DXA results, finally

Thank you.  Yes, I'm pretty well.  Had a longish list of things to go through very quickly with my gp this morning, so we didn't spend long on the DXA results, but she asked me how I did it!  The improvement was from -2 last year to -1.6 this year.  I took no OP drugs.

As above!  In my excitement I forgot to post the relevant details.  I do have everything now, and all but one of the spine readings has improved, the one that hasn't is statistically so small that the reading is effectively the same as last year. Both femoral neck, which seems to be the one the bones people put most stock in, and trochanter have improved.  

Only one other question: was it on the same machine?

But it is really good news - even if all it does is keep them off your back! And i hope it registers with them - it doesn't HAVE to be AA and co.

Yes, same machine.  But my back has been so much improved by physiotherapy she had trouble placing my spine in exactly the same position as before - and it was painful for me to hold the position!  However the hip measurements are the key and they are definitely accurately positioned and significantly better!

I plan to write out a little paragraph for my doctor outlining exactly what I've been doing.  I also convinced her to let me have Vitamin D checked again, because I think in my case that was an extra factor, high vitamin D having the opposite effect on bones than we want.

Oh grt news, well done you.  Timely for me as I want to stop AA (losing my hair and scalp showing )  I see my gp on weds, will be interested to see your write up about it. 

Basically, Clare, I bought a pedometer and for over a year have tried to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.  Sometimes it's more, much less often a bit lower.  It's all my daily activity, not just a dedicated walk.  I bought a weighted walking vest which I wear every few days, and gradually over time you can increase the weight, this stimulates bone construction!  I get a special bone health supplement from an organics food store, it has calcium hydroxyapatite which is supposed to be absorbed better than other kinds by people on prednisone, but calcium citrate is also a recommended kind.  I take Vitamin K2, had to cut back my D3 because of a high level of D, but nearly everyone needs D supplementation.  I also take magnesium occasionally, or have a bath with Epsom salts, and eat a diet high in leafy greens among other healthy things.  I eat cheese and yoghurt, etc, but do not drink liquid milk except in tea or on cereal.  I have for many years avoided soft drinks, and am a vegetarian (eat fish, eggs, dairy products).  With pred I have also drastically cut back on grains, especially foods like bread or breakfast cereals.  I drink ginger tea (fresh ginger root) recently started taking a liquid kelp supplement.  I also have to take iron - liquid supplement - and I also take glucosamine for osteoarthritis, mixed tocopherol Vitamin E and every second day a complete B supplement.

I took up Nordic walking and tai chi and practice these several times a week if not every day.

Think that's everything....

Keep up a good work! I am so glad that everything you are doing is finally paying off.  It also shows that doing reserch and learning about PMR helps us to understand and treat it better. It is uplifting to see some good news on this site, gives us hope for better days to come.

thanks so much Anhaga..really useful info...again! I do appreciate the factual nature of our forum, I was wary of joining initially but it's turning out to be a lifebelt !

incidentally, I think someone mentioned you can overdo the vit D3..not sure what overdose does?

I have also been told by Orthopod' that it is best to take Glucosamine with Chondroitin 

Unless you have another medical problem that interferes with vit D then you would have to take something like 10,000 IU per day over some considerable time to get into the dangerous blood levels - which is above 150 nmol/litre (or 100 ng/ml) - if you have a low-normal level to start with. That is a LOT of supplements! 

The recommended levels are 75-150 nmol/l or 50-100 ng/ml. Different labs use different units so be careful when you look it up - ours is kind and uses both!

In fact I do have another medical condition, otherwise non-symptomatic sarcoidosis, which it turns out does interfere with proper Vitamin D metabolism, so my D level was measured as very high last spring, before exposure to the summer sun.  Not toxic level, but too close for comfort.  It was 169 and whatever the unit is they were using 200 was considered the dangerous level.  So I take no extra D now, and hope that it's more normal now.  With some difficulty talked my doctor into ordering another D level test.  This is not a problem very many people will have and in general I think people tend to be deficient in Vitamin D.  It's not just living in northern clime, spending too much time indoors and using sunscreen, as we age our ability to creat Vitamin D becomes less efficient.  In sarcoidosis if there are granulomas present they convert inactive D to the active form and that is the problem.  In a normal body the D is only activated as needed.

I avoid chondroitin because of its source - cattle cartilage.

oh   & Thanks.   At this rate we'll all be sunbathing on Christmas day anyway !

A couple of weeks ago I'd have agreed with you, but suddenly we (in Nova Scotia) were plunged into a deep freeze with temperatures well below normal and today we are having a February-worthy storm, snow, wind, and the whole thing is going to turn to rain, and then it will get cold again.  Yikes!   

I noticed Calgary and Winnepeg seemed rather chill for early December! Keep it your end - we're enjoying a very dry December here. Not sure the skiers approve mind...

We heard the dreaded words "polar vortex" yesterday.  The kind of storm we get in the East is called a "nor'easter" and results from a confluence of the Gulf Stream with cold arctic air.  They had lots of snow on the West coast a couple of days ago, building snowmen - unusual!

I saw there was loads of snow at Whistler over the weekend - was watching bits of the sledges going down the ice canal! You are welcome to your polar vortex - they are COLD!!!!

It raises the spectre of the winter from hell (2014-15) which was so bad we were still taking about it this past summer, over a year later!  It was in more ways than one my winter from hell as it was the year I retired, was undiagnosed with PMR and was virtually housebound for weeks because of the weather which had created a treacherous layer of ice everywhere!  At least this time I'm more used to social isolation, and I can function physically! 

I lived in Winnipeg and Edmonton and it can get pretty cold in December.  Usually in January the high temp of the day is -20C and I have seen -50 during the night. Of course, none of that stopped me from going sking at Jasper or Banff ( but I was in my early 30's then) .

Oh no - winters from hell have to be being talked about over 50 years later! Like the winter of '62-'63 in Europe. It was fun for countries who weren't used to snow - NOT!!!

I think 2014-15 will be talked about for a while. We are currently comparing the beginning of this winter with that one, and not feeling very happy.  I had fondly hoped that would be a one off, not the first of a "new normal" but it looks like the latter will be true.  Our problem isn't desperately cold weather, it's the changeable weather.  So snow turns to rain turns to ice gets snowed on rains again and so on and it's really hard when the first real snowfall creates a layer of ice at the bottom of it all, which happened two years ago and looks like it's going to happen again, despite best efforts of snowclearing crews.  But, fingers crossed, we'll get to the pavement before the next rain which is due to be followed by a rapid freeze-up. Anyway, I'm putting on my "Icers" and heading out!

Sounds like the UK only a bit colder...

Hi NIck.  Not so bad when the air is dry.  Here the dampness can really get in your bones and you feel the cold much more.  Was in Ottawa for a winter (like one of our year's in Victoria they had a recordbreaking awful winter that year, we must attract these sorts of events) and at least once the temperature was close to -50, but we didn't feel it as badly as -18 here!  Now that I'm decades older and have lost my nice insulating layer of subcutaneous fat I have trouble keeping warm anywhere.   

I know what you mean. Now I live close to the pacific and here temps almost never go below freezing, but the wind from the ocean cuts thru everything and it feels cold.

That's why the climate in the UK is so unpleasant. 7 or 8C isn't uncommon in the daytime even in the depths of winter - but the wind makes it very unpleasant and the houses feel cold because of the draughts. Even in the middle of summer it can feel like winter anywhere else!

Here in northern Italy we will do days in the winter with the temperature below freezing but there is usually little wind and pleny of sunshine. As soon as the sun drops behind the mountain though the temperature plummets.