Dem bones - the big O, no not That o

[mimitabby]

I'll try the gym for a bit for the free consultations... and I'm paid for a month now.

[chickwhorips]

good luck mimi. try not to think of them while your there. most everyone is worried about how they look and not you.

glad she said to keep riding!

[ClockworkOrange]

Coooooooo Mimi, don't jump up and down too much, 'cos you might just rattle!

Just keep taking the tablets............and riding that bike. Yup, getting older can be a real bummer, your not alone kiddo.




Sally

[DebW]

Mimi, how do they know the calcium state of your bones? My doctor suggest a bone density test a couple years ago but I didn't follow up. What do they actually test for and how?

[mimitabby]

I did a full torso bone density test.
I laid down and extra low xrays zapped me. So low that the tech didn't wear a lead apron.
Then they analyzed them and two readings were taking. spinal and hip bone density. and there's a scale, normal, osteopena, osteoporosis. if your insurance will pay for this I highly recommend it.
it only took a couple minutes.

I've also had the heel test, where you stick your heel in a machine and it measures the density of the bone there. but it's not as accurate because it's not measuring the places where you usually have problems.

[Crankin]

Deb, have the bone density test!! I can't think of any reason not to. I found out I had osteopenia almost 6 yrs. ago, right about the time I was a new rider. I had been doing weight bearing exercise for years, but I have all the other risk factors: thin, white, family history. I tried Fosomax and it made me REALLy ill. I've been taking calcium supplements for over 20 years, too, but I hate milk, always have. So this year, after losing 4% of my bone mass since 2004, my doc put me on Evista and said to take Tums 3x a day. I will get checked again in September. She goes to my gym, so she knows what i do; but she said if i left it untreated, in 10 years if I had a bike crash, I could be permanantly disabled (you know, like those old ladies who never recover from a hip fracture?). This was about a week after my crash at the beginning of January, so now i am seriously listening. Doing my Graham Street core/weight work religiously and trying to hike a little more.

Mimi, how long did you commit to at your gym? Go look at some coe-ed ones! My gym is nothing like you describe.

[Bikingmomof3]

Good luck Mimi! I use free weights at home and my own body weight for resistance. I am not a gym person. I tried to like going to a gym, I really tried.

[mimitabby]

i am only committed monthly. it's right where i work, my company owns the gym . There are 7:1 men to women that work here!!!!
If I have to drive very far, i guarantee i won't do it. So let me just try it with all these hairybacked men and see if I can stand it.

Deb, my grandmother had her hip replaced after a fall when she was 88. She got up and walked again even though she had O. but it's certainly NOT something to mess around with.

[five one]

I asked about a bone density test at my physical a year or so ago, since I was finally in menopause. Apparently my HMO (Kaiser) doesn't do them until age 60 unless there is family history. I don't have any history, but I would like to have a baseline before any damage shows up. Maybe I'll be a bit more insistent next time. I don't want to wait another five years. *Stomps foot*

My boss's mother is completely disabled from osteoporosis at age 80. Her spine has been slowly collapsing for years and she has a permanent morphine pump for the constant and severe pain she is in. I will do anything to avoid a terrible situation like that. Wish cycling were weight bearing. That would make things so much easier for me.

[mimitabby]

My boss's mother is completely disabled from osteoporosis at age 80. Her spine has been slowly collapsing for years and she has a permanent morphine pump for the constant and severe pain she is in. I will do anything to avoid a terrible situation like that. Wish cycling were weight bearing. That would make things so much easier for me.

wow, that's terrible.
Yes, it would make things so much easier for a lot of us if biking was considered weight bearing!