Local doctor discusses changing aging dynamics, risk factors in health
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 29, 2016 1:46 PM
When Dr. James Stackhouse started practicing medicine in Goldsboro in 1979, the bulk of his patients were in the 40- and 50-year-old range.
Those same people are now closer to 80 and 90 years old.
Back when Social Security came into being, around 1938, he said, the average man died around age 47, the average woman younger than that, "and one person in 12 made it to 65 to pick up a Social Security check."
"We've advanced in age. In the last 30 years we've probably added 12 to 13 years to the average age," he said. "We're talking about men, 79, women 82-type thing."
In his practice, Goldsboro Medical Specialists, his roster includes about 1,200 full-time regular patients, with a variety of needs and ailments.
"Of those, 250 of them have diabetes and 200 of them have heart attacks or heart disease; it's an overlap," he says. "So a substantial number of those people have had an illness that has a tag on it for shortening their life."
Aging is inevitable, of course.
But how we travel the route, and the circumstances that befall us, is an important variable, the physician says.
"The problems I'm seeing with aging with people mostly have to do with people who have lost a spouse and socialization has sort of disappeared," Dr. Stackhouse said. "Goldsboro, young people don't come back so families have gotten more distant. You ask somebody who their nearest relative is, there'll be a boy in Roanoke Rapids or a daughter in Wilmington or something like that.
"Those people can slip mentally and cognitively until people, they'll visit them intermittently and come back and they're suddenly surprised (at how they're doing)."
Changes may be slight at first, like missing a meal. Substituting peanut butter and crackers for sustenance.
"Tea and toasters," the doctor calls them.
Certainly, physical changes to health are inevitable, he says.
One of the most prevalent concerns, beyond diseases and diagnoses associated with age, is the aftermath of a fall.
"Unfortunately, it's not so much for the men but for the women, the deciding event is a fall and a broken hip -- and the statistics are pretty doggone stable -- that there's a 50 percent chance of being dead six months later from a broken hip," he said. "You either end up incapacitated, bed-bound, in an assisted living facility, mental status changes occur. You're lying in a bed, looking up at a ceiling, in a strange place for six weeks, going back sometimes to your home and sometimes not."
There are ways to offset that, though.
"Socialization and something as simple as walking 20 minutes four to five times a week," Dr. Stackhouse said. "Years ago articles showed that doing that was better than any medicines we had for preventing stroke or heart attack."
Even just a little bit of physical activity can make a difference, he said. But that is a temporary fix if not maintained on a regular basis.
Keeping tabs on mental stability is also important.
"The other group of folks that are vulnerable, everybody's cognitive ability declines a little bit," he said. "There are folks, if you do formal testing, will suddenly surprise you. But the more intelligent they are, the better they cope."
Dr. Stackhouse shared a simple "six-second test" test.
"(Tell them to) stand up, walk three steps, turn around, walk back and sit down," he explained. "If he can't do that in six seconds, it's time to have family start talking."
For some, the changes can be subtle, he said, even when family is close by.
One thing he recommends for relatives who may be concerned, especially those living farther away, is to initiate contact with the loved one's doctors and let them know how to get in touch with you if necessary.
Physicians are not likely to call unless there is good reason, Dr. Stackhouse said, pointing out that people can be "incredibly innovative."
"I have had patients where the family actually had to take the battery out of the car because the guy's got six keys hidden around the house, you know," he said, laughing. "I have a patient whose daughter calls her every day, twice a day. When she fell on the side of the bed about six months ago, she laid on the floor, had the phone next to her.
"Her daughter called her at 9 o'clock, asked her how the was doing. She didn't tell her that she was laying on the floor. And the daughter shows up at two o'clock for lunch and mom's still laying on the floor."
Additional support systems can also play a role, he said.
"Neighbors are really important -- people who check on each other once a day, knock on the door, make sure somebody comes to the door," he said. "Little things make a difference in somebody's survival.
"Meals on Wheels, I think is a wonderful thing. Religion, in this area, generally plays a big role. That's also a good support system in the churches."