Robin Williams - RIP - (July 21, 1951 - August 11, 2014)

[Totenkindly]

What's it called? Kidsplaining--when a youngster tells an oldtimer what it's like to be old?

I'm not William's age, but he wasn't old enough to be in my parent's age bracket either. I don't really view myself as a "youngster" or a "kid," thanks.

My posts (and the articles that I linked) talked about age-related infirmities as one of the things that causes a male boomer to question his life and sometimes off himself as a result. And "age-related infirmities" is a eumphemism for precisely things like Parkinsons, Alzheimers, quadruple bypasses, cancer, emphysema, organ replacements, and so on and so on--the kind of debiltating stuff that turns you from "breadwinner" into "burden on the family."

Why is this even a point of contention? It's blatantly obvious. There's a bunch of stuff that can happen as we age, and he was in his 60's. Heck, I have a relative dying of colon cancer right now, and one of my parents is dead, and have had some health issues myself that only seem to increase in severity as I age.

I didn't know that Williams had Parkinsons, precisely. But for example I knew that he had pretty severe heart problems and took it hard. The Parkinsons would be another nail in that particular coffin. Boomer suicides are precisely about that sort of thing. Some prospect that causes their life to change suddenly: The end of youth, and the start of a colder, grayer, more dependent existence.

Certainly that's going to be part of it -- but it's the generalized part that every person experiences. I was making the point that Parkinson's is pretty much an Achilles heel style of infirmity for him, in addition to whatever other "old timer" infirmities you'd like to trot out. For me, ever since I started having memory issues ten years ago, I've had to wonder how I would face losing my ability to think clearly / make mental connections, or how I would take physical infirmities that impact my ability to play music -- because those things are of special importance to me and things I have built my identity around. Yes, I might get diabetes or have heart congestion, and those things would also impact quality of life, but they wouldn't hit me in the place where I have my IDENTITY constructed. Kind of like Mencken getting aphasia... for a bricklayer, maybe not a big deal, but for a writer with sharp wit?

Anyway, what did you think I was talking about--the onset of baldness or gray hair causing boomers to commit suicide? C'mon, the boomers aren't *that* vain.

humor or pretension -- you make the call.

That's precisely what I meant when I spoke of a "stripping-away and letting-go."

Maybe you're not understanding what I said because I was talking in generalities and not identifying specific illnesses or financial problems or whatever. But at least in my own mind, I was talking about precisely the kinds of things you brought up in these latest posts.

Actually, you're the one who seems to be viewing this as purely age-related physical issues that result in some gross generalized decline that every human experiences, while I was specifically pinpointing an infirmity that hits someone right in the core of their IDENTITY in addition to all the other age-related issues that you feel the need to point out as if everyone here is too inexperienced to be aware of them.

Oh well, I'll drop the subject for real this time. You young people don't need to hear about old-age issues. Your time will come soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy your youth.

I was just being courteous and relaying information earlier when I clarified for you that he had Parkinson's, I wasn't attempting to suggest your concerns about his age weren't relevant. I just think for the reasons above that this was likely a significant issue beyond all the obvious age related issues you were concerned about. If you think it isn't, that's fine. I don't have any further point.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

PRESS RELEASE: Koko Remembers Robin Williams

 

[chubber]

I wonder if he felt really alone to go the suicide route.

 

[Tiltyred]

He had to have felt really alone while he did it, at least. And alone while he planned it. Miserable thinking about his wife and children afterwards. ... This is why I was saying I wish somehow it would be all right for people to decide to end their lives. It would be gentler on everyone. Now it's not just that he's dead, but there's the suicide factor on top of it that we have to think about. It adds a larger weight to the grief.

And p.s., I get that the best solution would be that people don't want to end their lives, I get that -- but it seems impossible. Despite having all the best resources available to them, some people just refuse to go on. Like, I dig that it shouldn't happen -- but it does.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I can see how the knowledge of having Parkinsons might have pushed him to it.

 

[Mal12345]

Oh well, I'll drop the subject for real this time. You young people don't need to hear about old-age issues. Your time will come soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy your youth.

And wealth. Because old age will often take this away too.

 

[EJCC]

Marc Maron is re-posting his Robin Williams interview so it'll be available to non-subscribers.

You can find it here:

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Remembering Robin Williams

It's very deep and honest and changed the way a lot of people -- myself included -- saw him.

 

[Mal12345]

Marc Maron is re-posting his Robin Williams interview so it'll be available to non-subscribers.

You can find it here:

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Remembering Robin Williams

It's very deep and honest and changed the way a lot of people -- myself included -- saw him.

Thank you.

 

[wolfy]

Marc Maron is re-posting his Robin Williams interview so it'll be available to non-subscribers.

You can find it here:

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Remembering Robin Williams

It's very deep and honest and changed the way a lot of people -- myself included -- saw him.

That was a great listen.

 

[prplchknz]

The BBC posted an article on how depression and anxiety is more common in early parkinson's

"It is well-recognised that people do get depression and anxiety up to 10 years before they develop Parkinson's disease.

"People recognise the tremor and movement problems of Parkinson's, but the disease actually starts in the brain, affecting certain chemicals.

"This can cause sleep problems initially and can also lead to minor forms of depression."

of course it sound's like Robin Williams suffered depression long before he was diagnosed with parkinson's so maybe it made it worse?

After Robin Williams died in an apparent suicide last week, it emerged the actor - who had depression - was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

source:BBC News - Depression 'more common' in early Parkinson's

 

[Totenkindly]

Kind of puts even more spin on things... maybe a lot was going on past mid-life anxieties and Parkinson's.

Robin Williams had Parkinson

Robin Williams first began experiencing Parkinson’s-like symptoms in 2011 that included tremor in his left arm and restrictions of his left hand movements, but he wasn’t diagnosed with the disease until Nov. 2013, a pathology report about the famed comedian reveals.

The “Mrs. Doubtfire” actor saw some relief of his symptoms with a drug called pramipexole, and he began taking another called levodopa shortly before he committed suicide in August. Both drugs list hallucinations as a side-effect.

At the time of his death, 63-year-old Williams was also suffering from diffuse Lewy Body dementia, which can also cause hallucinations.

“It is important to note that patients with diffuse Lewy Body dementia frequently present with Parkinsonian motor symptoms and… depression and hallucinations,” explains a pathology report obtained by FOX411.

...TMZ reported that friends and family of Williams believe Lewy Body dementia was the main factor that led to his sudden suicide in August... His wife, Susan Williams, revealed to police his paranoia had been acting up before his death, and the day before he died he put several watches into a sock and gave them to an unidentified acquaintance for safe keeping.

Based on the autopsy with the kind of damage he did to his wrist as well as the manner and location of death (all of it rather odd), this seems like a possibility...