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Active Patients Boost Bone Density

Posted on: Friday, 1 April 2005, 03:00 CST

Osteoporosis affects the everyday lives of millions of Americans, sometimes long before they reach the age when bone thinning typically appears. To fight it, many people are making daily changes in their diets and exercise routines, and taking medication to try to restore their bone density. Here are two of those stories:

Jack Bryan

When he was in his 40s, Jack Bryan had to choose between being able to breathe and having strong bones.

Of course, he picked breathing, which meant he was forced to take steroid medication for a chronic lung condition. One well-known side effect of using such drugs is brittle bones that are prone to fractures.

"I was on the steroid for six or seven years before it became a major problem," he recalls. "Then I had about a dozen rib fractures in the 1970s, a broken forearm and a fractured collarbone. Somehow, I managed to live a relatively normal life."

By the time other drugs were developed to ease his breathing, Mr. Bryan had joined the relatively small group of men with osteoporosis. Males make up about 20 percent of those who suffer severe bone thinning. However, the condition usually strikes men after age 70, and as a result of aging.

About half the men who develop osteoporosis, however, have a secondary cause such as the use of certain medications that bring about low bone density. The meds include corticosteroids, anticonvulsants, excessive thyroid medication and certain diuretics, blood thinners and hormone inhibitors.

By the late 1980s, Mr. Bryan sought the help of osteoporosis specialists at UT Southwestern to try to stop the fractures and even rebuild his bone mass. He takes daily doses of calcium with a slow- release fluoride drug that helps him assimilate it. For exercise, the 77-year-old walks a mile or two most days and bikes.

It did not bother him that he was one of the few men involved in clinical trials, says the retired engineer, who still works part- time as a patent agent. He and his wife moved recently from Murphy, Texas, to Inglewood, Fla.

His drug regimen stopped the fractures but did not reverse his lost height.

"I've lost about 3 1/2 inches in height," he says.

Bonnie Slover

To look at Bonnie Slover, it isn't obvious that she suffers from osteoporosis. She is slightly stooped now that she is 85, and she has lost a few inches in height, a fact that is apparent only to those who know her well.

"I was 5-foot-3 at my tallest," says the Euless, Texas, homemaker. "And I'm a little over 5 foot now."

When her bone-thinning condition was diagnosed 12 years ago, Ms. Slover decided that it was not going to slow her down. That attitude might be the reason she's doing so well today.

Three times a week, Ms. Slover takes part in vigorous exercise classes at the YMCA that help strengthen her bones. Often, she and the other elderly participants are seated on the edge of their chairs while they pump their arms in the air, rotate their limbs and march in place.

"I can do up to 15 minutes on the treadmill, too," she says. "I used to walk in my neighborhood, but I was worried about falling and that no one would notice me."

Although half the women over age 80 in the United States suffer from osteoporosis, Ms. Slover hadn't suffered the obvious signs of the condition, which often starts with a fracture of some kind.

In fact, it was just a nagging backache that sent Ms. Slover to the doctor in the early 1990s. A bone density test revealed she had a classic sign of osteoporosis: Her vertebrae were becoming compressed.

Her doctor prescribed daily doses of Citracal, a form of calcium, and she eats calcium-rich foods that seem to have stemmed her bone loss. Recent tests indicate that her bones have become denser, she says.

"I take my calcium, my iron and do my exercises, just like the doctor ordered," Ms. Slover says.

Source: Augusta Chronicle, The

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