Osteoporosis?

[Jillmar]

I have just been diagnosed with osteoporosis![:0] My doctor said I am 2-4 times more likely to have a fracture than the normal person. He said to increase my Vitamin D. I take calcium now and he said not to increase that, just take Vitamin D. He also said to do weight bearing exercises.

I'm confused! I already T-Tapp! Is there anything else I can do?[V]

Jill Brightbill
T-Tapp Trainer
IFPA Certified Personal Trainer
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
http://www.t-tapp.com/trainers/jillbrightbill/
jillb@T-Tapp.com

[gr8fisch]

hydroxyapatite is a mineral supplement you might google for info. liquid minerals, homeopathic cell salts & sublinguals may be easier absorbed. it's possible that alfalfa will supply micronutrients. juicing your vegies is important as an adjunct. avoid calcium robbers: high caffeines, meats, etc., the acid/alkaline factor may be indicative of absorption; yoghurt is predigested so it's more easily utilized, almond butter (raw, though i can't find it...if you have a vitamix you can make it) & possibly food sourced vit/min supplements.

keep movin'..the path shows up behind you...

[pww818]

Jill...that's always a shocker isnt it? Did you have a DEXA scan to pinpoint where your problem(s) are? I am -2/7 in my spine, but my hips and non-dominant wrist test out OK.

I have read several books on osteoporosis, lots of good information out there. One of the books I liked was Strong Women, Strong Bones and I can't remember the author. I have also gone to a couple of seminars on Osteoporosis which were very good...much more up to date information than books can give you.

One of the recommendations is a weighted vest. I purchased one thru a company in Oregon (the woman is a researcher in osteoporosis). The brand was WalkVest, but with her company, you got more weights than ordering straight thru the walkvest company. The recommendation is 10% of your body weight in weights. I wore it steadily for about a year, then have rubbed a hole in it from all the weights, and have been lazy about repairing it with iron on stuff and havent worn it in about a year. I had no increase in my bone density, but probably wasnt on it long enough before my DEXA. I read somewhere you needed to be on it for 2 years for anything to show up.

The person in Oregon has a program to build bone density, I got the tapes, but the workout wasn't something I enjoyed. She also recommended jumping straight up, landing flat footed, 3 sets of 10, I think working up to 50. Of course I havent done that!

I am at work, so I can't remember her name or the name of the program. When I get home tonight I will post.

At one of the seminars on Osteoporosis one of the researchers there (from U Wisconsin Madison, I think) suggested jumping off an 18 inch step and landing flat footed. His research documented bone building with that measure.

The idea is to stress the bone to stimulate growth. And yes, both of these people said it was OK to do either exercise with a diagnosis of osteoporosis. They also advocate jumping activities for young women, and said that gymnasts often had better bone density because of the stress cause by their landings.

I doesn't sound like your physician has prescribed one of the bone building medicines yet. I tried the weighted vest, dietary changes and consistent exercise, but still was losing bone, so started on Fosamax 35 mg for a year, still lost bone, so bumped up to 70 this past January. I don't like taking meds, and will continue to do the other things to mitigate bone loss.

Some of the experts recommend dietary changes. Joel Fuhrman in Eat to Live advocates a vegan lifestyle. Most of the books indicate that bone loss occurs with animal protein intake, so I have gone mostly vegetarian. The bone loss occurs because digesting animal protein cause your system to go to the acid side of the equation so your body leaches calcium out of your bones to bring you back to a neutral base. I still do have some animal protein intake, but not much. Of course, you want to stay away from soda as the phosphorus can stimulate bone loss as well.

This is probably WAAAAAY more than you wanted to know...

I will update names and websites tonight when I get home from work!

Pam

editing to add: Gr8fish, thanks for mentioning caffeine. I forgot that...I have been off caf. for about 3 years now. Also causes calcium loss because it is a diuretic.

[Jillmar]

Thanks girls! And yes, it was scarey![:0] I thought I had great bones because I feel strong and in shape!

I don't know what kind of test I had. It was my first one. I layed on the table and a machine above me took pictures of my spine and hips. I have the report and my T and Z scores. But I don't know what they mean!



Jill Brightbill
T-Tapp Trainer
IFPA Certified Personal Trainer
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
http://www.t-tapp.com/trainers/jillbrightbill/
jillb@T-Tapp.com

[pww818]

Do you have a narrative report (like from the radiologist) or is it pictures/graph? If you can find your T scores, tell me what that is.

The Dexa scan (which is what you had done on the table) scans your hips and your lumbar spine. If they are close to the osteoporosis range, they take a scan of your non dominant wrist. (You probably had to sit sideways beside the machine for that one). It is kind of the *tie-breaker*.

If any of those areas are -2.5 or higher, that gives you a diagnosis of osteoporosis. If you have a colored graph on your report, that will be the dots or squares in the red zone. The next step less bad from that is osteopenia which on the colored graph would be yellow, and the next would be normal which is the green area.

In Strong Women, Strong bones, I think she explains that well.

I remember the first few weeks after I had the diagnosis, I felt so F-R-A-G-I-L-E which I am not!!! You get used to it, but I do pause if I am doing something like lifting a heavy object. I try to use my head because I dont want to end up looking like my Mom or some of the little ladies I see at work (I'm a hospital social worker.).

Pam

[pww818]

The place I got my weighted vest was www.bonesandbalance.com. I can't get the website to come up so don't know if it still exists. It was by Dr. Christine Snow, a researcher at Oregon State University. I have their phone if you want it.

This is the original place that sells the vest I got thru Bones and Balance, I just got 18# of weights and a reduced cost. http://www.walkvest.com/

This website has another vest which was not available when I looked for mine, also has some articles from Dr. Snow's work.
http://www.weightvest4osteoporosis.com/research.htm
This vest is endorsed by Dr. Fuhrman...as the weights are higher on the body than the weight vest. She also indicates you can rebound with the vest on. I've not done that altho I have a rebounder.

The Strong Women Strong Bones author is Miriam E. Nelson, PhD. She also has a website now at: www.strongwomen.com In her book she interprets the DEXA scan results, but after a quick look at her website, I don't see it there. She also says in her book ALWAYS to have your bone scan at the same time of year. Your density waxes and wanes with the seasons based on the amount of sunlight (VIT D) available. Since you now will want to measure the difference on your subsequent bone density scans, you will want to keep to the same time of year (like 1st week of June, etc.)

I do SATI or SITTM with the weighted vest, but didn't like doing the Total with the vest. I didn't feel comfortable wth the bending over moves and the weighted vest. Plies, hoe downs, balance, TTN, step-lift and all the ones where you are upright felt OK.

Uh...I might just have overwhelmed you...Sorry!

Pam

[KarenM]

Jill, this is a subject of great interest to me as my mother had severe osteoporosis and suffered quite a bit because of it. I've had improved bone density on my last 2 DEXA scans. I credit a combination of t-tapp, cal/mag supplementation, and low dose estrogen replacement therapy. The ERT is something you might want to discuss with your doctor. Here's a link to info about a low dose estrogen patch designed specifically to protect the bones: http://www.menostar-us.com/index.html

Good luck!

[Jillmar]

Thanks for all the great information! I do take a cal/mag supplement now but I might try to add a Vit. D supplement.

Karen, I don't want to take ERT because my mom had breast cancer twice, my aunts and grandmother died of breast cancer and I had a scare myself. So that's out of the question, but I appreciate your feedback![:X]

Jill Brightbill
T-Tapp Trainer
IFPA Certified Personal Trainer
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
http://www.t-tapp.com/trainers/jillbrightbill/
jillb@T-Tapp.com

[VeggieGirl]

In the Strong Women, Strong Bones book, she does recommend increasing Vitamin D intake because calcium needs that to absorb it. She also recommends jumping (& jump rope). I just got her book out of the library today and started to read it. Very interesting!

Jean from NJ

[Lori French]

I Googled for info on the "Strong Women, Strong Bones" book and found that it is dated 2001. Medical recommendations change daily wondering if it *feels* dated from other info out there. Maybe I'll look into the library option.....

[u]Lori</u>