Do you feel like it is appropriate to talk about your health in a social setting?
Or — Is it a taboo?
Explain how you feel. – Read the comments of others. – Join us weekly.
Quote of the Week
A wise woman adapts herself to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.
~ Chinese Proverb
Join the Conversation
This is a discussion site for women 60 and older. You are invited to help shape the stories in my upcoming book.
I try to post a new question for discussion every Monday and look forward to your comments.
Women & Aging 
About health: I have been blessed with good health most of my life and have not been inclined to discuss the few problems that I have or have had in the past. I have a few very close friends that know what my problems are and I in turn have listened respectfully to their problems. To discuss ones health in a larger group seems inappropriate. When people ask me how I am, I reply “Just Great”.
I agree with Lans Leist-Burkhart, her answer was very good.
Second question Sex: I suppose some would call me a prude, but I call it private. What goes on between a husband and a wife is ‘private’.
This one is a dilemma. I don’t like to listen to extended descriptions of people’s health problems. It’s one sided. They talk/I listen. At the same time, people seem so curious about my cancer. They want to know details. So, my blog runs on talking about my health, and my readers seems to appreciate the information. But my friends may be very tired of hearing about it and are just to kind to tell me to “shut up.”
Who’d believe I have a masters plus 18 in English? Make that “my readers seem” and also make that “just too kind.”
Health topics in public:
There’s the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good: Talking about health concerns or listening to them is one way of sharing and caring. At the onset of noticeable aging everyone suffers some shock and confusion over, quite simply, not being young anymore. Those shared stories can be downright fun to share and create a healthy social exchange. Why not? It’s real life, that is really happening. Normal people have shared every other part of the various stages of life prior to that time, so why stop doing what has come naturally.
The Bad: This is tricky. Ignoring others’ health concerns can be insulting, even degrading–as though they no longer matter as a viable human being. But then, we might want to take care not to enable others who seem to be making their physical problems worse by constantly focusing on them.
The Ugly: This is the most difficult area. Some individuals take on the natural aches and pains and illnesses of aging and wear them like a mantle, reigning supreme over all others and all other subjects. In these cases, it becomes an old joke, “What do you say to a naked lady?”
Summary: In the end, it all comes down to personal choice, as concerns what one will discuss about the self or with others. Personally, I am not prone to discuss much about my physical self at any time. But this is probably because I haven’t had to face any significant health problems. And for this blessing, I am most grateful. And this is why I have offered comments as an objective observer.
I must admit that I, personally, do not like to talk about health problems “on line” or with people whom I do not know. . .well.
I do agree with correspondent, Lucy Rhodes.
As to question 2, I would never feel, therefore, comfortable about talking about sexual feelings with anyone other than my husband.
Which is to suggest that I would not feel comfortable talking about or be interested in hearing about others’ sexual feelings.
Patti Blide
Ever since I heard the expression “organ recital,” I have had to suppress a smile when the topic of health problems has come up. Of course serious situations need to be discussed and taken seriously. And solutions to maladies should be offered. Otherwise, I think silence on such topics is the best music.
I think it is appropriate to discuss health issues with family and friends. It is one of the ways we understand each others concerns and daily lives. So much of our conversations can be very trivial and close friends care as long as that is not all we talk about.
I did not have much to comment about my changing feelings about sex and sexual relations. My husband is diabetic and is unable to perform sexually. Once in awhile I will be reading a novel that stimulates me a little but that part of my life is basically non-existent.