Please, if you haven't had one already,

You are so right that folks need to have a DEXA scan to have their bones checked for osteoporosis. Being a nurse, I know the importance yet I haven't had one myself! I need to schedule one as I grew up hating milk and didn't drink it after being a baby. I now enjoy the taste of milk but don't routinely drink it. I do love green leafy vegetables and eat a lot of brocolli too. I have always eaten a lot of cheese as well. I recently heard, as a previous poster pointed out that limiting soft drinks with phosphorous can help too.

thanks GOD that i don't have ay osteoporosis symptom at this moment. i have checked it out to my doctor and sometimes drink calcium milk. but i have problem about my joint. it said osteoarthritis. do you have any ideas about this matter,my friend? its really annoying me when i am so tired from my working time

Hi I am so sorry to hear about your problems, i cannot comprehend how your feeling right now. But my thoughts are with you and any hope you might have in the future. Please don't give up it's what keeps us going. i hope you get all the help you deserve. aqua

alrite i will~ thank you~

Thanks for the warning--I've never heard of a DEXA scan. Does it cost a lot and where do you get one? I have minimal insurance coverage and it still costs me a few hundred per month! So I'm concerned about costs. Not to the detriment of my health, of course, but if it's expensive I'll start saving for it! I hope your prognosis is good. My grandmother had the dowager hump and my mom has osteopenia, the beginning of osteoporosis (she's 83).

I hope that you don't have to have surgery. That is scary that doctors can find something and not tell you. I haven't had this scan yet, but since I am in China right now, I don't know if it is available. Maybe when I make a trip back to America I will look into it. I am almost 50 (just two years away). I am a survivor of ovarian cancer so I know how important it is to get things checked. I hope things start looking up for you.

I was fortunate to have a test that I a told is equivalent to the DEXA on your hip bone. It was on my heel. I know that the nurse/educator who did that and many other tests was very adamant about some of the things we need to do to take care of our bones. I learned a lot from her. I am fortunate to have a family history of very strong bones, and the test checks out the same. One of the things was to avoid sodas with phosphoric acid (Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper) getting sufficient vitamin D. There are some circumstances that you have a hard time fighting against. Keep us posted here on how things are going for you.

Ala, I would go back and sue each of those doctors that you had do tests and didn't tell you all of the information. I know that we live in the days of frivolous malpractice suits, but your case is definitely legitimate. If you were told by the first, or even the second doctor your condition, you could have done things to prevent needing surgery now. These two doctors should have also known and warned you that the bone walls around those screws could wear down over time, quicker than normal, and cause you problems later. I am as mad as you are, and I am going to get checked myself as soon as possible. I am not hereditarily at risk, and I still have another three years before I hit the big 3-0. But in 1999 I was in a horseplaying accident that resulted in my breaking my T-7 and T-8 vertebrae. It wouldn't be such a big deal had I gone to the doctor that night. Instead, from the way the accident happened, I figured that pain was normal. I couldn't see my back, so I didn't notice any bruising. I didn't know that my back was broken until a year and two months later, when I went into the hospital for laryngitis, and they x-rayed my lungs to see if there was any obstruction. By that time it was healed, (Yes, even with me carrying books, high school books, back and forth to school, and did I mention I was in JROTC Drill team, with the 12lbs rifles? Yeah, I was dumb) So it healed, but it didn't heal right. My doctor wanted me to see a specialist, but she warned me if they were to do anything, it would all start with them re-breaking the two vertebrae. I was scared of that, and was no longer having pain, so I left it at that. Now with you bringing this up, I wonder about my bone density, and how, if I lose some, would it affect the already broken vertebrae in my back. Its almost been ten years since it happened, and now after this discussion I wonder if I am just one fall away from having a broken back all over again. (And that is a high possibility, I am silly and clumbsy, so its very likely I could end up on the floor or ground lol) I will be making an appointment to see about my bone density, and find out the condition of my back, on Monday for as soon as possible. And thanks to you Ala, I will make sure that I am not just brushed off and not told what I need to know.

I hope you give those Drs what for! I am measured every time I go to the Doctors. I will need to have a scan even though I may keep my height because I go to a Chiropractor who has me do traction. There are other medications that behave like hormones, but aren't hormones. They help preserve and some can even help build bone. Some only have to be taken once a week, they are so time released. If your doctors didn't want to give you hormones because they were worried about you getting cancer, there were other options. That they wouldn't tell you what they found really burns me up. I had a doctor not tell me he was watching a benigh tumor in my uterus. I spent tons of money because I thought I had diabetes and my doctors kept finding anemia. The tumor was taking my red blood cells, it got so bad I was almost passing out all the time and I was on iron pills three times a day. That was my Gynecologist who never told my regular doctor either. Some doctors are such lug nuts!