<p>I’ve been on PPIs for many years now. I have horrible GERD and have only gotten relief after settling on a dosage of Nexium, 40 mg. TWICE a day! If I miss more than one dose, I pay heavily. Even with this dosage, I have to be very careful about not eating within several hours of bedtime. </p>
<p>I have so many wonderful tests coming up now that I just turned 50. I haven’t seen my gastroenterologists in two years - since the GERD was relatively under control, she told me my regular doc could write the prescriptions for Nexium; but now I will be due to see her for my baseline colonoscopy, and I’m sure we will review my GERD issues. </p>
<p>I do have a question that I hadn’t really considered. At what point is a baseline Dexa scan done? Do they wait until you’re in peri-menopause, or menopause before recommending it? Or is it an age thing like a colonoscopy? What have been your experiences?</p>
<p>teriwtt, I think most doctors recommend a Dexa if they think you fall into a risk catagory. My oncologist recommended one when he was prescribing aromatase inhibitors for treatment after breast cancer surgery because those drugs do cause bone loss due to estrogen disruption. Also, I’m a thin person, which is a risk factor.
There are lists of risk factors online. It might be interesting for you to see if you fall into many of the categories. I think that if taking PPIs is a considered a risk factor, it might be a good idea to get a Dexa.<br>
They are one of the easiest and safest scans. My only caution would be to research your options and think about what you want to do if you do turn out to have a low density so that you won’t be blindsided when you visit the doc and he recommends drug therapy. There are dietary options which might be appropriate, and there are other therapies in the pipeline. The more information you have before that discussion the better position you’ll be in to make a decision.</p>
<p>I’m 52 , although I had been seeing a rheumatologist for arthritis ( I am double jointed which makes it more severe), she didn’t suggest one until I asked about it because I was worried I was getting kyphosis.</p>
<p>We were both surprised however when bone density was -2.7 as am active, not skinny or menopausal.</p>
<p>emeralkity,- I just started strontium this month. So far so good. Do you have any idea if it’s helping you or not? Did your doc recommend it, or did you research it and try it on your own (like me. ;))</p>
<p>I realize I am totally clueless about bone density. I am turning 50 this year. I am going to my first physical dr visit in 18 months tomorrow. I know the Dr ordered a Vit D level with my blood work. I will be interested in what she has to say about Osteoporosis.</p>
<p>Had my appt with the endocrinologist today. I liked her. She said it is just about impossible to get enough calcium and/or Vit D from food. It just doesn’t happen. She also said you have to be VERY diligent about your calcium supplements and not miss a day. You need to spread it out over the day. She likes Citracal the best, but she said any of the supplements (even TUMS) are fine.<br>
She recommended that I go back on Boniva, so I agreed to give it a try. She wants me to hold off until she gets my lab results back. They did a huge blood draw (which I hated) and will test for all sorts of things. I also have to do this lovely 24 hour urine collection where I have to collect pee for 24 hours in this huge orange jug that has acid in it! I’ll do that Sunday and deliver it on Monday. It needs to be refrigerated. Wonderful. They will test that for whether I’m losing calcium and other stuff that way.
I forgot to specifically ask her about the diet colas, but I did answer her questions about alcohol, caffeine etc. and I mentioned the colas. She didn’t jump up and scream that they shouldn’t touch my lips. I gathered that she is in the camp that moderation is the key and that nothing is a total no-no. I’m still cutting back on them, but I won’t stress over an occasional Diet Pepsi.</p>
<p>For those of us who are “on the fence” about DEXA results and starting meds, I was pleased to find when I saw my ob/gyn MD yesterday that she endorsed not jumping on the meds bandwagon, even though one of my DEXA scores was at 2.5 which is officially “osteoporetic”. She recommends mega Calcium/D and lots of balance and weight bearing exercise and says I can wait for the next test to consider meds. One of the things I’ve learned doing research on all this is that for those with BP issues, thiazide, which is often prescribed for lowering BP, also has positive effects on bone density. So that is one option to explore as well. Turns out my BP is also “borderline” so that is not a good option for me at this point, as adding meds might make it too low at times. (usually I scare the techs because it is so high when they first take it but apparently it drops fast enough to be okay.) I guess I am just a bird-boned borderline type; maybe being a Libra means I am doomed to be “on the fence”. Meanwhile, I have invested in a weighted vest for use during exercise or just for an hour a day around the house, in order to have some bone-building stress on the lumbar, which is where I am most low-density.</p>
<p>Once you reach a certain age your bone density is going to decline and it is really important to get enough calcium. My blood and urine results were all good- no low levels of anything. So- I guess I’ll start the stupid Boniva…</p>
<p>I do not have any tests done, just measure my heights, which surprisingly went up 1/2 in somehow. Everybody that I know with the problem indicated that they got shorter. </p>
<p>Well, anyway, I am very strict about every day weight training / being outside for at least 1 hour in any weather preferrably when it is light. Not taking vitamin D, Calcium, not big on milk prodcuts either, they are overrated for human bodies as far as I am concerned. If somebody believes that milk products are good for you, please follow what you believe. It has been 7 years for me, I feel that I am OK. I would have broken multiple bones otherwise, for sure, while falling on rollerblades (still happen once in a while, does not feel good, but no major problem). I surely hit pavement very hard sometime when I fall.</p>
<p>MOWC: Do you have any of the major risk factors? Sorry to hear that your endocrinologist says adequate dietary calcium/Vit D are not practical. I’ve just been reading up on the topic and should probably have a bone density test. </p>
<p>Daunting estimates from the International Osteoporosis Foundation…54% postmenopausal white women are osteopenic and 30% are osteoporotic, and by the age of 80, 27% of women are osteopenic and 70% are osteoporotic.
These numbers are for American women.</p>
<p>MOWC - you are an example of someone who does everything right, and still cannot control everything. It’s frustrating, I’m sure. But if you can, imagine where you’d be at if you hadn’t adopted the healthy lifestyle choices you have over the years? You might have had to do something even more drastic many years ago.</p>
<p>This must be such a blow to you given the hamstring injury you’re also trying to recuperate from.</p>
<p>Of course we are also burdened in these times with TMI and not enough perspective. I am always cautious when they lump “Americans” into one category and then draw a line on the curve that marks “safe” vs. “unsafe” as if we can then get a guarantee of some kind by having or not having a certain number–especially given that we all have different genetic, ethnic, nutritional, activity histories and these must all be variables too. Then there is the fact that we study so many things AFTER people have fallen down and broken things and don’t really have good ways to predict prospectively from bone density to fractures. Correlation is not causation. What I’d love is good longitudinal study from one of the Scandanavian countries (where they often have good data sets) to see how the proportion of women who have “oteopoenic” scores look for actual fractures by age 85 and what other variables also correlate with becoming disabled (or not) by thinner bones.</p>
<p>By the way, when I had all my recent blood work up done (which showed how much I lowered my cholesterol through changes I made, but am not sure whether or not it will be enough to be totally taken off my statin), the only thing that came back even the slightest bit borderline abnormal, was vitamin D. And believe me, they ran the full gamut of tests since I also have thyroid issues. My doc hasn’t called me yet to tell me what to do, but I’m guessing he’s going to suggest a vitamin D supplement. He did say that he doesn’t routinely order the bone scan until women have had more irregular cycles than I have had (one).</p>
<p>I don’t know anyone who has had blood work in the last couple of years who hasn’t been diagnosed with low Vit D. Mine was actually normal this time, but I’ve been good about taking the Vit D pills.
Thanks, Teriwtt. A lot of it is simply genetic and there is nothing you can do about it. I wasn’t always the healthiest eater, either. I probably didn’t get enough calcium from food in my teens-40s. Who knew???</p>
<p>Risk factor is that I am thin/small boned and the genetics.</p>
<p>My MD says there are all kinds of discoveries recently about the significance of Vitamin D so they may have actually changed lab value ranges to reflect this (eg: what used to be normal is now low…?) So now I guess all my years of avoiding skin cancer will contribute to being cancer-free but fragile. I guess it does make some sense that Northern European sun-deprived ethnic groups are more “at risk” for osteo problems given less Vitamin D over the course of evolution. One of the ironies I try to keep in mind is that we are all now having these “problems” because we are living beyond our 50s which is a problem I am glad to be having. So few people used to get old enough to have these kinds of worries…</p>