My mother celebrated her 75th birthday in late December last year. Other than diabetes, which is under control for the past few months with her blood sugar reading hovering between five and 6mmol/L (milimole per litre), she is in good health. My brother and his daughter accompany her whenever she goes for her medical check-ups at the government hospital.
But, of late, she has been complaining of aches and pains. She cannot be on her feet for too long or else her ankles would be bloated. We gave her a cane to aid her walking. When she had trouble adjusting to the cane, we gave her a walker. Whenever we are out with her, we try to get her to use a wheelchair for ease of movements. But, she is more comfortable being left at home instead.
Now staying at home has it disadvantages. You see, she watches television and reads newspapers. And, more often than not, she would zero in on the advertisements and commercials for the so-called local health supplements.
I have asked her to seek the doctor’s advice on these local supplements. “Nenek did ask the doctor. The doctor told nenek not to waste her money on them,” Mysara, the granddaughter, reported.
The doctor’s advice has turned on deaf ears. My mother is taken in by the users’ testimonials. She would give Mysara money to buy these supplements. “Others have tried them and they work. I want to try them to see if them work,” she would say. So, Mysara would buy these local health supplements to humour the grandmother.
And, these products are not exactly cheap. A bottle of what I believe is just a fruit concentrate but hyped up as a health supplement costs about RM200. My mother’s biggest “investment” thus far is a RM1,500 blanket which is said to be good for the joints. She stopped using it after hardly a week, claiming that it has not worked its said miracle. I have asked my relatives and friends not to pitch any supplements or products to my mother. While it may work for them, it may not work for her.
Why do you think our elders are easily suckered into buying these products? Probably because of the promises these local health supplement producers are giving to potential buyers.
A promise of being able to perform the prayers the normal way after taking the supplement, for example, would go down well with those who had to resort to sitting on a chair to do this. I can understand how my mother feels being helpless. I have twice being in that position; once in 1989 after a knee operation and the other two years ago when I fell and chipped the humerus bone on my right hand.
Because she cannot walk without being aided by a cane or walker, she could no longer potter around the house like she used to. She can no longer cook because cooking would mean having to be on her feet. She cannot help hang the laundry at the balcony. She cannot help to water the plants as the watering can is too heavy for her.
This Raya, I can feel her frustration of not being able to cook. I took over the kitchen duties and cooked the rendang, kuah kacang and harissa. She has even told her brother and sister not to visit because she would not be able to entertain large number of guests on the first day of Syawal.
That is why I believe she and many others like here are ever willing to be a guinea pig for these products if they are made to think that they can be well after consuming or using them.
My mother has actually stopped asking us to buy her any of these supplements after I told her that a colleague's mother was admitted to the hospital for kidney failure after consuming a certain health product.
Yes, some friends are facing the same problem with their mothers. And, somehow, it is only the mothers, not the fathers, who are attracted to these health supplements. A friend remarked, “Fathers have embraced ageing. Mothers have not.”
Whatever that ails our parents now are actually age-related. We can see the physical, psychological and social changes in them. In fact, the doctor has referred my mother to an eye specialist for what he had termed as “macular degeneration of the eyes”.
Ageing is among the greatest known risk factors for most human diseases. It has been reported that of the 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two-thirds die from age-related causes.
The Malays has a term for it. It is called sakit tua, only tua or old is not a penyakit or illness; it is simply old age.
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