Darned Stupid Survey!
Mon., January 15, 04:07 PM
The good news is, my Comments page has been fixed. Thank you for your patience.
Maybe you've seen this survey or ones like it; they compare your physical age to your chronological age. They ask a lot of health-related questions, and I have always said that you have to know your own body; doctors can't just guess.
So I started answering questions -- beginning with my birth date, you understand, so that they have something to compare to. Lots of questions. I was beginning to feel confident about it. Sure, I have health issues, but they're pretty much under control. My weight isn't perfect, but its certainly within acceptable parameters, and I do a certain amount of low-impact exercise every week. I was especially cheered by all the included conditions that I don't have. (Especially since Husband has a lot of those and I know what they're like.)
There were questions they could have asked that they didn't bother about. For example, when I said I had vision concerns, they didn't follow up on what kind. And I had no opportunity to discuss the hereditary hemorrhagic stuff. On the other hand, they did ask about parents -- whether they were living and, if not, when they had died. (But not what condition caused their deaths.)
They asked about vitamins C and E and about folic acid, but not about all the other supplements I take. I know that a lot of doctors don't give much credence to supplements, and they don't try to learn. However, supplements work for a lot of people. Vitamin C, or echinacea, or airborne -- I would take one of those if I thought I was going to get sick. I had bronchitis about twenty years ago, and the last time I had anything resembling flu was about thirty-five years ago. Something works.
Given that I considered the survey flawed, I shouldn't have been surprised at a flawed result. But I really wasn't prepared to learn that my physical age is, get this, about the same as Husband's chronological age.. No wonder I'm worn out -- I'm caring not for one really old person but two!
Okay, I know it's a marketing ploy. They will tell me I'm sick and then try to sell me something to cure me. Unfortunately, the message I hear is that I'm so old it really doesn't matter. I have no intention of changing my vitamins and supplements, which happen to be just fine, thank you. This morning I got an e-mail from the same people offering a chewing gum that will "make me feel better." Even assuming that it doesn't contain sugar (which, of course, makes it taboo), I gave up chewing gum years ago because it sticks to my dental work. C'mon!
The concepts behind successful marketing seem to have gone to hell in a handbasket. Is anyone selling something I need? More often, they're inventing problems and advertising, "oh, look, we can solve your problem." I didn't have a problem before, y'know. There's some really defective mind reading going on; they lost themselves a customer.
