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Good for your Doc -- you weren't prescribed any meds for building bone density? The kind of meds that can have some serious side effects? Hooray!! for you and your Doc.
He said to try exercise and diet due to the negative side effects the meds can have. This whole group of Drs are great!
I'm posting this with my tongue in cheek, but with a wee bit of seriousness, too.
Just had a wellness check-up, Medicare variety, from my NP (nurse practioner)
Was asked and/or offered tests for colon, breasts, bones, etc. Vaccines for various ailments. I ended up feeling I was parceled out like chicken parts in the meat section...no questions about overall aches, pains, diet, nutrition, quality of sleep, amount of exercise and such.
I know I am the total sum of my parts, but gee whiz, I am also a living, breathing organism whose health and well-being are greatly influenced by lifestyle. And a physical exam can show swelling, sore points, etc.
Never once was I examined in a hands-on kind of way -- except for being cuffed for blood pressure. Just asked verbally lots of questions. Remember the good old days -- when doctors actually touched you? Am I weird? I think the technology side of medicine, while terrific diagnostic tools, should be coupled with healing hands-on, too.
Or is my NP different from your doc?
I am very lucky in that my doctor and his entire staff actually listen and answer my questions. Even questions unrelated to my body, per se. My last appointment, neither I nor his nurse could figure out the gauge on my oxygen. The doctor came in, asked what I was fussing about, I told him, and with a flick of the wrist, fixed the thing. He then joked that he's a better mechanical engineer because he's a guy and I'm better at quilting because I'm a girl.
Even though I'm basically dying of cancer, he always makes me laugh and I always leave feeling good and happy. He really is one in a million.
Electronic records are so bad they force repetitive data entry. She has to ask those questions in order to get to the next screen.
If she is "pushing" treatment for osteoporosis you might want to consider that what she is doing is trying to reduce your risk of spinal, hip, and wrist fractures. If you do not care about those, just continue to refuse treatment.
If all she can do is push injections for treatment, it's time for me to look for another doctor. I keep telling her that I'm not interested in injections, and I get plenty of exercise. But besides all of that, it's getting too much like a factory.
The minute she starts talking about injections at my next appointment, I'll be walking out the door. And she needs to read my history before she walks into the room, because I'm not going to answer the same questions over and over again when she has the answers.
Mine never says a word about exercise. She just pushes injections or medication. This is what she sent me.
One of the easiest things you can do is jog in place on a hard surface so you feel the "jolting" up your hips and spine. He said this stimulated bone growth. All weight bearing exercises help, and that includes using those elastic exercise bands for arms and upper back. You can find some exercises on Youtube.
Good for your Doc -- you weren't prescribed any meds for building bone density? The kind of meds that can have some serious side effects? Hooray!! for you and your Doc.
Back a few years ago when my doctor told me "my bones were going south", ie, the bone density results showed osteopenia, he didn't prescribe any drugs for it either, much to my relief, as I'd have probably refused them. He told me exercise, including weight bearing exercise, making sure my calcium intake was adequate, would help make it better. And it did, my last bone density results showed completey normal results.
Sorry, I have family members in the medical field, it has little to do with the money. it has more to do with government requirements.
I have a very, very close friend who is one of the heads of oncology at Sloan Kettering. He has told me otherwise. Yes, government requirements and regulations hinder some, but controlling cost ties doctors' hands much, much more. If a patient requires a medication that is $10,000 a month to live, and the insurance company denies it, the doctor's hands are tied. He can argue with the insurance company until he's blue in the face, and sometimes they will reverse their decision. But that can take months, and often times is too late. He told me the hardest thing he ever saw was someone who needed a specialized test. It cost thousands of dollars. The insurance company denied it as "not medically necessary," because apparently they know more than the team of doctors at Columbia (where he worked at the time) did who were actually seeing and treating this patient. They eventually gave in after many, many doctors argued with them over the course of months. The scan showed what doctors had feared. The patient ultimately died. Had his condition been diagnosed sooner, by getting the scan when it was requested, he probably would have survived.
Mine never says a word about exercise. She just pushes injections or medication. This is what she sent me.
Walking increases bone density. Start with 30 minutes a day. Also, eat prunes(dried plums). They are tasty and they really help. a couple a day. Avoid coca cola and all other soda's. They deplete your bones. Cow's milk does as well. So watch the dairy. Just politely tell your doctor no and that you want to try something else instead. Injections and medication are not the answer. The side effects are not worth it.
I forgot to add that weight bearing exercises like weights and stretchy bands also help like someone mentioned previously. In my experience with doctors in southern Nevada, they only touch you when they check the heart with the stethoscope. Otherwise, all they do is farm you out for various tests and procedures for "preventive" testing that I decline. I picked my current doctor because he was a DO. (Doctor of Osteopathy) He can do Chiropractic. But does he? Of course not. This is the second time I picked a DO that will not touch me. Is it the cooties? Do my feet stink?
I have seen way too many healthy people turned into patients with all the "preventive" tests and I wonder why several of my sisters have to keep having surgeries for weird things. One had a weird lump that was not cancerous, removed from her hip/upper leg area. Another keeps having biopsies come back "positive" for various things and is getting carved up from her face, down to her butt with "surgeries." Another they found a super rare form of cancer in a hard to get to place. I always wonder, "how do they find these things?" The doctor probably says, "Hey, lets look in here and see what we can find..." Too many relatives dying of cancer. All that processed food full of chemicals, standard american diet related. Kill cancer with foods, as in organic fruits, vegetables, greens. Organic carrot juice is notorious for killing cancer. And it tastes great too. Raw organic foods are great for you.
I do not have much faith in doctors from the many years of dealing with them. But i do recall a time when growing up, when doctors actually did things. Touched people. Imagine that. Now it's mostly corporate, government interference. Now all they do from my experience is write prescriptions and order tests. Prescriptions mask the problem. You still have the problem.
Turning healthy people into patients. According to a great doctor, Dr. John McDougall M.D, "Sick people go to doctors, healthy people don't." There is no money in healthy people. And no money in dead people. They want you right in the middle. If you don't believe this, take a good look at all these mega cancer centers popping up all over the country. They are humongous places. Statistics show that 1 in 3 people will get cancer. Not good odds. We as human beings need to be more proactive in our own health. Exercise, eat right, meditate and not rely on the medical establishment to save us. There will always be the other people that want to keep doing what they are doing and take their pills and follow the sheeple protocols. It's their life, let them.
Magnesium is critical for bone/joint health. I was told osteopena over 15 yrs ago, I'm 79 and good posture and no fractures or broken bones...hope to stay that way.
Mine never says a word about exercise. She just pushes injections or medication. This is what she sent me.
Your results say you have osteoporosis in both hips, low bone density in the spine, and there has been a small decrease in density in the past two years.
Exercise and adequate calcium and vitamin D may help slow the loss but will do little to reverse established osteoporosis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by moved
If all she can do is push injections for treatment, it's time for me to look for another doctor. I keep telling her that I'm not interested in injections, and I get plenty of exercise. But besides all of that, it's getting too much like a factory.
The minute she starts talking about injections at my next appointment, I'll be walking out the door. And she needs to read my history before she walks into the room, because I'm not going to answer the same questions over and over again when she has the answers.
Like I said, it's your choice to treat your osteoporosis or not. You may find that every doctor you talk to suggests you reconsider treating it. Since there has been a small decrease in density since the previous scan, though not reaching statistical significance, your exercise is not making the osteoporosis better, is it?
Again, the computer forces the doctor to ask those questions at each visit. She cannot go to the next part of the office visit in the computer until she does it. Electronic records were not developed by doctors, and you will find that many of them detest the EHR and resent being turned into (worthless) data entry clerks. Instead of walking out, why not ask why those questions are asked at each visit? You may find she hates asking them as much as you hate answering them.
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Raw organic foods are great for you.
