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Welp...just got back from a doctor's appointment for some routine bloodwork. Good news is I'm down to 159 lb--this in all clothes less shoes and with a big meal in me. Bad news is, somehow, I've *shrunk* about 2 inches, and can no longer use the phrase "six-foot dyke in steel-toed work boots." I mean, "five-foot-ten dyke in steel-toed work boots" doesn't have quite the same punch to it, you know? But the measure doesn't lie: 178cm, 5'10" on the dot.
And no one can tell me WTF happened there. If my mother's any indication there's almost 20 years still to go to menopause, and I haven't lost any bone or muscle mass. A co-worker about my age says she lost an inch a couple of years ago and the doctor told her it was bad posture, but I don't slouch, so...who knows?
Odd. This bugs me more than it ought to to be honest.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday June 22 2018, @06:28PM (6 children)
Math up given the current rate of shrinkage, how long until you disappear entirely. Probably best to work it both as a percent shrinkage and a constant measurement shrinkage just to cover all the bases.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday June 23 2018, @04:07AM (5 children)
There's an obligatory XKCD comic to link here when someone says something like that but I can't be arsed. I'd rather be 5'10" and in good shape than 6' and overweight, so...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday June 23 2018, @10:30AM (3 children)
Funny you should say that. I lost five pounds last week and the only thing I changed was that I added a cheesecake to my normal week's diet. Every woman I know currently hates me.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday June 23 2018, @08:54PM (2 children)
I notice you haven't been posting as much utter self-serving horsecrap recently. Maybe you've become somewhat less full of shit? I can but dream...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday June 24 2018, @06:09AM
I did have a brief but cleansing association with some hotwings a while back but I don't think that's what you were referring to.
Side note: Hotwings make me glad I'm straight. I can still have most common kinds of sex with a woman after eating them. Not so much for them poor gay guys. Giving up the booty after a plate full of mango habanero wings would be a rather novel way to break up with someone though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:24AM
That was epic. I just thought I should mention how impressive that was.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:39PM
> There's an obligatory XKCD comic to link here when someone says something like that but I can't be arsed.
https://www.xkcd.com/605/ [xkcd.com]
(Score: 2) by turgid on Friday June 22 2018, @06:35PM
Did they measure you with a metal stick? Was it warmer this time than the last time they measured you? Have you been shaving your legs (Mrs Turgid does that).
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 22 2018, @06:38PM (1 child)
Bad posture?Natural variance in height over the course of a day?
You've just gotten back from the International Space Station?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday June 22 2018, @06:39PM
Due to vertebrae being compressed/expanded or whatever.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday June 22 2018, @09:20PM (1 child)
It seems that sometimes my wife and i are the same height, then other days one of us is shorter.
Should maybe measure yourself day after day?
I'm two years older than my wife: this morning i was shorter than her even though we've always been relatively the same height (30 years married).
Go. Figure.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:57AM
> ...then other days one of us is shorter.
So you are both pessimists? Wouldn't optimists say , "...then other days one of us is taller"?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @10:58PM
If you used to live in a high place (e.g. Colorado) and moved to sea level, gravity was less and you were taller. Also, if you breathe in, your're taller.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Friday June 22 2018, @11:06PM
Did you check under the cushions on the couch! I have found a lot of things I thought were lost there.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @11:18PM
You'll never be short of stature here.
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday June 23 2018, @12:55AM
I'm doing universal healthcare. You will be able to choose your own doctor again. And believe me, if a doctor told me I'm getting shorter, that doctor would be fired. PRONTO!!!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 23 2018, @01:45AM (1 child)
More likely you wanted to be six feet tall so badly that you convinced yourself that you were six feet tall. This should be a call for you to do a reality check. How many other things have you convinced yourself are true, but are entirely figments of your imagination? Do some web searches. Are you closer to 70 years old, than to the 30 or 32 years you've claimed? Then, yeah, two inches is possible. Seems a little rare, maybe, but possible.
And, your doctor indicated no concern? Hmmmm - if we accept the claim that you're about 30 years old, and we accept the claim that you were actually 6 feet tall, and we accept this final claim that you've lost two inches, and your doctor is totally unconcerned - then you should see another doctor who might take your health more seriously. Osteoporosis is a fairly well understood thing. Maybe you should accept the fact that you are much older than you have ever admitted to yourself.
Quick test: Do you remember VJ day and VE day?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_over_Japan_Day [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_in_Europe_Day [wikipedia.org]
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:50AM
Do you remember the assassination of Abraham Lincoln?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:52AM (7 children)
If you're early 30s, I'm roughly double your age. When I was about 30, we got a gadget called "Backswing"[1], basically a teeter-totter that makes it easy to hang upside down and then rotate back to level or upright. Once adjusted so your center of mass is near the pivot, moving arms up and down is enough to invert or come back upright.
In my case the traction/stretching was helpful in reducing back pain which was probably due to multiple dirt bike crashes. Put it away a few years later, after the back pain subsided (I switched from motorcycling to bicycling). In the last 10 years a different sort of back pain started up, so got it out again. I use it a few times a week for a few minutes each time (I sit in front of a screen a lot--maybe the start of compressed disks?) I also alternate the use with more conventional stretching. There are plenty of possible side effects from being inverted too long (including over-pressuring your eyeballs) so I don't stay upside down very long, rotate back to level, pause, then invert again. If I go too fast I can feel the onset of motion sickness, but once well balanced it's easy to control the motion to a slow speed.
If you are losing height between your vertebra it doesn't take much compression in each disk -- there are 33 disks which means 2 inches/33 = 0.060" (~1.5mm or ~1/16 inch) compression in each one. Inverting and giving the disks a rest from constant compression might be a way to get some height back. I'm still 6'1" which I've been since my late 'teens.
[1] I think that brand is gone, but there are plenty of copies, check Craigslist. Make sure the foot/ankle clamp can be adjusted to fit properly with a minimum of slack. If the clamp lets your foot start to slide through, it will also let your center of mass move away from the pivot and you may have trouble coming back upright...but it should be possible to grab the supporting A-frame and lever yourself back.
Good luck regaining your stature!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday June 23 2018, @04:03AM (4 children)
Oooh, thanks, that's definitely something I'll look into. Technically, 181.5cm is a hair under 6', but it was bloody well close enough, LOL. And thank you for an actually USEFUL, informative answer, unlike Runaway up there who seems to want to pick a fight everygoddamnwhere he goes...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @04:15AM (1 child)
> pick a fight
There's a word for that personality type, but I can't put my finger on it tonight. It's more than "argumentative".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:37PM
Asshole. (Also, don't put your finger on it.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @03:43PM (1 child)
So - uhhhhhh - you're not going to seek a doctor's advice, just because you think Runaway is an asshole? If Runaway really hated your queer ass, he'd be celebrating over your loss of height, shouting, "Die bitch die!" Instead, he offered sound advice. See a doctor. Research height loss. Women your age don't routinely lose 2 inches from their height. Women twice your age and more routinely lose an inch, two inches, maybe more. There is a known reason for it. How hard can it be for a nerdy assed chick to do some research, and find reasons for a loss in height? Unless you're nearly destitute, how much trouble can it be to make an appointment? Maybe not with a gynecologist, but with a doctor who specializes in women's health. Phhhht. Suit yourself. Ignore the Runaway if you like.
https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health-doctors [healthline.com]
https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/insurance-doctor-types [webmd.com]
An osteopath, maybe?
Of course, if you have a family history of early onset of osteoporosis, that would explain everything.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday June 23 2018, @08:53PM
Heaven alone knows. I'm going to get seen every 6-12 months and if there's any more height loss, going to raise (hurr) hell about it. There's no family history of early bone loss, but my father (NOT my mother) actually went through the exact same loss pattern. He too was 6' even and dropped to a hair over 5'10" in his 30s, though he was almost 40 when it happened. My mother has been a steady 5'3" since age 22 or so, she says, and hasn't changed in over 40 years.
So this is weird, but whatever it is it's probably not osteoperosis. If anything, I've got a weirdly *heavy* skeleton (again, like my father...) and have gotten up (eventually...) and walked away from some really awful falls that doctors said should have broken a bunch of bones.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 23 2018, @08:21AM (1 child)
I'm same height as you and have had some back problems stemming from a high-school football injury and some others that were aggravated by various causes (such as eating shit after jumping a fence while drunk) -- anyway -- my solution is more simple and elegant: hang from a chin-up bar. You can stretch differently depending on how far apart your hands are from each other when you hang, and you don't need special equipment.
Of course, if I won the lottery, I'd just buy a Stretch cage [truefitness.com] like they have at the gym. Those motherfuckers are the bomb-diggity and with the added bonus of not overpressuring your eyeballs.
Failing that, you can settle for hanging arms-down with one of these [fitnessfactory.com] but it takes practice keeping your arms tense enough to hold you up while keeping your back muscles loose enough to allow for good stretching. Awesome for Adonis belt -- You know, the "V" on your lower abs that points down to your crotch -- workouts as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @02:18AM
Chin up bar also a good option, I have one of these which seems to be fine (I'm 180 pounds),
https://www.walmart.com/ip/CAP-Barbell-Xtreme-Doorway-Gym/47905245 [walmart.com]
It's used on a door frame where there is a sliding door and I was a little worried that it might pinch the door frame, but no problems after several years of use.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29 2018, @01:53PM
At 18 Cologne was of normal height [wikia.com] but shrunk over time. It could happen to you!
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday July 01 2018, @01:56PM
Okay, there is no arguing with the numbers:
(unless you abstract them into statistics, which is cheating.)
However...
In my experience, steel-toed work boots generally add a few inches to my height (also 5'10"), which I attribute to the nonslip safety soles + the anchor material for the toe protection. Is this your experience as well?
If so, and given that your unshod height is up around five-ten, I don't think that your "6 ft" descriptive phrase is out of the question at all (it may be just a question of rounding).