osteoporoses

[ant]

Dear Friends,

Gabes, hope your flare is calming down..... there is so much up and down with MC !!!! the trend should hopefully be down in the long run, but there are set backs.

I have had six days of loose stools, but only 1 or 2 bms a day and NO D, so I am counting my blessings (and still down to 6 mg Entocort a day)

Doc just called to say that my Vit D (from a blood test) was still low (been taking 2000 IU a day since mid jan). Perhaps I should up it???

Good news is that the Xray on my rib was "inconclusive" i.e. not an obvious fracture (either a very slight fracture or pulled muscle) and (two weeks on) the pain has now considerably reduced.

Love, Ant

[tex]

on the x-ray and the pain reduction. You may need to up the vitamin D significantly. I take 4,000 IU daily, and I live in sunny Texas, at a relatively low latitude. You live at a much lower latitude, so the question is, "do you take advantage of the sun"? If not, it certainly wouldn't hurt to at least double your dose, I would guess.

on no D, too,
Tex

[ant]

Dear Tex,

How are you doing? I was staggered to read in another post about your family history and, in particular, your father. I hope you are getting better day-by-day and you still have lots of support. You are dealing with so many issues and still helping us all will full force on the PP board.

I will up my vit D to double or, for a while, even more.

Hong Kong is low latitude, but it is also muggy, polluted and, in the summer, full of monsoons and typhoons!. So people tend to stay inside air-conditioned taxis, homes, offices and malls. Best months are usually, March & April and Sept & October, when it is gorgeous if you can get to a beach (yes there are beaches in Hong Kong !) or onto a boat (junk trips are fun - junks are Chinese wooden boats which can cater for up to 20 people with sunbathing and swimming, if you are not scared of sharks! ). Otherwise, I will need to take a trip south to Thailand (two hours flight from here) where even during the rainy (monsoon) season there is consistent sun. But that would take time and money, which I am not sure i can afford at present

You will know when I am there, 'cos the flag will change

Must go to bed....

Love, Ant

[tex]

Ant,

As best I can tell, I'm doing great. I'm feeling good, the pain is down to a very minor annoyance, and my strength and energy are steadily improving. If I were doing any better, I probably couldn't stand it.

I forgot about the monsoons - that definitely makes a difference. Tripling the dose of vitamin D for a while, to get your 25(OH)D level up a bit, would probably be a good idea.

Thanks for asking.

Love,
Tex

[ant]

Hi all

Found this link on Osteoporosis interesting, even though it is focused on IBS (rather IBD).

http://www.healthcentral.com/osteoporos ... teoporosis

Best, Ant

[harma]

Ant, thanks for putting it up here. If I read the article, especially about IBS, the first thing that comes up in my mind, IBS is also a form of IBD, maybe an early stage. Or it is celiac disease, without intestinal damage (or a positive blood test), to me IBS, IBD and Celiac are not 3 separate totally different things, in one or the other way they are related, if they only knew how. The symptoms all are so alike.

And now even with IBS a high portion a the sufferers has osteo and I don't believe it is because of medication they take. It is more likely this is caused by a bad absorption of vit D or Calcium (and than the medical world keep on claiming IBS is harmless, unpleasant maybe but harmless)

[tex]

I agree with Harma. Obviously, at least 30 to 60% of IBS sufferers are gluten-sensitive, and/or have CD or an IBD, or soon will have. The rest probably just haven't had IBS symptoms long enough to have accrued measurable bone loss - that may happen soon enough. Or, possibly they simply haven't had IBS symptoms long enough to have caused sufficient enteritis to have triggered the genes responsible for gluten-sensitivity, CD, MC, or the other IBDs.

Doctors and medical researchers seem to have a real problem understanding the logistics of disease. They only comprehend the here and the now. All of the gray areas, (the transition zones), between the time a disease is triggered, and the time required before diagnosable markers can be detected by current testing technology, is usually totally off their radar. In their minds, either a patient has the disease, or not. An incompletely-developed disease cannot exist, to their way of thinking. The disease is either sufficiently developed to meet the "official" diagnostic criteria, or the patient does not have it. Unfortunately, that leaves the poor patient to fend for herself or himself, until the disease becomes full developed, which can take years, in many cases.

Thanks for the link. That's good information.

Tex