A week ago I was up at OHSU at the osteoporosis clinic. A year ago it was suggested that I go on treatment for osteoporosis because my left hip was osteoporotic (or .1 points away from it).
I did not go on treatments because that was around the same time that all of my gastrointestinal problems began. I have taken calcium and Vit d though.
My other hip and the other bones tested were fine. I truly feel that this was a result of radiation, because I have been a long distance runner for years, I have done all the right things...... well that does not always work. Irregardless, I do not wish to have a broken hip before I turn 60, so will do the treatment.
At the clinic he said I had a 5 percent risk of a pathologic fracture in the next 10 years. He also suggested that he would not suggest I receive the oral form of treatment with all the problems I have had. There is a new treatment that is given once a year intravenously, and that is likely what I will do. The really important thing with this treatment is to have your Vitamin d blood levels normal. I had a test of my vit d levels and it was low. Hard to believe since I have been taking supplements for a year. He said it was extremely common in Oregon, I guess because of the lack of sunshine. I do feel I "partook" in as much sunshine as I could last summer.
The other thing I learned from him, is that since I am on a medication that changes the PH of the stomach (ie makes it less acidic) regular calcium (calcium carbonate)
was not well absorbed.
He said though that for people who are on any meds that change the ph of the stomach, that they should be on calcium "citrate". It is much better absorbed in any ph. It can be found at any pharmacy.
So I am not on Vit D 2000 units to raise my levels prior to the infusion. Many people are fearful of the osteonecrosis of the jaw, which has occurred on these meds.
I have recently been listening to medical lectures on CDs and it was explained that this only occurred in people who had had a dental extraction.
So it is likely a good idea to have your teeth checked prior to starting treatment to make sure you are not going to need a tooth extracted.
We have sub freezing weather now here in Eugene and my "hoop house" or "high tunnel" is keep cozy and warm..... well 34 degrees or higher, with no other form of heat.
The day before the big freeze I went out and cut off all my pepper plants at the base of the stem, cut off all the leaves and I have all the peppers in vases, ripening on the plants.
Apparently they will ripen faster if they are kept above 60 degrees, and slower at 50-60.
Below that nothing will happen and above 60-70 they will dry out.
So I have one vase in the garage, one in the back bedroom and one in the greenhouse, all different temperatures, so that they will ripen at different times. Apparently it works best if they are still on the plant. I had no idea how many peppers I had, until I "harvested" them.
One thing I have learned this year about tomatoes and peppers. In the spring, planting the seedlings I had grown in the greenhouse, the tomatoes were much more hardy.
The weather really had to be warm before the pepper seedlings would survive. However it seems as though the fall is the entire opposite. The tomato plants really started to suffer a month ago, whereas the pepper plants almost seemed to get stronger with the cooler weather.
We are still eating out of the garden, I harvested all of my carrots a few days ago and we had carrot soup, there was a very small crop of carrots.
Today we are having pumpkin cake for dessert, I had taken all our pumpkins and roasted them and pureed the pulp and froze it, and make a cake with it yesterday. The last of our potatoes we will also have today, did not get lot of potatoes this year either.
We still have tons of tomatoes ripening in boxes etc, but not sure how long that is going to last, I will have to go back on this blog to see when we started eating tomatoes, but it would be nice to be able to say we ate fresh tomatoes from our garden for 6 months.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, despite all my grumbling, we do have much to be thankful for, and we will remember that today
love
Janet
jankenb @ gmail.com
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