Things They Don’t Teach You

As you know 6 months ago, my Mother-in-Law was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis; with a L2-L4 T-score of -4.2, and a Z-score of -1.2. What does this mean? The World Health Organization scores as follows:

• T-score between -1 & 1 is normal (or healthy);
• T-score between -1 & -2.5 means some bone loss (osteopenia);
• T-score of -2.5 or lower indicates osteoporosis. The greater the negative number the more severe.

The Z-score compares your bone density to a typical person in your age group. A Z-score less than -1.5 may indicate osteoporosis from reasons other than age or menopause.

My Mother-in-Law’s doctor immediately wanted to prescribe Fosamax. In my opinion, bisphosphonates are a ridiculously clumsy answer to a simple problem. Bisphosphonates interfere with osteoclast function, thereby reducing bone turnover and increasing bone mass. But the resulting bone is poorly designed. Just because you increase mass doesn’t mean its good mass; compare a 250 pound NFL wide receiver to a 250 pound couch potato (healthy muscle versus deadly fat). The bone created by bisphosphonates is brittle. Additionally, you have to deal with side effects of osteonecrosis (recently reported at 4%), esophagitis, gastritis, and glaucoma.

Bisphophonates are actually worse than statins, in my opinion.  As to statins, read up on niacin.

Farrugia MC et al 2006 reported that healthy women (did not have metastatic bone disease) have jaw bone death when treated with bisphosphonates within the previous 12 months. Additionally, CHEST 2008 (Oct issue) reports patients taking bisphosphonates develop serious atrial fibrillation.

The bottomline is that my Mother-in-Law is like my wife; a priceless person. No way did I feel it was appropriate for her to take Fosamax.

I suggested she do a series of supplements that all have verifiable studies for bone mineralization with zero side effects.

These supplements included boron 3mg/day (Dept of Agriculture states increases bone by 44%), strontium (builds a better bone matrix and greater affinity than calcium), K2 (MK4 & MK7 removes the “electroplating” of calcium from the vasculature and puts it back in bones), and large doses of D3. Included was large doses of fish oil to decrease inflammation.

So for 6 months, she has been following this regimen. Her doctor had bought into this and said that we could get another bone scan in 6 months. However, when it came time to get the scan, the doctor surprised us by saying Medicare would not pay for it and again prescribed Fosamax.

I told the doctor that I would pay for the scan myself in cash. I called his office for a week on a daily basis asking for him to schedule the scan. The week passed; nothing. 2^nd week passed; nothing. So, when my Mother-in-Law came down for Christmas, I scheduled and completed a bone density scan within 24 hours in Conroe — and I paid for it myself. Frustrating is the most polite word I can think of!

My compliments to Sadler Clinic (where the scan was done)  for doing a fantastic job very quickly!

Now, the results of the two scans.

6 months ago, SEVERE OSTEOPOROSIS: L2-L4 T-score of -4.2 and Z-score -1.2.

The Christmas scan, NO OSTEOPOROSIS: L2-L4 T-score -0.4 and a Z-score of 1.1.

What are we to make of this? One of two things happened: an indefinable miracle, or the supplements worked. I believe it to be the latter.

You all know my feelings as to how we as humans deplete and pollute the food supply, contaminate ourselves daily with lead, fiberglass, asbestos, and jetfuel in the air, ruin our drinking water with aluminum, fluoride, and chlorine, and degrade our DNA with pseudo-science drugs that have been tested on a thousand people for a year and proclaimed to be the panacea for every ailment.

Medicine has its place, and serves a unique purpose. But our DNA evolved in a certain environment and with a food supply rich in vitamins, minerals, & polyphenols.  But our environment is heavy-metal-Hell.  And our food is a poor, deprived impostor of what our ancestors ate.  Many of our doctors are locked into rigid rules that forbid creative thinking; as well as depending far too much on the pharmaceutical industry for their treatments.

And our leaders who manage all this are too busy pandering & buying votes to see the big picture of how the most fantastic blueprint for perfection ever created, our DNA, is being forever mangled and deformed.

We must demand better from our leaders, and allow us as individuals to control, our environment, our food supply, our drinking water, our air, our medicine.

What is the solution to the base problem that almost put my Mother-in-Law on a side-effect riddled and un-needed drug? Four things:

• Term limits for a selfish overreaching congress;
• Tort reform for outrageous medical lawsuits;
• More creative doctors who are puzzle-solvers, not blindly following the medical lemmings of the day;
• More libertarian restrictions on an obese government collapsing under its own fat (and its out-of-control agencies,e.g., the FDA.)

As always, I am not a doctor.  I do not propose that anyone do what we just did.  I ask only that you look at the facts:    from severe osteoporosis to normal in 6 months, using only supplements and no pharmaceuticals.   Use your doctor as an informed counselor to enhance decisions that you yourself make.  And by all means, do not blindly let others decide your medical care, or coerce you into medical decisions you do not understand.

The greatest resource you can find, is a doctor who is a true puzzle solver.  Look for them.  They’re out there.  Don’t hesitate to fire your doctor and look for another, until you find that puzzle solver who is intrigued by figuring out ways to help you.

Hope this study helps someone.