flamingredhair

My bone density scan results showed that I have Osteoporosis. I'm almost 53 and have not gone through menopause yet though my monthly cycles stopped several years ago due to a medical procedure I needed at the time.

My years of heavy drinking surely did not help, as alcohol can weaken the bones. I now have more incentive than ever to stay away from alcohol.

I'm going back for more bloodwork next week and hopefully after that a treatment plan will be put into place. I just wanted to share because I sure didn't know that Osteoporosis could come from the result of drinking. Liver disease, yes. I knew that. But brittle bones? I had no clue.

sugarbear1

Hugs

Dee74

(((frh)))

d

GirlFromCO

Wow, thanks for sharing. I had no idea that alcohol caused that either. I'm glad you found out now so you can get the proper treatment for it.

Peter G

I have osteoporosis. I was diagnosed at 37, but I likely had it a few years before. It came as result of alcoholism and steroid use. Since I didn't abuse steroids, only intermittent use as an athlete in my 20's, the doctors attributed my condition more to my long term alcohol abuse. Nothing else could explain such a condition present in me at my age, and believe me, they exhausted every test known to man trying to find cancer, e.t.c... because I didn't admit my drinking to the specialists right away. Was among the most terrifying experiences I've ever gone through in life. So, yeah, it happens. Booze sucks the substance from your very bones.

BTW I'm also a guy - just putting that out there because osteoporosis and osteopenia are both somewhat considered an aging post-menopausal disease.

I only found out I had it when my left shoulder completely shattered about a month after an epic bar brawl, wherein I was wrestling with some bouncer who wouldn't let me kill some other bloke I was having drunken issues with. Bloody f*****g booze. Since that time I've also lost 3 or so inches in height from compression fractures in my spine. I am supposed to have corrective kyphoplasty done next year if all goes well.

As for osteo treatments, most likely you'll be put on Fosomax (bisphosphonates), which are expensive but they arrest further bone loss. There's an injection as well, Forteo (teriparatide), which is the only thing I'm aware of that has been shown to build bone density back. Worth some research in your case. Forteo is not approved where I live so I just do the Fosomax for now and hope that by working out and eating right (and not drinking) I can stop from crumbling like some sort of porcelain figurine. Eventually I'll get back home to Canada and get the Forteo shots for sure.

One thing... if you smoke, stop. Seriously. Stop now. And if there's anything in this world that can further hurt you now, it's more drinking.

Alcoholism is a horrid, sickening, dangerous and destructive malady on so many levels. This OP should serve as warning to anyone.

flamingredhair

Thanks for sharing your story, Peter.

CaiHong

Thanks FlamingRedHair and Peter

For the warning. I was never fully aware of the physical damage alcohol can do to your body until I joined this site. Thought because I ate reasonably healthy food I was OK until I was told my body was probably not absorbing the nutrients.

All the best to you both
CaiHong

eJoshua

I'm sorry that you are dealing with this disease. I hope that your bloodwork will lead them to find an effective course of treatment.

Peter G

FRH I kinda felt it necessary to qualify further why it's extremely important to deal with your drinking after this diagnosis. I didn't for a few years after my diagnosis and as a result I've broken ribs, cracked vertebrate, all kinds of stuff, just from tooling around like a drunk idiot. Of course I felt sorry for myself and drank because of my osteo issues. After all, any old excuse will do for a drunk .

Slipped once walking and fell - while I was half in the bag of course - and broke my ankle in 3 places. Misjudged a bar stool - also loaded drunk - and cracked my tailbone. My back compression fractures also came after the initial diagnosis, from tooling around life as a drunk.

Worse than the pain, for me, was the cost. I've easily spent over 160,000.00 in surgeries living in Singapore with no insurance. My initial shoulder deal wiped out my savings and things just kept getting worse - all thanks to booze.

So if I can impress anything on you it's this: get to AA (or utilize any other program) if you're not currently, and getting sober for good. I say that being unfamiliar with your story, so if you have some long term sobriety I apologize for the assumption. Otherwise, please heed my words. With osteo, words like paralysis and quadriplegic are potentially only as far away as that next drunken wipe out.