If you’ve been diagnosed with osteopenia, it means that your bone density test indicates that you have a lower bone density than normal, BUT not low enough to qualify as osteoporosis. In osteopenia, bone density ranges between 1 and 2.5 standard deviations below the norm. Osteoporosis is diagnosed from anything more than 2.5 standard deviations below the norm.
What does this diagnosis mean for you? It’s a red flag–a warning that you need to make some decisions about your lifestyle in order to protect your body from further bone loss. You will have to decide whether or not to take a pharmaceutical drug, such as Fosamax, knowing the serious side effects that could occur. You will have to choose whether or not to change your current diet and exercise regime to build bone density. Or you might choose to do nothing different. In that case, it’s possible that you could develop osteoporosis, which could lead to debilitating fractures and severe back pain.
You can do something now to help your body rebuild bone density naturally. Check out the Foundations articles on this website for more information. Or feel free to write me by adding a comment below, and I’ll write you back. We’re in this together!
Kathy
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Tags: Fosamax, osteopenia, osteoporosis
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August 3rd, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Thanks! That answered all of my questions. So its more of a warning, nothing too bad yet, but something serious needs to be done, right?
August 5th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Absolutely! Choosing to ignore the warning and continue along the same course will likely lead to osteoporosis. Now is the time to adopt an alkaline diet and begin weight bearing exercise, such as walking or running.