Last dexa was good news

[Bubba3xt]

Two years ago my left femoral was -2.9, well into the osteoporosis range and my spine was .6, but nobody really knows what's going on with my spine because bone spurs which they've seen on a ct can make your spine look much better than it is.

My doctor immediately suggested fosamax, but I wanted to see first what all the changes I made could do. I would have been happy if it stayed the same, so really thrilled that my spine is now 1.2, a 7.3 increase and my left femoral neck is -2.4 a 5.3 increase I know most broken bones are people with osteopenia and I know it's something I'll have to watch my whole life, but I am very proud of myself and this forum was a huge help.

If you're curious,

I think to stop smoking might have been one of the biggest factors. I've come to realize the damage those chemicals do goes far beyond your lungs.

I always drank milk every day.....until a pharmacist gave me an antibiotic for my ear and told me to cool it with the calcium for a week. That week I realized my bowel movements changed, in a good way and could there really be something to this lactose intolerance thing? I have made numerous tests with different dairy and I have no problem with cheese or yogurt, but milk, ice cream and whipped cream are now off the table. I assume because things in my gut aren't as upset as they use to be that I'm absorbing things better.

That's what I stopped doing, now for what I started doing.

In the morning I take boron 3mg, 2000iu of d3, and a joint supplement for my arthritis which does contain some collagen.

I try to wait at least 4 hours, but sometime early afternoon I take my k2mk7 organic olive oil drops 100mcg.

Then at bedtime I take two 10mg melatonin and a magnesium citrate which both help me sleep good.

I spent months reading labels to try and spread out my calcium intake through the day and make sure I get 1200. One problem was putting on too much weight the first few months, so finding a mineral water high in calcium(Gerolsteiner) and developing a taste for very low cal almond milk has been a blessing. I think most of you know what to eat, it's just being disciplined enough to do it.

As far as exercise, I have not knocked myself out. We love our big wooded lot, so 6 months of the year, I'm dragging dead trees around and carrying stone across the yard instead of putting in a wagon. In short I make things harder than they have to be. When my neighbors look at me like I'm nuts, I tell 'em," this is for my bones." Winter is much harder but that's when I turn to running up and down a flight of stairs about ten times. I'm not sure if that helped my bones, but I know it helped my lungs. We also got a recumbent bike and I try to make a schedule with that, but I'm really good at making excuses with that. I will try harder,

I just wanted some of you who have numerous things you could change, like I did, to know that it can make a difference.

[Kaarina]

Interesting thread, thank you. You say, "but nobody really knows what's going on with my spine because bone spurs which they've seen on a ct can make your spine look much better than it is."

It is for this reason that I choose to pay for a REMS scan every two years and it is money well spent, (I am in the UK) as a DEXA cannot give me any reliable spinal result at all as I have scoliosis. So for me a DEXA is a total waste of time. The REMS does give me a spinal result and for that I am forever grateful.

[Bubba3xt in reply to Kaarina]

I would love to get a REMS scan and I still might but the last time I looked the closest was about 800 miles away. The US is behind Europe when it comes to this. When I asked my doctor, she didn't even know what I was talking about.