Fears of Growing Old

It is so interesting to compare degrees of hearing loss and vision loss from Usher Syndrome. Those of us who have siblings with Usher Syndrome may have different rates of progression or were born with varying degress of loss to begin with. It doesn't matter if a male or female sibling is worse than the other. Usher Syndrome does not work in predictable ways. In the same way, an older sibling may have better vision than a younger one or visa versa.

I still can't help but think that stress plays a big role in the outcome. If you have cancer, stress can worsen or spread the disease faster, can't it?

Stressors such as jobs, strained relationships, pregnancies (if pregnancy can affect the mother's calcuim, potassium, and magnisium, why not the protein (look at the subheading:What genes are related to Usher Syndrome? in this website). Here's more on the proteins.

A lot of things can affect those genes, even stress. And the normal aging process.

Some people have fears about growing old. More wrinkles. Gray hair. Thinner skin. Some things are not as easy to do anymore-the body's getting weaker.

I have my own fears about growing old: More progressive loss of vision (and hearing) as I grow older. I wish I could just "freeze" the progression or stay in remission from now on. When I was younger, I could hear and see so much better. Now the older I get, the more vision and hearing I lose.