Wellness

[ThinkingOutLoud]

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@dimin wrote:

You still take stuff. I don't know why you had to go there with the filthy, money making useless drek. You don't know everything.

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@willowbark wrote:

One of the richest women in the world with access to concierge medicine at the snap of her fingers and lo and behold, she broke a hip. 

Conversely, my mother of modest means was lassoed and cattle roped by her GP and she went on to break her collar bone and a few years later her femur which ended up killing her before she could get help while waiting in the ER. 

As for  myself, I will never take any of their filthy, money-making useless drek. I take calcium (with D3 and K2) and exercise. 

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You may want to ask yourself why you are so triggered by her comment. 

[SilleeMee]

Bisphosphonates, such as Fosamax, Boniva and Reclast, work by attaching to bone tissue which causes the bone cells to stop destroying old bone cells. The destruction and consequent rebuilding of bone tissue is the normal cycle of events but with the use of prolonged bisphos there is an abnormal accumulation of old bone which is brittle and not has strong as normally formed new bone tissue. Bisphos can cause fracture if used too long.

[on the bay]

There have been many times I've told a dr about side effects for me from a drug. When I've asked about side effects when they want to prescribe it, they always say they hadn't "heard" of any and their patients have done well on it.

Then I try it. I use to feel I'll try anything once. Not now. Now I look at the risks vs benefits very closely.

After trying the drugs which gave me bad side effects, I looked up what the side effects were and so many times the first ones mentioned and others were the ones I had which the dr had not mentioned or had said that shouldn't be a side effect for this drug! I guess they didn't read the drugs own website for side effects.

I am so less trusting. Some people have more reactions to drugs than others. It's so different for every person.

Not all doctors are this dismissive of anything bad about what they prescribe. Some do listen and keep up with the latest research and for them I am always grateful.

One of my favorite PC's told me he would never take statins. And he had high cholesterol. He also said he wouldn't prescribe a new drug for his patients, nor for his family.

[cindyNC]

I don't know about the medications.  But I've been following an 80 year old woman and her 60 year old daughter who have lots of exercise videos on youtube.  It's called "Yes 2 Next" - the mom does the routines seated.

Her walking backwards video has helped a great deal with my back/hip/sciatica.  

[Icegoddess]

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@ThinkingOutLoud wrote:

It's good you're looking into these meds. Aside from doing strength training that was mentioned, stay away from carbonated beverages as they leach calcium from the bones.

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It's actually the phosphoric acid in sodas, not all carbonated beverges..  And that's is only hypothesized, not proven.  I make my own carbonated beverages, not soda-flavored, and only drink sodas when we eat out.  I no  longer care for the taste of soda, but it's better than the other choices.  I don't like plain water,

[Icegoddess]

The first thing I would do would be to make sure the diagnosis is coming from the hip/lumbar spine.  My Dr. said I was osteopenia, but I refused meds at the time.  When I went back for my next Dexa, my bones were fine.  While on the table, I mentioned about the osteopenia diagnosis and she looked back at my last scan and said that it was an incorrect diagnosis since it wasn't a loss of bone in the hip or lumbar spine.  They were always fine. 

Along with weight bearing strength training, I believe one should add some sort of jarring-type exercise.  I'm talking high impact aerobics or just jumping.  That seems to signal the bones to build more bone, specifically in the hip region.

"When athletes engage in high impact activities, the forces from the impact induce small strains in their bones. Strain in bone causes bone growth which increases the bone mineral density of the impacted bones, therefore making them stronger. When gymnasts perform back handsprings or flips, or when volleyball players jump high into the air to spike the ball, they load their bones with high forces. A study done on college athletes showed that gymnasts and volleyball players had significantly higher bone mineral density than swimmers, which is considered a low-impact sport. "

From Biomechaincs in the Wild on the Notre Dame University website.

[3JJJ]

In 2009, I started taking Forteo - an injectible you take everyday for 2 years.  I had strange side effects but was assured everything was fine.  2 months after stopping the injections, I was diagnosed with appendeceal cancer. Fortunately, it was a low grade mucenous tumor and everything was removed surgically (including my "lady parts" and part of the omentum).  Since appendeceal cancer is not common, I always believed it was a result of the Forteo.  I refused to take anything else after that except calcium, calcium-magnesium-and zinc, Vit D.   Fast forward to a few years ago - I fell down the steps in my home - HARD.  Bruised everything on my right side, but broke nothing.  I think the supplements had something to do with that.  

My dr. told me they are now concentrating on diet and excercise rather than drugs.  It's a hard decision to make.  I researched everything and still made the wrong decision.  Good luck to all

[amyb]

@on the bay Been questioning statins lately too. I kept away from those as long as I could, through my 30's, 40's, 50's...then after menopause, and with that high lipo protein-a, my doc, heart history in famiy, my doc, who was similar in age, similar family background, also didn't hop to take every drug...still thought it was a good idea to start. We started out conservatively...just 3 pills a week, 20 mg, Lipitor. Then 5 days. Then all 7. Then switched to Crestor, which she always felt was the better of the two, but insurance wouldn't pay for Crestor until you at least tried Lipitor first. I hate how insurance companies RUN our Healthcare system....it creates the worst system ever.

I too don't "trust out of the gate" anymore, and bf really doubts it all now...feels every doc gets kick backs to push certain drugs. I'm sure it's not every doc, every drug...but no doubt it's some.

It's so hard to know who, what to trust. I have always erred on the side of taking nothing I didn't really feel I needed.

So finally Crestor had to go up to 40mg to get my numbers down to what they NOW say is "the optimum"...which btw, they LOWER every chance they get...why? to sell more statins I'm sure.

So when I have my checkup this year, I'm going to run my latest concerns by my new doc. (only switched docs because other one retired last year.) BF said he recently has been reading lower cholesterol numbers may NOT be good for us. ALSO for years I've followed the debate out there....some say it's NOT high cholesterol that's the biggest threat to heart health but blood pressure (mine's ok.) More to say on that, but too involved...needless to say...I've seen it debated, I read differing medical opinions.

Anyhow...I've started to skip a night or two per week only taking statins about 5 times now...until I get my bloodwork this coming year. Last year it got, I feel, almost too low...so I'm taking my own chances and see how I do. Again, don't want to mess with things too much on my own, but I'm skeptical....judge and jury on statins, heart health, cholesterol, seem contradictory. Like most health info lately!!

@on the bay ps. Did your doc ever explain WHY he wouldn't put his family members on statins??

[Shelbelle]

I think the same thing about infusions, if you have a bad reaction there is no turning back, pretty scary. I also think some of these drugs can effect dental work and some needed dental work may not be able to be performed. 

[haddon9]

My mother had very bad osteoporosis and faithfully took whatever her doctor told her too.  This was years ago and at the age of 88 she was in an accident. 

She had been walking in a large casino and a man who wasn't paying attention suddenly came up behind her running, tripped and fell on top of mom bringing her down.  He broke her leg and neck. 

According to her doctor, her neck looked like a shattered mirror.  This was after taking those osteoporosis medications for years that didn't seem to do very much at all for her.

She also became very hard of hearing.  Once I went with her to one of her audiologist appointments and asked why they thought that she was becoming increasingly deaf. I was told that it could be due to the osteoporosis....those tiny bones in your ear were weakening and making her more hard of hearing.  I found out that was one of the side effects of statins is osteoporosis.  Mom took those as well at a high dosage for years.

I'm no longer as trusting of the medical profession as I used to be.  After my mom and DH who had a mystery autoimmune illness for many years I take what they say with a grain of salt along with doing some of our own research.