Osteopenia

[Cataboo]

Just read this article in NPR and it's pretty outrageous:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...15&sc=fb&cc=fp

How A Bone Disease Grew To Fit The Prescription
www.npr.org
In 1990 the bone condition osteopenia - a slight thinning of the bones - didn't exist. Today women are diagnosed with osteopenia and given medication. This is the story of how Merck's marketing efforts changed the definition of a disease, creating a whole new category of people who saw themselves as...

[KnottedYet]

Great article, thanks for the link!

I love the docs who tell their osteopenia patients to get to work changing lifestyle: they go to the nutritionist to learn about dietary changes, and they get sent to me to learn about weightbearing exercise.

Lifetime habit changes vs. lifetime drug use. It's good to have the options and it's good to have a doctor who can help you figure out which is the better path to try first.

[Cataboo]

Great article, thanks for the link!

I love the docs who tell their osteopenia patients to get to work changing lifestyle: they go to the nutritionist to learn about dietary changes, and they get sent to me to learn about weightbearing exercise.

Lifetime habit changes vs. lifetime drug use. It's good to have the options and it's good to have a doctor who can help you figure out which is the better path to try first.

Lifetime drug use that may long term make your bones more brittle.

Sounds like a great thing to be encouraging lots of people to do.

[KnottedYet]

Lifetime drug use that may long term make your bones more brittle.

Sounds like a great thing to be encouraging lots of people to do.

Yup. "If it ain't broke yet, don't Fosamax it."
(send 'em to me instead... evil laughter from the physical therapy department... mooo-heh-heh...)

ETA: the osteopenia/disease/drug thing reminds me of when docs used to freak at healthy women who were "anemic" during pregnancy and throw iron pills and dire warnings at them. Until someone finally realized low blood iron was normal (and desirable) as the body sequestered iron. I was anemic earlier this year and it was horrible, I was miserable. Nothing like the "anemia" I <didn't> have while preggers. Thank goodness my OB had the same stance as these bone docs; if the patient is healthy and has no symptoms, don't treat a test result. "Treat patients, not test results" is something I hear a lot.

Osteoporosis, now... that s*cks. I've worked some desperately debilitated elderly ladies, and darn tootin' I want them to be taking Fosamax. Fragile bones are bad news.

[cylegoddess]

Yes Big pharma sucks, but since many more people now days drink soda, eat acidic foods, dont exercise( sedentary) - oesteo is rising and yes! I am a fitness instructor, so I work to change it without drugs.

[sarahspins]

Yes Big pharma sucks, but since many more people now days drink soda, eat acidic foods, dont exercise( sedentary)

I agree with this so much.. because the same can be said for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. I've heard a lot of arguments that they're on the rise simply because doctors are more aggressive at looking for them.. and on one hand I can kind of see that (as diagnositc criteria change), but it doesn't address the underlying issue that Americans just plain sit around much more than we used to... the human body was designed to be used, not sit in a recliner watching TV. No one really puts much effort into taking care of themselves until there IS a problem.

Now, I say that, I don't mean to sound crass.. I am diabetic (type 1) and I also take an ACE inhibitor to protect my kidneys as a preventive measure (I do not have high BP, or rather, I did not before taking ACE inhibitors). I'm also hypothyroid and take synthroid for that, so I'm basically on 3 medications for the rest of my life. I'm only in my 20's.. so that sucks. I worry about long-term effects, but I also know that the immediate short term results of not taking them is so much worse

[Grits]

Good article. A few years ago I had one of the bone density tests with a perepheral device, it measured the heel in my case, and was diagnosed with osteopenia. I followed it up with a full diagnostic scan of the spine and hips which confirmed it and was put on Fosomax.

I then read a book, The Myth of Osteoporosis by Gillian Sanson, (poor title, the author acknowledges that osteoporosis is not a myth, but is much, much rarer a disease than you would think given all the publicity). It, as does the article, puts into question the validity of calling osteopenia a disease needing treatment and comes to the same conclusions, but coming at it from a slightly different angle. That convinced me to go off the fosomax and up my calcium intake. I've always done weight bearing exercise and really had no risk factors other than the ones you can't help - race, sex, body build.

I've heard similar things about cholesterol and blood pressure meds. The cut off for what is "normal" is changed, and a doctor goes from having healthy patients one day to lots of patients who need prescriptions just based on a number that someone, somewhere came up with. This definitely makes you think. We tend to do what our doctors recommend without questioning, but really need to do our own research.