osteoporosis and the pill

[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.