Vitamin D

Take calcium and Vitamin D as you get older, blah, blah, blah. Just some more stupid advice we need to follow to keep the vitamin companies in business. I have osteopenia which is getting worse over the years. My mother, aunts, and grandmother all have osteoporosis. My grandmother and one of my aunts also broke their hips.

Between the thyroid non-existence (which I think has impact on calcium absorption) and my family history, as well as being on Femara and a few other of my ailments, I have had bone density tests for more than five years now. The most recent one showed progression of my osteopenia. I do weight bearing exercises three times a week. I take calcium and Vitamin D. The next step will be some kind of medication. There is hope that once I am off Femara my bone density will come back a bit.

So as I diligently take my 3 calcium/Vitamin D tablets each day, I am hoping for the best. I take all three tablets together even though you are supposed to take them spread out. I tried that it meant I forgot to take usually two of them - my brain couldn't handle that many pill takings in a single day.

Now this new study has come out (because we needed another study) that shows that you need to take 800 IUs (International Units - whatever they may be) of Vitamin D for it to make a difference in preventing bone fractures. The article only came out last Wednesday and it has taken me nearly a week to finally remember to check my vitamin bottle to find out that I have been taking 1200 IUs of Vitamin D all along so at least I am doing one thing right.

Its nice when a study confirms that what I am doing is mostly right for once.

Tell me more!

This morning I was bouncing around the internet looking for worthy blog topics and came across a tiny article which doesn't tell me enough.... (Do you think I come up with this stuff by myself? I always have to search for ideas. Sometimes I find things to write about and then forget about them before I start writing but today I went straight from the article to my blog before my brain loses the content I want to write about and here I am.)

First I found this TINY article that tells me that the FDA has approved a drug to treat bone loss in cancer patients - specifically women who are being treated with an aromatase inhibitor after breast cancer and men with non-metastatic prostate cancer receiving hormone therapy. Obviously I am not in the second group but the first. And I am having bone loss issues. I will talk to my doctor about this one after my next bone scan in the spring. Basically my bone density is down and in addition to being on an AI, I have a strong family history of osteoporosis. I have already talked to my doctor about next steps in bone density if it continues to go down.

But I digress this tiny article didn't not tell me enough and it referred me to the Prolia website which tells me nothing but offers a lot of scary side effects. So I did a little more research with Dr. Google which led me to a little more information on WebMD that tells me it is an injection every six months and has common side effects of low blood calcium, joint pain, and back pain, in case I didn't have enough of those already. But that is always another tiny article. I need to talk to my oncologist to get the real information.

More good news

My bone scan came back normal with no sign of metastic disease. That is nice to know. I am glad not to wait another week. I just have the other tests to worry about!

Painless is good

Glowing?? Maybe. I had my radioactive injection and then the bone scan. BORING! Lie still, dont do anything, so I took a little nap. Now I wait for the results of the test. Maybe later today or Monday but I have a feeling not until Tuesday when I go in for surgery.

Off for a bone scan

Sounds painless? Well first they give me a shot of some kind of radioactive stuff and let it work its way through my system and then I come back for pictures... Well, if I don't have to see the stupid needle that should be okay. Needles and me, a real disconnect. I think that could turn into an issue here with lots of upcoming medical stuff. Well, maybe I'll be glowing afterwards....