<p>So here I am, very very petite, with a terrible family history of osteoporosis. I was diagnosed with osteopenia, then osteoporosis. I have been working like crazy for over four years, lifting weights, working out, getting stronger, jogging on the treadmill. </p>
<p>At my last bone density test, just last week, my results are: No more osteoporosis!! I have, as Sally Field says in her Boniva commercials, “reversed my bone loss,” and I’m proud as can be.</p>
<p>This is one disease that I plan to beat. I don’t want to shrink (not that there’s all that much to shrink anyway – I’m only 5’ tall!) and I certainly don’t want to break a hip. I feel incredibly happy that I’m doing everything I possibly can to stave off this terrible scourge.</p>
<p>“Is that true? Can you really reverse it? I thought the damage done was permanent? But that you can halt the progression?”</p>
<p>Human bone is not just a mineral scaffold that supports the other living tissues, it is a living tissue itself. There are cells on the surface of the bone, the so-called osteoclasts, that “dissolve” the bone minerals making them available to other cells, and there are other cells, the so-called osteoblasts, that constantly work to deposit the minerals they get from food to make the bone (I’m simplifying things quite a bit). When your organism gets enough calcium, magnesium, etc. with nutrition, the actions of osteoblasts and oseoclasts cancel out. As soon as osteoclasts feel that there isn’t enough calcium to support normal daily functions of the other tissues, they go into overdrive and dissolve your bone like crazy. Boniva and similar drugs, called bisphosphonates, work because they have high affinity for the bone tissue, and when drug molecules get “swallowed” by these bone-resorbing cells, they inhibit them, and the osteoblasts can slowly build the bone tissue back. Of course, this is a very simplified explanation. So theoretically it is possible to reverse osteoporosis.</p>
<p>Congrats, VeryHappy! I raise a glass of milk to celebrate your victory. To your health! Cheers!</p>
<p>I take calcium (two pills a day, one in the AM and one in the PM – I’ve been told to do that because otherwise you pee out the extra), Vitamin D (in my multivitamin and in the calcium tablets). I’ve taken Actonel for nine years. I do weight-bearing exercise a LOT – three times a week, religiously, at the gym – and that has absolutely positively made the difference for me. </p>
<p>In December 2004, my “BMD” (which I assume stands for bone desnity plus another word) at the spine was 0.861. Today, it’s 0.924. In Sept 2005, I started at the gym. I have similar (though not so dramatic) results with the hips. </p>
<p>You can reverse the osteoporosis. It’s the loss of height that is irreversible, and so far I haven’t had any.</p>
<p>BTW, in the interest of full disclosure: I also use an estrogen patch, which I know isn’t for everyone. My doc prescribed it in early 2005, after a serious decline in bone density. For me, the slight increase in breast cancer risk was worth the dramatic decrease in osteoporosis risk.</p>
<p>I sometimes think we’ve gone too far on the pendulum, eliminating HRTs. I worry about dry skin, wrinkles, loss of sex drive, without the estrogen.</p>
<p>My endocrinologist also used Actonel and Vit D for me, and my #s shifted back to osteopenia. I’m good with pilates, but have dropped out of the body building classes for long time, once work got so busy. excuses, excuses. VeryHappy (love that name), I’ll think of you when I drag myself back into weight bearing classes.</p>
<p>I love Pilates, too, bookworm (not that I manage to do it regularly). It’s a shame that Pilates, like my other favorite form of exercise, swimming, does not build bone. </p>
<p>BunsenBurner, my understanding is that stressing the bone, through weight-bearing exercise or lifting weights, is an alternate way to build bone (other than medication). Is that correct?</p>
<p>When I heard that stressing the bone builds it, my attitude toward having to lug things around changed. Instead of considering it drudgery and avoiding it (e.g., parking my car close to the door to unload groceries, I started to seek out opportunities. I now park my car in the garage and carry the bags the distance to the house. When I lift heavy grocery bags, I can feel the stress through my back and hips. When I ride the subway, holding on to the pole, and the train swerves, I can feel the pressure going up through my legs and up my arms, as I keep my balance. I now enjoy this feeling, because I imagine that it is the feeling of my bones strengthening. </p>
<p>I am fortunate, though, because I had my first bone mineral measurements a few months ago, and they were fine - in the average range for young women. An advantage of being tall and overweight, I guess!</p>