I just finished reading Ann Richards' book on osteoporosis - I'm Not Slowing Down: Winning my battle with Osteoporosis. It was very interesting, plus she had some professional input into the book from her doctors and her trainer. Although I am ~40, I am interested in knowing more about the disease as my grandmother had severe osteoporosis. I know how much it limited her later years and I don't want to be in the same boat years from now. (I actually had a bone scan done several years ago - was in a bad car accident and the radiologist who read my spinal x-rays said that one of my vertebreas was completely disintegrated due to osteoporosis - went for bone scan and found out that my bones were great - but my spine was a twisted mess from the accident - think the radiologist was stoned or asleep when he read my x-rays!) Anyway - one thing I have always read and heard about the disease is that too many women (and men!) find out that they have it AFTER they have a fracture or broken bone. At that point, it may be too late to do much for the bones and rehab for the patient may be too hard - especially in the case of a broken hip. A large number of older people die from broken hip bones (not really a bone, actually, but the top part of the leg bone) and the complications from such a bad break. Many doctors, sadly, do not do much in the way of preventative medicine. It is good to have a doctor that is taking strong measures now to help with your long-term health. In addition to diet (eat calcium-rich foods, no soda, limit caffeine), weight bearing exercise is very important for building up bone strength - that includes walking, water aerobics and weight lifting. My grandmother got a kick out of taking up weight lifting at age 75! Not only does light exercise help build up your bones, it also helps with your balance which is very, very important with osteoporosis. Best wishes ~ Suzie

I've seen both good and bad reports on drinking coffee. After my kidney transplant, my doctors put me on a "regular" diet. That is, eat what I want, whatever appeals to me. I was told not to go overbord on calories and fat, and drink between 2 to 3 quarts a day of liquid. I keep a pitcher of filtered water spiked with lemon juice in my fridge. Docs told me water, diet soda and coffee are good for me. I do have osteopenia (low bone density) and also have some arthritis in my knees and heelspurs (the foot pain comes and goes). The chemicals (elements) your bones and body require are phosphorous, calcium and magnesium. An occasional physical check up is needed to make sure everything's in balance. As a kidney patient, I get my blood tested every 2 weeks.

I always kind of wonder why some people see improvement with this medication and some don't. I think I did walk more last year than I ever have as an amputee. Just better prosthetics in recent years and since. that happened I've gotten to the point that I can just walk a lot farther. I also played tennis quite a bit this past year which I really hadn't done much since becoming an amputee. So I wonder if this activity makes a difference. I also drink a lot of milk and really try to get most of my calcium from milk rather than supplements. Not sure if that matters but I don't believe any supplement is as good as the real thing - just my opinion.

The dirt on a diagnosis of osteopenia. "This is the story of how pills for osteopenia ended up in Benghauser's medicine cabinet, and in the medicine cabinets of millions of women like her all over the United States. But more broadly, it's the story of how the definition of what constitutes a disease evolves, and the role that drug companies can play in that evolution. Osteopenia is a condition that only recently started to be thought of as a problem that required treatment. Until the early 1990s, only a handful of people had even heard the word. And to understand how osteopenia was transformed from a rarely heard word into a problem that millions of women swallow pills to treat, you need to go back to the beginning, to a place very far away from Benghauser's suburban Virginia home." "Nevertheless, 17 years later Banghauser, of Richmond, Va., a woman whose bone density is just a hair away from that of the average healthy 30-year old, is not only medicated for osteopenia but literally spends her days worried about breaking a bone. "I used to run marathons, and I would fall and trip on broken sidewalks," she told me. "And you know initially before I had this diagnosis I didn't think anything of it. But now every time I fall I get up and think, 'Oh, good, I haven't broken anything.' " "I'm much more aware of making sure I lift my feet up and I don't trip on the sidewalks, but you know, if I didn't know that I had osteopenia, maybe I wouldn't be so cautious." So how did osteopenia change from a category for public health researchers into a condition that millions of women swallow pills to treat?" NPR As for Vitamin D, no one should be taking more than 1000 IUs daily unless advised to take more by their Doctor.