And the Bone Density Drum Roll Please…

After my initial bone density scan in 1999 (long story – wasn’t planning on the scan but I was at a legislative health fair and got one for free), and finding out that I “had the bones of an 80 year old woman,” I freaked. At age 30 I could run ten miles and bench press my body weight, yet I had the bones of an 80 year old woman?!

After that original diagnosis (I now know was made with inaccurate equipment), I had a more thorough screening to find out I had osteopenia, not osteoporsis. Osteopenia (mild bone density loss, which is natural and expected) is a debatable diagnosis developed more than 15 years ago. Some, including ethical medical doctors, realize that the osteopenia diagnosis was developed by the pharmaceutical industry, which has built a sizeable and profitable drug menu to treat this “problem.”

Take this National Public Radio piece for instance – every woman should read and listen to it: How A Bone Disease Grew To Fit The Prescription : NPR. This is truly one of the most important links on my blog, and it is absolutely worth the 10 minutes to read it or 22 minutes to listen to the story.

And I won’t get started on all the problems with one of the treatment drugs: Fosamax. Just search “Fosamax problems” and see for yourself. Once you get past all the lawyer advertisements to recruit for bone fracture, heart and eye problems you start to get into the real dirt. I wouldn’t take that drug for anything!

Upon my original osteopenia diagnosis in 1999, my doc told me to up my calcium supplementation and plan to take Fosamax at some point. I was resigned to my fate until I started to get educated ten years later. Before I began my bone healing journey I had another scan in 2005 at the recommendation of my doc, with little change.

My education really began in 2006 when I moved to North Carolina and joined the Holistic Moms Network, which led me to an incredible healer at Oriental Health Solutions (all three healers are amazing), which led me to the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), where I learned about the butter oil/cod liver oil combination that just pounds nutrition into your body and bones.

By the time I the found WAPF, I was eating pretty nutrient dense food, but not actually seeing changes. Upon introducing Cod Liver Oil and Butter Oil, my healing really took off (see Visual Proof That Food Heals).

Unfortunately, I didn’t know that I had a chronically super low vitamin D level of 22, which affects bone development and density. I was taking fermented cod liver oil a vitamin D source daily, getting tons of sun exposure and not wearing sunscreen, and still I had a very low level (see Vitamin D Deficiency – Geez!) It turns out that Colson does too (see Vitamin K2/X-Factor – Why We are Recommitting to Butter Oil for an overview of Colson’s vitamin D journey and must read information on Butter Oil). Due to layoffs and financial challenges we were not always able to maintain our butter oil/cod liver oil regimen and at times the gap in butter oil was up to six months.

So what are the New Bone Density scan results?!?

Even with the absence of butter oil probably half the time over the last few years and low vitamin D levels…I have increased my bone density at age 45! Yes indeed. Better bones than when I was 40. I do still have the diagnosis of osteopenia, but so what. I know how to build bone density with food!

I wish that I could compare all of today’s results to 1999’s, but the measurements were a bit different then. I do know that I did have bone loss at one point in my body from 1999 to 2005.

My teeth have visually improved since the photo I posted on my blog 2.5 years ago.

No supplements – just nutrient dense food, cod liver oil and butter oil. The Fosamax people can stuff it and I am doing the happy dance. The bone density increase would have been greater if I would have had continual access to butter oil and actually tried to raise my super low vitamin D level, but I will happily take these results!

Here is how it works. My density was checked in three places: Lumbar Spine, Left Femoral Neck, and Left Total Proximal Femur. I increased my bone density at the Left Femoral Neck and maintained it in the other two places. My doc says that maintaining bone density at my age (45) is as good as building it, because women are normally losing bone density.

What to do with these results? I don’t know. I want to blast them all over the drug pushing American medical culture in hopes that medical professionals will start recommending a food cure. How many different ways can I find to convince people to eat real food and shed disease? How do I convince them to romp through life after 40 instead of expecting to fall into a painful and sickly decline? How do I get them to believe that life after 40 is supposed to be vibrant and fun?

I don’t know, but I will keep on trying, taking and sharing every victory I can.

P.S. If you want to see my favorite Happy Dancer, check out Where the Hell Is Matt 2008. It is worth all 4 minutes you will spend watching it.