Re: osteoporosis & what it really means - longish

July 18, 2002

By the way, I meant to give blanket persmission to use this story on your

local and other ists. The whole point is as warning.

osteoporosis & what it really means - longish

> This is one of those ones I've had to sit on for awhile to think how to

say it. We talk about osteoporosis in generalities. We've not had fractures

talked about our damage on this forum, just the potenital, so I need to tell

you the story.

>

> Some of you guys saw my husband Don at the conference, with knee brace, on

a crutch. We were waiting for test results to know what it was.

>

> He's now completed the round of tests, and got the result. Here is how the

injury occurred. Father's Day, so about June 16, we were at a kid-park and

he slipped over a fence, about butt high. Just a simple manuever, nothing

fancy. Parking lot was about an 8 " drop, so he pushed off gently. No big

deal, not anything STUPID. As he came down, the upper leg stayed straight,

but the gravel worked like ball bearings and twisted the foot & lower leg

OUT. The doc called it a spin out. There was pain IMMEDIATE & he went

shocky. Scared us both, but being A Man (no, I'm starting starting trouble),

it was nothing and he did not need to go to ER in a city far from home.

(OK, 50 mi from home).

>

> We did go to our regular doc the next day & do xrays, not sure if those

results ever came back. But we had to go to the conf. They couldn't do

anything for a week or so due to massive swelling. Anyway, the crux of the

story is that here we are now, with the full data.

>

> The knee is a " total meltdown " as the doc called it. The lower bone (I

don't speak bone) has a compression fracture, which tore the meniscus, which

ripped the ACL, and at some point, there are 2 smaller fractures in the

upper bone somewhere. 5 hunks of damage in about 1 second.

>

> They can rebuild the bone artificially, rebuild the ligaments BUT, here is

the big one. Since they have to basically install " bolts " to rebuild the

ACL, is there in fact enough bone left to do it? I thought this doc was

good. He explained things very clearly to us, and when the CT & MRI didn't

agree, he pursued it. So. He is referring us out to someone else for a 2nd

opinion.

>

> We can't just let it go, as it of course, will get much worse. He'll have

to have surgery, but if they can't fix all 5 problems, then they will

reoccur like dominoes.

>

> Don & I were trying to think if the doc was blaming our WLS or our doc in

a subtle way. We kind of analyzed it. Now, anyone who twisted their leg at

a 90deg angle would have this damage, no question. So, we theorized. If

Don had lost weight " naturally " (which we both know was not going to

happen), would he be where he is today? Since the first trigger for the bone

loss IS weight loss, that much would have happened. With America thinking

of dairy as a main calcium source, AND his being lactose intolerant, would

he have gotten any more calcium into him than he did with carbonate?

Probably not, as we'd not have known how important it was, and not even

given him THAT most likely. (Men don't need extra calcium, do they?) So,

we realized that blaming the WLS for the OP is rather a reach in this case.

One wonders what the damge would have been without the calcium citrate +

boron + ipriflavonne + miacalcin. This is the result after an actual

IMPROVEMENT of bone density!

>

> So, my reason for writing this with no spell checker in my laptop and with

a dead hard drive in my real computer is to warn the doubters. This bone

thing is not a game. You can't un-lose if you gamble. Don will probably

not be normal for at least a year, if ever. (Of course, that could be true

with an 18 yr old jock, too, with this type of injury) But it would be a

whole lot easier if he had solid bones to work with.

>

> www.vitalady.com

>

July 18, 2002

> The knee is a " total meltdown " as the doc called it. The lower bone

(I don't speak bone) has a compression fracture, which tore the

meniscus, which ripped the ACL, and at some point, there are 2 smaller

fractures in the upper bone somewhere. 5 hunks of damage in about 1

second.

*** I can vouch for this... I've had 3 ACL reconstructions (and a

total of 8 knee surgeries) in the past 12 years.... The 2 original

ACL injuries happened in the blink of an eye....

>

> They can rebuild the bone artificially, rebuild the ligaments BUT,

here is the big one. Since they have to basically install " bolts " to

rebuild the ACL, is there in fact enough bone left to do it? I

thought this doc was good. He explained things very clearly to us, and

when the CT & MRI didn't agree, he pursued it. So. He is referring

us out to someone else for a 2nd opinion.

>

> We can't just let it go, as it of course, will get much worse.

He'll have to have surgery, but if they can't fix all 5 problems, then

they will reoccur like dominoes.

>

**** Even with healthy bone, there is no guarentee that the screws

will hold..... My third ACL reconstrution happened last September, 10

years after the first one... And it was because the screw holding the

lower part of the graft to my tibia had backed out (probably in the

first year after surgery according to the doc), and I had x-ray proof

that I really did have a screw loose. I didn't have WLS surgery until

8 years after that original ACL reconstruction... I had very healthy

bones - I never broke the bones, just tore all the ligaments around

them... Now was the failure of the screw because of my weight? That

question may never be answered... But the doc wouldn't even consider

that I had a problem with the initial repair until I had lost 140 lbs

and my knee still hurt (he's actually the reason I started researching

WLS).

Like Don, I'm also lactose intolerant... I can eat cheese but have to

stay away from milk. I do calcium citrate (also to fight kidney

stones - another gift of WLS). I'm hoping I don't have a 4th ACL

reconstruction in my future, but I'd rather have that than Super

Morbid Obesity.

July 18, 2002