Health Battles After Retirement

Ah retirement! You’ve spent decades of your life working, saving, making hard choices, and now it’s time to enjoy the benefits of all your efforts. Unfortunately, those years of hard work have also caught up with you, and the management of your health has become a full-time job. The calendar is filled with various medical appointments, you have an exercise plan for three body parts, and the pharmacist knows your name and birthdate by heart. The list goes on past these few things noted, and how on earth are you supposed to do all that and still enjoy time with your grandchildren? 

What is to be done about all of this? 

When I am asked this during a session, I like to discuss a few things to help bring more clarity to the situation. These include: quality of life, we’re human, and choosing your battles. Please note, this handout is not intended to offer medical advice, but rather some points to consider and discuss with your healthcare team and family.

Quality of Life

No matter how old you are or where you are in your health journey, quality of life must be taken into consideration. Specifically, which health interventions get you closer to how you want to feel and function, and which ones are not. This is definitely a pros and cons thing. Tracking how you feel on different meds and how your body responds to various other procedures and treatments can be very helpful in obtaining a bigger picture of your health. Taking this information to your healthcare provider is also invaluable as it can provide great insight into what the next step should be. What once worked may no longer be helping, and being able to see that can make a huge difference in improving health.

It is your life and your body, and you get to choose what you do with it. Advocating for yourself is crucial to all of this. Some healthcare providers may not be on the same page with you, and that is an opportunity to ask more questions so that you both can come to an agreement. Ask why they are prescribing certain things, tell them why you are struggling with them, and push to find some common ground. If you find they are only offering one or two solutions that aren’t working for you, it’s ok to get a second (or third) opinion. You won’t know unless you ask. The goal is to live a life that you are envisioning.

We’re Human

That is to say, we are not machines. Our capacity to tackle a to-do list varies day to day, and we only have so much time and energy in the first place. Giving yourself some grace can go a long way with how you handle the stress of fluctuating health. It may not be possible to remember everything there is to do. Whenever you start to feel overwhelmed or pressured by everything you need to do, that is the time to step back and say “no”. No to losing who you are in all of this. Yes to what will work and make you feel the most alive (and human) again.

Pick and Choose Your Battles

This has more or less already been discussed, but I want to address this point directly. When you cannot do everything, make a list of tasks based on importance and decide what you can tackle. Do those things, and if necessary, let the rest go. That might mean that you only take your meds that day while everything else is left alone. 

There is an opportunity for finding a middle ground here too. I often have patients tell me that they are only reliable with three exercises, and it’s my job to make sure that those three count. I impress upon them that their recovery may be slower, and I check in to see if slower progress in exchange for less tasks is appropriate. Whether or not your healthcare provider is openly doing this, it is always to your benefit to examine this aspect of your healthcare.

When choosing your battles, you must also be aware of the consequences. Doing more may mean less energy for other things, but not doing some tasks may mean slower progress or even no progress. Sometimes, insurance may refuse to cover future treatments if you refuse to do what was previously prescribed. I have seen this many times, and it is challenging to manage. 

Wrap Up

Communication is key to all of these points. Being clear with yourself and then bringing that clarity to your family, friends, and healthcare providers is essential to navigating healthcare. Often there are more solutions and opportunities available than originally thought or known.

All of these points are aimed at simplifying your health to-do list so that you can enjoy retirement. This is also relevant to everyone, and should not be put off just because you aren’t “of a certain age”. We have enough to deal with on a daily basis, it’s time to take the burden out of healthcare.