<p>This is an excellent website maintained by a professor of medicine at University of Washington. She does not take money from drug companies:
[Osteoporosis</a> and bone physiology](<a href=“http://courses.washington.edu/bonephys/]Osteoporosis”>Osteoporosis and bone physiology)</p>
<p>Thanks 333! That is a great link with really useful information. I appreciate your posting.</p>
<p>Great link and very timely. I’m due for a bone density test next month.</p>
<p>333,
Thanks for the link. It’s very informative and timely for me. I just got the results of my 1st DEXA scan today. The T score for my spine came in at -3.0. I’m depressed. I was kinda expecting to hear that I have osteopenia, but I was not expecting to hear that I have full blown osteoporosis! I’ll turn 58 next month and reached menopause 3 years ago. I’m 5’ 4" and have always maintained a normal weight. Nevertheless, my gynecologist was surprised at my numbers. She said she usually sees such low scores only in smokers. I have never smoked even a single cigarette! I don’t drink either. I guess it’s a combination of heredity - my 82 year old mom has osteoporosis - and my small size. Ugghhhhh</p>
<p>There’s a lot of conflicting info out there. I have a big decision to make regarding where to go from here.</p>
<p>That is a good website, too bad it’s so hard to get in to see Dr Ott.
I had a DeXA scan in January '09, -2.7 in my hip & -2.5 in my spine, I was 51 at the time.
Haven’t had a follow up, still in peri menopause, normal weight, don’t smoke, was very active until recently (osteoarthritis is much worse).
I had been vitamin D deficient though so perhaps a recheck will look better.</p>
<p>I know many people who have gone back to hormone replacement patches when they have no family history of breast cancer. What I read in that link was that unless you are at high risk of fracture in the next 10 years the meds that stop/slow remodeling are not indicated, so acute osteoporosis rather than osteopenia.</p>
<p>Here is what I found:</p>
<p>“Osteopenia leads to osteoporosis and bone fracture - THIS PROGRESSION IS TRUE FOR ONLY FRACTION OF WOMEN.
You can do plenty to reduce your risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture even if a doctor has said you have osteopenia. With the proper nutrients, diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes it’s possible to stop osteopenia, or even osteoporosis, right in its tracks!”</p>
<p>^^^ that is absolutely incorrect for many women. I do everything right with respect to bone density (with the exception of some diet colas) and I have even taken meds without improving my bone density. I have been told that my situation is not at all u usual since so much of it is simply genetic.</p>
<p>It is very individual. I have seen a pendulum swing back to center after the big scare over breast cancer risk with hormone replacement and it is now more on a case by case basis. It would be very bad for some women and works well for others. Genetics and teen/young adulthood nutrition play such a large role that everyone’s start point and response to treatment will be different. There is no one size fits all approach which doesn’t mesh well with the soundbite “health minute” way that news is distributed.</p>
<p>I had a dexascan some years ago and was diagnosed with osteopenia. Began taking Boniva - one pill monthly is about as much pill taking as I can swallow - but after a few months I started noticing pains in my legs and couldn’t kneel down, my knees seemed to stop bending. Stopped taking the Boniva, pains went away, knees bend again. Doc said we should monitor it and I should take calcium and D. I have a strong gag reflex so that wasn’t a good plan but I do try to make an effort with my diet though in a rather lax way. I know of people who’ve had terrible problems with osteoporosis, however, my mother who could have been the model for the osteoporosis posters is in her late 80’s and never had a broken bone. So, though she’s hunched over a bit, it doesn’t seem to bother her at all and she just insists it’s bad posture on her part and she really must make an effort to stand up straight! So my current plan is to hope for the best that I have those genes, eat reasonably well, lose weight (that’s been part of the plan for decades now) and add exercise to the daily toil. Ambitious I know. Incidentally, I was told by a dentist that my jaw bones were thinning, but when he looked at X-rays from 20 years ago there was no change, so he was no longer concerned.
I suspect that diminishing bone density over time should be more worrying than just the actual numbers and most of us don’t have dexas from 20 years ago so it’s hard to interpret the results we get now. Assuming bone density is normally distributed, many of us may have always had bone density numbers more than a standard deviation below the mean.</p>
<p>Onetogo2: concerning the gag reflex, I have found that swallowing those big calcium pills with applesauce makes all the difference. Try it. I wish I had found this out sooner.</p>
<p>Do you crush them?</p>
<p>I have to always stick my pills way back in my throat, but otherwise I don’t have a problem.
I also don’t always digest tablets, so I try and get capsules whenever possible.</p>
<p>Losing weight or “keeping a healthy weight” is not necessary for promoting bone density - quite the opposite. Women who carry some weight tend to have stronger bones. It can impact osteoarthritis, but is not an issue with osteopenia/osteoporosis. In fact, one risk factor is having focused on weight control in one’s teens and early 20’s. Dancers, distance runners, gymnasts and others who may have dieted heavily as teens are potentially at risk. Women reach 90% of peak bone mass by the age of 18 and it’s all down hill from there.</p>
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<p>Chewable calcium pills, with or without vitamin D, are readily available. Why suffer?</p>
<p>It may be that I’m just blessed with sturdy bones, or maybe that we drank milk 3 meals a day until I was about 45, but I’m beginning to think that my breast cancer treatment may be playing a part.
I’ve been on raloxifene (Evista) since 1993. My latest scan was +.3, several years post-menopause. I see no side effects from this drug- in fact over the years I have been lax about prescription refills and skipped a month (or several) and couldn’t tell. Compared to some of my friends on other meds, this one (for me at least) seems like taking a placebo.</p>
<p>Onetogo2: No, do not crush, just swallow whole with spoonful of applesauce. It really works.</p>
<p>I’ll try that. Thanks.</p>
<p>Mom has the worst gag reflex- can’t even take a small sudafed type round pillwithout choking. She has used either applesauce or pudding to help get all her pills down.</p>
<p>Not sure if my experience would be helpful for adult. I have trained my D. when she was 10 y o to swallow the pill. it was a must for her and still is. She has frequent headaches and Advil helps her. I trained her with peices of ice and it worked very well. She learned how to swallow a pill. Advil pill is very small though, but she is able to swallow any size now (she is an adult).</p>