Mystery Solved

Well, the verdict is in.  And, yes, I am Osteopenic.  For those of you non-medi people out there, that means low bone density.  Doesn't mean I'm unhealthy, of course.  Because everyone is at risk of medical problems.  I just didn't realize I was particularly at risk for this one.  I feel a little silly, of course, being a doc and all.  But, then again, I'm not a Sports Med doc either.  A lesson learned.  And maybe I can ed-u-ma-cate others through all of this.

I've always prided myself on being in good physical fitness.  In most recent years, if I must say so myself, I've been in pretty tip-top shape.  Between marathons or hours of riding, I am an excerise fanatic.  No flabby here.  (Although, for all of you females out there, I still suffer from the same flashes of feeling "fat".)  Even with no exercise for 2 months, I haven't really gained much weight, although I have lost muscle mass, whatever that is worth.  But Matt is haggling me to get on the rehab road, so this week, I've gotten the bug back.

So, what makes me at risk?  Well, for one, Cycling.  As I've blogged before, 63% of cyclists are osteopenic.  That includes men and women.  At least part of this is from the lack of weight bearing exercise.  Obviously my 1 (or occasionally 2 to 3) days of running every week didn't cut it. (Oh for the days of 30-50 mile running weeks.)  The other is what is called the "Female Athlete Triad".  Including, low estrogen, low bone density, and energy low diet.  Women who exercise a lot, tend to turn normal body cycles off which leads to low estrogen.  That can have it's benefits, but... (you'll probably understand this if you are a woman).  They also tend to  be very food conscious - low fat diet all the way, baby!  Both of these (estrogen and diet) factor into low body fat.  Did you know that for a female althete, body fat content is considered to be less than 17%?  Well, the last time I was checked, I was in the 13% range.  Flabby, nope.  But so unfair, since some male athletes get to 2-3%, and they don't have such troubles.   And of course, the 2 former tendencies, can lead to lower bone-forming abilities.  Further, most "younger" women, don't think of taking calcium supplementation PLUS Vitamin D; that's for old women, right?

Well, this is my plug for all of you female athletes out there.  (And men too: it can't hurt.)  Take your Calcium: at least 500 mg/day, and 1000 mg is even better.  And definitely take your Vitamin D: 800-1000 mg/day for good measure (even if you do get sun exposure).

So, mystery solved: low bone density increases your risk of fracture.  So if you crash, you break, and in my case, you break into many pieces.  Lessoned learned and healing is in process.

To Tan or Not To Tan

Actually, in my case, that should maybe read: "To Burn."  But whatever.  Well past my childhood, I was determined to lay out enough to get tan.  It took me years to figure out that this was not to be.  I have 2 colors: transparent white and lobster red.  I well remember one of my first burns when I was maybe 8 or 9 (it may not be one of the first, but definitely one of the worst).  We went to Florida as a family, and I got FRIED.  I remember sitting in a bathtub of oatmeal, trying to feel better.  There was also the aloe treatments and apple cidar vinegar -- Yes, that's right, vinegar.  Even into Med School, Carolyn and I would spend hours by the pool studying for our classes -- especially 2nd year.  In fact, I probably spent more time doing that, than actually in class (i.e. I skipped a lot of class my 2nd year).  All of that to produce, a very red "tan" and possibly later: skin cancer.

Well, in more recent years, I have been fastidious about using sunscreen.  This year, it was pretty much all 30 and above.  But alas, this may all be part of my problem.  Over less than 3 years, I broke: ribs, a toe, ribs again, collarbone (shattered = surgery and hardware), and then my femur (shattered = more surgery and more hardware).  Is there a problem, doctor?  Turns out my Vitamin D is low.  This is the preliminary report.  Vitamin D helps with bone growth and strength.  My x-ray 2 weeks ago showed only minimal bone growth and a still unstable fracture, after 6 weeks!  Next week, I have a bone density test, so this will be the tell all test.  Now, I really feel old.  Not only did I break my femur in a place in which traditionally is found when old people break their "hip", but now I get to have a test that traditionally is reserved for older ladies above 60 years of age!  So what does this have to do with sunscreen?  Well, it blocks your body's natural ability to make Vitamin D.

What's more, after about mid-2005, most of my exercise has been non-weightbearing.  I pretty much stopped running (or ran minimally) and started cycling.  One study has shown that 63% of cyclists (yes, those younger than 60 y/o) have osteopenia (low bone density).  So if you cycle and fall and have low bone density, beware!  Other things that can contribute: alcohol and caffeine consumption.  Darn!  I love my coffee and wine.

So, all you cyclists out there, take your Calcium and Vitamin D!  If I've learned anything through all of this, it is to do just that.  And do some weightbearing exercise too, while you are at it.

Insomnia?

Wouldn't you think that "insomnia" means that you are sleeping?  "Somnia" equals sleep in Latin.  So shouldn't it be "in"-"sleep"?  But apparently in Latin, "in" means "not".  How does that make sense? But the Latin meaning is pretty much what I've been experiencing lately.  "Not sleep."  At the beginning of all of this broken leg stuff, I had these little things:

A little of this every 6 hours, a little of that every alternating 6 hours.  Some of that other thing every 8 hours.  Not to mention all those vitamins and minerals.  Phew!  I had a virtual pharmacy in my bedroom.  No wonder I was sleeping well!  Maybe I slept too much those first weeks... now that I don't have those little wonder pills, I have to do it all on my on.  My body is paying me back for all of the abuse and is making up for it.  So if you ever want to know what 3 a.m. is like, I got the down-low on that one.

On the verge...

You'd think these days that I'd be blogging like crazy.  Instead I'm experiencing another form of crazy.  Blogging requires something to blog about.  For me, I get these ideas from things I see, do, or hear about as I go through my day.  These days, though, this is my usual view:

And this is my usual mode of transportation:

And this is where I hang out all day, every day, those endlessssss hours:

It doesn't give me much to blog about; that is, unless, you want to hear about the latest news from "Good Morning America" (which, by the way, there's not a whole lot of news after 8:30 am, the time when I usually start watching), or the mundane humor from "Live! With Regis and Kelly", or the latest, supposedly, controversial gossip from "The View."  I'm hoping to get a phone call from Regis one of these days, and maybe I can win a trip to a resort in the Caribbean by answering a question about yesterday's show, since I'm up to date and all.  Can I get across the sand with a walker?  There's only so much you can surf the web, only so long you can read books, and only so many movies one can watch before the craziness sets in.  So if I end up in the mad house, you'll know why...