I am so sick of only hearing about elderly topics! Anyone else feel this way?

Years ago driving truck 230AM eating spaghetti in a 24 hour cafe:
Old geezer talking loud, like they do, about having 12 feet of his colon removed:
I finally put my half finished plate on his table and said,” I give up, you eat it!”

Some of the elders really do begin to obsess about bowel movements. I always say there is a reason poop comes out BEHIND you. Do it and forget it. Even my dog kicks grass over it with her hind legs and runs from it....

My mother thinks she is a brilliant and incisive political commentator.
The horror--
The horror--

I keep giggling about this, Need, seeing your thread in the topics column:

"I'm so sick of hearing about elderly topics!" Anyone who didn't know what you meant might wonder if AgingCare was perhaps not your best choice of forum.

But yes of course I do know and remember exactly how you feel. Continence care, skin integrity, curling your lip at the daily headlines promising ALZHEIMERS BREAKTHROUGH, waiting rooms, ugly adaptive furniture, grab rails along your lovely hallways, the 'oh God what the heck is she up to now?' new dementia symptoms ... It gets just as wearing and just as claustrophobic as the worst of the baby years.

Same here. It’s either I can’t do a poo or I just did a poo. Men are worse All our married life he though it was super serious if he had not opened his bowels at least three times a day
i find as I get older that all people want to talk about. Their aches and pains. Stomach and bowels
i just cut them off and say “if this is going to be about your bowels I don’t want to know”

I know some of you don't want to hear this, but one of the BEST reasons for LTC facilities is socialization. My parents, in their 90s, share all their complaints with the other residents in AL. They all complain to each other. They are all going through the same things. They also support each other.
At any age, we need companionship of those we can relate with. Being isolated with just your child makes that child get all of the complaints. I am not saying you still won't here them, but it lessens the burden. And when you do get them if parents are in LTC, you can deflect by saying, "have you talked to xxxxx about that? I'll bet they can be more helpful than me."
Not a perfect solution, but it helps lessen the burden of being the complaint catcher.

I have found fabulous support in this forum. Waters I could not navigate on my own. But quite honestly, I periodically have to take a break. I try to help where I can. Hush where I should ( need to work on); and listen and read. I lurked here for Quite awhile prior to, posting. This is an amazing resource and I am so thankful for it. But it gets to me. All of the topics. All of the heartbreak shared here. I am in great admiration of all of you. And very thankful I found this forum.

OMG!!! I thought I was a bad daughter! I am so glad that someone said this! My Mom tells me daily about her tendency to be constipated. Then she is so excited when it clears and she can poop...and I must hear the gory details. The size, color and ease of release & the number of times she had to go. Ugh! Don't let her have the runs. This is sure to be the highlight of the day! This thread gave me such a laugh this morning...

Oh my god. Do I ever! 20 times a day of announcing each and every time we have to ‘visit Aunt Susie’ or ‘see a man about a horse’. Then there are the graphic descriptions of our lastest BM - usually at the lunch or dinner table. It’s enough that we have to empty the commode. No one needs an instant replay of the action... Argh.

Like you, I am trying to be patient. It’s not easy to be old - I get it - but it’s not easy turning your home into an assisted living facility either. I know she has very little going on - and retains even less, from moment to moment... it’s not her fault. But OH MY GOD.

Just one meal without a poop report would be awesome.

Yep. We can relate. 😊

The things we indulge in our toddlers (because they are still learning to use 'filters') we grow weary of in our elders who are now forgetting to use their filters. I agree that it is very disagreeable to be around the elderly who are always negative, talking about their ills, etc. It's like a viscious circle: the more we get tired of hearing it and walk away, the more they self-focus. They are lonely, feeling discarded, unimportant, and their futures look bleak. Often they can't drive and mst depend on others for everything. Their world becomes narrow. Thus they focus on the only things they have left. Unfortunately it becomes about themselves. We who are still focused on the myriad things in life and in our daily existence do not have time or patience to deal with the narrow focus of the elderly. We grow impatient, disgusted, and frustrated by the conversation. We are the doers, the fixers, the problem-solvers. It is not easy! I have no answers for dealing with the complaining and the inappropriate topics that are delivered without stop other than to say that for me, I now have a mother who doesn't speak, who doesn't know what is happening around her, and who is not even in touch with her own being. She is in late stages of Alzheimer's and personally I would rather hear her complain about her ills than see her like she is now. However, that doesn't negate the original complaint here. It is just awful having to hear the same old things every day, over and over, until you just have to leave the room. I'm just glad that we have this forum to vent!