Quick--Are joint pains worse at night?

April 30, 2003

Hi ,

At 49 I have no indication I'm near menopause. I thought I was but the heart

palps and certainly the night sweats were from getting hyper. A bone scan last

Nov. showed thinning at the hips and spine. I'm taking a calcium

citrate/magnesium supplement--1500 mg calcium per day ideally but many days I

don't get that much down--and extra vit. D as the endo says it helps the

calcium.

My gyn., whom I need to change (she's still promoting hormone replacement

therapy), put me on Actonel, apparently the osteoporosis drug that's recommended

for premenopausal women (had to get an Ok from my insurance co. as well). I've

been taking the standard dose, 35 mg. once a week, somewhat reluctantly ever

since. Some of the side effects sound nasty (including muscle aches and possible

burning of the esophagus) so I've actually been spacing them out to once every

eight days.

I want to recheck but I guess insurance only pays for one bone scan a year. I'd

like to believe that now that I'm no longer hyper I'm no longer losing bone, but

I wasn't in great shape to start with--lots of coffee, sodas, some cigarettes,

and a small, North European build.

As far as the vitamin B, I was urging my boyfriend to try it for the pain from

his degenerated disc (back) but he hasn't yet. I take 100 mg complex, time

release, once a day--can't hurt but I'd hesitate to try a lot more.

Interesting about glucosamine. I guess vets have used it for some years. I can't

afford to raise my cholesterol though, as getting hyper caused it to drop 30

points--all of the good cholesterol.

Finally, I'd like to think the flaxseed oil helps lubricate the system. I've

always been achy (and maybe hypothyroid in the past) but since Graves' I've had

lots of creaking and popping and joints bending the wrong way. Oh yes, time to

start some brisk walking, too. Winter was so rough here in the Northeast that

the thought of getting outside is pretty appealing!

Best wishes,

April 30, 2003

-

Thanks for that info. I've heard of the Actonel, but not much about it.

You're right, the side effects sound almost worse than osteo! So far from

what I've seen not too many of the osteo drugs are very pleasant. I'm realy

hoping mine at least stays the same this year.

Just a thought, might want to check your insurance again. I had my second

bone scan about 10 months after the first. I was concerned about it not

being covered, but my doctor said that since it was being done for medical

conditions - 1 being that I was hyper and that's a risk factor for osteo and

more improtantly that I already had a diagnosis of osteopenia from the first

bone scan. He said that if you have a diagnosis of osetopenia or porosis,

the strict 1 year guideline for scans usually doesn't apply. But of course

all insurance is different. You might try asking the ins. co. if it's a

repeat scan for an already existing diagnosis will it be covered.

The bone loss was my doc's biggest concern so far. I don't think it all came

from hyper though. I was only hyper for a couple months and I somehow doubt

all that loss could have occurred then. I had a lot of risk factors before

Graves', too. Didn't drink milk, grandma with osteo, small frame, Caucasian.

Like I needed another risk factor! I agree, sometimes it's hard getting all

that calcium in, especially when you have to split up the doses. I'm

supposed to do 1500, too, but lucky if I get 1000 in. Much guilt about that.

Ironically, my mom has better bone density than I do - told her I feel

genetically ripped off!

Sorry about the cholesterol! I thought Graves' was supposed to make your

cholesterol lower and hypo higher!

I hope the flax oil is doing something positive, too. I keep reading about

how good those Omega 3's are, but I don't have the instant gratification

factor yet.

A word about walking - don't get me wrong, walking is great and I'm not

advocating against it. But if you're doing it purely for bone building

benefits, walking isn't so great. I was doing the same, started walking to

increase bone. But it turns out that walking isn't a very efficient exercise

for this purpose. The effects are too small and it takes years to see

improvement. Heck! I need faster results than that. Got some books on osteo

and they pretty much all say that weight training is a better way to go if

you want to build up bone. Weight training combined with cardio exercise is

ideal, but I don't have the energy for that yet! If you can, check out

" Strong Women, Strong Bones " by Miriam . It's got some really easy

weight bearing exercises that you can do at home. It also talks about how

the weight training is better than walking and all sorts of osteo topics.

I've been doing the weigth exercises several times a week now, so I'm hoping