osteoporosis and the pill

[hellosunshine]

dr prescribed me the pill as i dont have periods.(the reckoning is i need the hormones for bone strength.)therefore i dont get PMT and life is pretty tickety boo..........well if i do get all crotchety its my character rather than "time of the month":D


so,if i get these periods how will it affect the bike,moods etc,hes given me something called microgy..sometheringor other.

when i was on it before i didnt ride a bike and the bleeding part only lasted 1/2 a day.the issue really is how it affects bike performance.


WILL IT GIVE ME BIGGER TITS?

[mimitabby]

pregnancy is the best thing for breast enhancement :D

[bcipam]

dr prescribed me the pill as i dont have periods.(the reckoning is i need the hormones for bone strength.)therefore i dont get PMT and life is pretty tickety boo..........well if i do get all crotchety its my character rather than "time of the month":D


so,if i get these periods how will it affect the bike,moods etc,hes given me something called microgy..sometheringor other.

when i was on it before i didnt ride a bike and the bleeding part only lasted 1/2 a day.the issue really is how it affects bike performance.


WILL IT GIVE ME BIGGER TITS?

Do you don't have a period because you are menopausal or do you have some other problem? If the pills are for estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) because you are menopausal it might cause mood swings etc, but primarily that's it.

I am not a fan of ERT as it can cause other problems such as cervical cancer etc. If you are not getting hot flashes and don't really need ERT I wouldn't take it. In order to treat osteoporosis there are other medicationthat are not hormone based. Since I ride, have strong muscles, etc., I have dense bones and do not have or will have osteoporosis.

And be happy with the chest you have - contrary to what some women believe - men don't really care if you are big or large - they just care that willing and able!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I don't think it's going to effect your biking much. And it won't give you big boobs either. You don't say how old you are or why you don't have periods,, whether you are going to be using it as birth control, etc, so not much to comment on there.
I don't think being on the pill is going to give you PMS and mood swings if you don't suffer them normally. You might experience a mild sense of nausea for a minute once or twice the first month or so as your body adjusts to the different hormone levels, but that only happens to some people.

[Kimmyt]

Different pills effect each person differently.

I have been on bc for some time. Switched to a different brand about a year ago and had HORRIBLE mood problems. I don't know if it was the pill (the mood swings lasted for the first 2-3 months) or the fact that this was around the 6 month mark with the Boy when all the fights usually happen, so maybe it wasn'tjust the pill.

Anywho, I have been on bc for almost 10 yrs.... and still have A-B cups. Alas, if the bc=bigger boobs, I'd be a FFF by now, but I'm still just as small. Anyways, little boobs make it easier to be active!

Some people noted that bc may make them gain some weight, but I never noticed that and if you exercise that probably won't be a problem.

I switched to a new pill just last month, b/c i had decreased libido and had lost my period. the new pill was supposed to help the libido but probably wouldn't do anythign about the period (it was probably due to high stress/increased exercise etc) but it actually increased the period and haven't noticed a libido change.

Anyway, just to say that pay attention to your body. if you notice bad effects from this pill, see if there's an option of changing, let your doctor know that you'd like to switch due to seeing X effects since you went on the pill. Most docs are good about things like that.

p.s. it shouldn't effect your biking at all unless it gives you bad cramps or something during menstruation and you don't want to ride through it... the likelihood of this is very little, as you don't get a period now. i wouldn't worry about it!

K.

[Offthegrid]

If you're worried about bone strength, the best thing would be to take calcium supplements (twice a day so it can be absorbed) and do weight-bearing exercises such as weight training and walking or jogging.

[Wahine]

If you are not having periods because you're post menopausal, the following does not apply.

Normally, during child bearing years hormones produced by the ovaries (primarily) regulate menstruation. The ovaries are in turn regulated by hormones produced in the pituitary gland of the brain. An alteration of these hormone outputs will change your menses.

My concern here is WHY are you not getting your periods. It's all well and good that your Doc wants you to take hormones to protect your bones and depending on the situation, this could be completely appropriate. But the source of the problem should be investigated. In athletes, it's often nutritional and due to a lower than healthy body fat level. If this is the case, you may need to make dietary changes. If this isn't true, other causes should be checked out. Some of the underlying causes can be quite serious. Your Doc is the best person to talk to about this.

My advice is:

Don't be satisfied with a quick fix and figure out what is causing the problem and do something about it. I have seen many athletes in their 40s with serious health problems, such as recurrent stress fractures because they were too skinny for too long and did not have good nutrition. These athletes often have to give up endurance exercise all together.:eek: :eek: :eek:

I also want to reiterate what OTG said. The best way to protect bone mass is through weight bearing exercise. Second - there is very good research out that shows that elite cyclists that do not cross train with weight bearing exercises (walking, jogging, weights) have abnormally low bone density at younger ages and are at risk for osteoporosis. SO CYCLING IS NOT ENOUGH TO PROTECT YOUR BONES.

Take care and don't let this slide.

PS - I went from an A to a B on the pill and then went right back to an A when I went off.

[solveig]

Hi all,
I'm in the same boat here. Amenorrhic for about 9 months, just got a bone scan back with low bone density (osteopenia), and have to deal with this.

I've tried birth control in the past - both to jumpstart missed periods and to try to regulate irregular & painful periods - and it's been bad both times. Bad morning sickness, depression, etc.

I know that what I need to do is put on weight. But in the past couple of years I've discovered what it feels like to be muscular, feel strong and not feel weighed down by a lot of extra body weight. (I spent most of my life overweight and have finally lost the weight and maintained it.)

And I know this has more to do with my head than anything. Anyone else been there? Any advice? I'm all ears.

Thanks,
S

[Wahine]

Normal body fat percentage for a woman is around 25%. Anything above 11% is considered acceptable. Below 9% we stop menstruating. At this point your body does not have the physical reserves that would be required for pregnancy so it shuts down the associated organs. It's a survival mechanism, you don't need your ovaries when you're starving.

When I was at my leanest and meanest at the age of 26, I was super buff and looked amazing and my body fat percentage was 14%. I had no reserves and became sick very easily and I was still considered in the healthy zone. I know how hard it is to let go of an image of yourself as super lean but what you need to remember is that you are not healthy. Not only that, you can look fantastic with just a couple of extra percentage points of body fat and be back into the healthy range.

Now for a reality check. This is a true story. Lady 56 yrs old and marathon runner, comes in for physical therapy treatment with complaints of pain in her groin area. The PT assessment does not add up so she gets sent back to the Dr. Eventually, after much testing it is discovered that she has a stress fracture in her femur close to the hip joint. This is an unusual place for a stress fracture so she goes on to have a full work up. She had been ammenorheaic (sp??) for decades and her body fat percentage was very low. She had gone into early menopause and her bone density was very poor. She was advised to stop running and a treatment program was recommended to get some meat on her bones. She started eating better but the moment she began to put on weight, she began running again because she was afraid of becoming fat. Realize that this woman was dangerously thin. She ran through her hip pain and eventually caused a full blown fracture. She ended up in the hospital for surgery to repair the fracture. Initially they used a plate and screws but the fracture did not heal. The ball part of her hip joint actually died back due to lack of blood from disruption of the arteries by the fracture. This resulted in her having to go for a hip replacement that failed because her bone density was too poor to accept the prosthesis. To make a long story short, she had complication after complication until finally she succumbed to an infection, in part due to her low body weight and impaired immune system.

So believe me. There is a lot at stake here. You can do a lot of damage and the longer it goes on the worse it will be. Get medical help to make this happen. If you need specific goals and motivation, get your body fat percentage tested with hydrostatic weighing and make goals of increasing your percentages just like you would make goals to increase your mileage. Eventually you'll feel better and your bike performance will improve.

And don't forget to do some weight bearing exercises to help with your bone density.

I hope this helps some of you out there struggling with this problem.

[hellosunshine]

very good reply,my fat % is slightly under 10% and anyone might know,im trying to gain weight,up to 48.6kg now and feeling positive!i do loads of weights and walk the dog so this will help,had a bone scan 4 years ago and i was cause for alarm,getting another one soon,so it'd be swell if id improved.

[Wahine]

HS - I'm glad to hear about the posative changes that you're making. I'll keep my fingers crossed that your next bone scan is better. Good work, I'm rooting for you. :) :)