spinewhine

Well, I finally had my doctor's visit following the course of treatment with Forteo. He was very pleased with my 22% increase in bone density in my spine. Got very little increase in my hip. He said the hip was different type of bone so it was harder to get improvement there. Of course, I'm still in the bottom one-third of my age group for bone density in the spine, so I can't rest on my laurels.

Taape, you'll be interested to know he offered me another course of treatment with Forteo. I said I didn't know one could have another course, but apparently more studies have been done and so far, no osteosarcomas. I told him that I'd been nervous about the osteosarcoma and was sort of glad to be finished with Forteo. He told me I should continue to get get gains with the Actonel as the "young" bone that was developed with the Forteo mineralizes. I asked if I could try Actonel for a year or two and then go back to Forteo if I found my bone density was decreasing and he said I could. So I have that route in reserve. He told me to have another bone density test one year after the last one, and we'd see how I was doing.

I mentioned reading about the one case of osteosarcoma on Lilly's website. He told me the woman was very ill, no autopsy was done and the family would not release her medical records, so it was suspected that she had it before going on Forteo.

He prefers Actonel over the other bisphosphonates. Said it clears the system faster, or something like that. (I wish I'd had a little tape recorder going so I could better report back.) He told me Actonel is working on a monthly dose drug like Boniva now has.

He also urged me to continue the twice-monthly vitamin D supplement that he had given me and the calcium.

I asked about the standing on one foot, but he didn't think much of it. I also asked about the vibrating platforms. He thought more of those. Said one of his patients had one but said the guy wouldn't exercise, would only stand on the platform, and hadn't gotten gains. He said that if one squats on the platform that was the more strongly vibrating of the two popular models (sorry, I forget the names), it seems to do good, engaging many muscles, but that just standing still wouldn't do anything. There's a more gently vibrating model that's designed for just standing, but he didn't know much about it.

I think I will do without it, especially since these things cost between $2500 and $5000!

Well, maybe more will come to me later. That's about all I remember for now.