Widows & Widowers Support Group
This community is dedicated to those who have lost a husband, wife, or partner. Anything is open for discussion here, with the hope that we can focus on grief, bereavement, life after loss, and continuing on after a great loss.
Brittany Murphy's husband died. She passed a few months ago and now he's gone of a heart attack. Johnny Cash died not long after June Carter Cash. The list goes on. I read once that after a death of a spouse, the surviving spouse sometimes get sick. Some die. I was very afraid of this when my Mom died.
Since DH passed, I've gotten high blood pressure and can't seem to bring it down even with medication. I've also caught some sort of bacterial thing, in addition to the cold I have. I'm on medication for that too. I generally feel sicker. Some one else in our group posted a message about this too. It's real and I think we need to stick as close to our doctors as possible.
Since DH passed, I've gotten high blood pressure and can't seem to bring it down even with medication. I've also caught some sort of bacterial thing, in addition to the cold I have. I'm on medication for that too. I generally feel sicker. Some one else in our group posted a message about this too. It's real and I think we need to stick as close to our doctors as possible.
Lininsocal
I think our resistance is lower, we don't take care of ourselves properly, we are depressed which has it's own ache's and pain's, we probably get less exercise, we are faced with decisions that lead us to anxiety and high blood pressure. Perhaps we need to take a step back and evaluate our own health. I don't think that as a rule any majority of spouses die closely after the death of theirs. Age and lifestyle are contributing factors...my thoughts..
deleted_user
I read that the statistic is 28% of surviving spouses die within one year of their spouse. I have to believe that it's skewed toward a higher proportion just because of the ages of so many couples when the first one dies. But we do have a heavy stress reaction, our immune systems are compromised, and we really do need to watch over ourselves now. It's harder when you don't always care, of course, but we need to be more vigilant to compensate for that, too.
Shrn
I agree we certainly need to be serious about our health and it's at a time when we are under a great cloud of sadness. Emotional health has a serious effect on our physical health. Let me reinforce what has been already said, Be kind to you. Take care of you. And find a doctor that you can truly be honest and talk to . My doctor has me at his office every 3 months after Don died. I thank God for him every day. Sharon
deleted_user
My Mom went down hill after my Dad passed. She died 1 year 8 days after him. Yes, some may be of a broken heart, lack of will to live or disease from the stress or poor immune system. What will be will be but best to be aware. Hug, Donna
julie50501
I posted a few months ago on this. In my case, I do think it was because all of my attention was on his health, and I was not putting enough on mine. I had the cancer before he died, I am sure, but with him going to the doctor all the time, needing this and that test, that's just the way it went, and I ignored a very slight symptom that I should have paid attention to. We each had our own "role"; he was the sick one, and I was the healthy one- not! (At one point, I was taking more medication than he was; go figure.) We also ate a lot more red meat when he was alive because he was a meat cutter. The months after he died, I did slack off on exercise, didn't eat right, too much alcohol, etc. In any case, now is our time to take care of ourselves. It is nicer weather, we can get outside, eat right and exercise! My goal this coming year is to restore my health. He would want me to do that.
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