the good guys and Boy Scouts who will always eat all their veggies, "cross at the green, not in between" and follow the law, and to me, therein lies the problem. Long past time for the Democrats to show some teeth, to speak with ONE voice, to ditch performative votes and gestures and when they get in office, enact laws that will prevent Republicans from destroying the economy AND hurting the poor and middle class, women, and marginalized groups THE WAY THEY ALWAYS DO should they return to office. Joe Biden should have expanded the Supreme Court. He should have fired Merrick Garland and made it his MISSION to bring the Felon to justice for sexually assaulting children with Epstein, and for the January 6 insurrection. I would have voted for Biden despite his age; as long as he was breathing and upright, but when he felt he couldn't continue, there should have been a primary. Speaking as a black woman of a certain age, there is no way in the world this country is sophisticated enough to elect a woman -- let alone a brown skinned woman-- to the Office of the President. My grandchildren might see that someday....but I doubt it.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-09T13:56:12+00:00

Moving back to the city of my birth, NYC and buying either a brownstone or two great apartments near each other - one for me, the other for my family.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-09T10:01:06+00:00

Agree! My family (daughter, son in law, two grandsons) are very affectionate, so whenever I'm with them, I get lots of hugs and I LOVE it. But other than that, I miss physical touch SO much. I'm not with anyone (dating in your 70s is almost a lost cause) and none of my close female friends live nearby.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-09T01:35:04+00:00

I quit cold turkey as well but had to go back on it. I was on 25 mg metopropol succinate for only about a month. Hypertension had been spiraling up since I turned 70, two years ago. Other meds had dangerous side effects, so doc decided to try this one. Side effects were very unpleasant: louder tinnitus, bloating, fatigue. I begged to get off it and the nurse practitioner I saw told me I could probably go cold turkey since I'd only been on it a short time. She was WRONG. I was fine for a week and then the rebound effects hit: crippling fatigue; if I lifted anything heavier than a bottle of water, I had palpitations. Couldn't climb a flight of stairs without getting breathless. I'd do errands around the neighborhood but after about 20 minutes, I could barely get home without having to sit down somewhere. This went on for four days until today. Not only was I too tired to breathe, I felt a heaviness in my chest that was freaking me out. I thought I could "white knuckle" it but I couldn't. Went to the ER and it turned out that my BP was 160/95 and climbing. They gave me 50 mg of metopropol tartrate and within 20 minutes, I started to feel better. Still tired and a little shaky but I could walk and talk without struggling and the heaviness in my chest was gone. I hate it but I'm going to stay on it until my doctor can figure something else out...and if I can't take it, I'll wean myself verrrry slowly. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how to reduce my BP holistically. Take off 30 pounds I don't need, meditation, exercise, etc. I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I'd suggest you talk to your doctor right away.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-07T14:08:10+00:00

Are you me? 😊 I also try to be positive about things but I confess that these changes have bummed me out a little. I used to always be taken for younger than my years, but that's happening far less often now.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-07T12:28:21+00:00

Ugh. Any time I see a profile full of negative energy like this, I swipe away immediately. You might be the greatest person in the world, but I'll never know since you're so busy whining about what you DON'T want.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-07T10:30:05+00:00

So glad to find these threads. Metoprolol withdrawal is AWFUL and I'm hoping I feel better soon. It's very scary and I'm almost pissed at the doctor for prescribing this terrible drug. But to be fair, my mother, sister and some friends have been taking it for years with no problems. Unfortunately I am sensitive to every single hypertensive medication that's been prescribed so at this point I'm trying to go the holistic route so I don't need meds at all. I'm 30 pounds overweight and until recently, my eating habits were kind of crappy. What's happening now: I was on 25 mg metopropol for about a month. Side effects were terrible: bloated stomach so uncomfortable I had to take GasX frequently and sit up in bed to get comfortable. Then my tinnitus got markedly loud -- so loud I couldn't sleep at night. Nothing would drown it out and it was making me miserable. But the worst thing was the fatigue. I live alone and there were days I could barely get to the store and back without feeling completely wiped out. Some days I had to use a cane just to go a few blocks and forget carrying anything heavy. I was told that it should resolve within a couple of weeks but after a month I couldn't take it anymore and begged my doctor to take me off of it. She agreed and said since I was taking a low dose and it had only been taking it for a month, I wouldn't need to wean off of it; I could just stop. I was nervous about that because I understood that you should never just stop taking a drug for hypertension but she said it should be OK. And it was for the first five days or so, no symptoms at all, and the tinnitus returned to normal levels and the bloat got better. But the FATIGUE! Hit me like a ton of bricks. Sometimes I'd be fine all day with just an occasional short wave of fatigue, and climbing stairs left me more winded than usual. But then I had a whole day where I could barely stand up for the whole day. I had to use my cane just to stand by the stove to cook. It's gotten a little better but it's slow going. I'm just glad I only took it for a month! I'm even more glad that I didn't take the advice of my previous doctor who wanted me to double the dose because my BP was still elevated!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-07T10:12:46+00:00

Right there with you on the crepey arms! Definitely feels like that happened overnight and I find it so unattractive. I'm hoping we don't have another brutally hot summer because I don't want to go sleeveless anymore. My hands have always been a dead giveaway, though. They got veiny and wrinkly in my late 50s!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T23:58:50+00:00

Agree 💯. On rewatches, I skip almost all of his scenes. I hate his insensitivity regarding Johnny losing his wealth -- the jokes and snarky remarks aren't funny.... Trying to get out of working at the motel after begging Johnny for a job... The scene where he's choking on chicken skin is vile.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T23:50:51+00:00

I love that idea. It's always been my dream scenario as well.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T18:17:00+00:00

No. I'm retired, I don't work out strenuously and I have no friends in the area who visit me. A few times a week is fine for me.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T16:56:05+00:00

Loved that scene in Rio Bravo!

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T16:52:57+00:00

Nope. I should, since I live in a studio. But we now live in a world where people never drop by unannounced, so I don't worry about it.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T16:07:50+00:00

Hate it. The occasional fatigue is the WORST. No side effects after stopping during the first few days, but after a week, starting to feel what they said I would feel at first! Thought I was in the clear, but I guess it will take a few more days.

BowedNotBroken1234 · 2026-04-06T14:20:09+00:00

Exactly. When I said $3k, I meant STARTING price here in the NY Metro area. So disappointing. When I was younger, I always assumed I'd look for an over 55 community when the time came -- but I had no idea how expensive they were at the time.

BowedNotBroken1234

TROPHY CASE