(Update: Without any drugs, I have improved my bone density by 6%. Read how at the end of this article)

Women dislike bad hair days, but its far more annoying when physicians deliver bad news. Appearances are only skin deep but health issues cut to the bone; in my case, literally.

Osteoporosis hits deep in the bones, causing the bones to thin or honeycomb and contrary to the popular beliefs it has telling signs. There is one part of the diagnosis that is ‘the most’ critical component; your personal reaction to the news, because it will determine your ‘appropriate’ response. In my case, I landed in immediate denial followed by blind acceptance of the proposal for treatment from my doctor without understanding what the chemicals would do to my natural well being. Being of Swedish decent was strike one. Having a mother with osteoporosis as a personal secret was strike two. Strike three happened right in plain site, but it wasn’t understood, so proper attention was not given to the incident. Ten years ago there was an intense pain in my breast bone; night and day. It felt like I was having a heart attack. It took nearly six months of visiting specialists to find the diagnosis, Costal Chrondritis. This was a big clue to the future. It’s a precursor to osteoporosis but even the medical experts didn’t know this. Then there was the attack of the killer kidney stone about a year later. Now that the calcium was getting removed from the bones at such a high rate, the kidneys could not handle the volume. Another tell. Then years later an accident; a broke bone and a DEXA scan revealed the truth, osteoporosis. Not all women respond to treatments in the same way. I was started on Evista to increase bone density. I was already a long distance runner so I had a full regime of impact exercises. The only thing that ‘fake’ hormones did was upset my body’s natural rhythms. Within two years of being on synthetics, I hyper extended my knee during a fall and broke the plateau. I was put on one of many bisphosphonates; a drug sold as Fosamax or alendronate. This was a nightmare. It might only be one pill a week, but it meant spending the next four days with chronic nausea and with just a slight sideways movement a major up chuck attack followed by severely inflamed joints. Even worse, reports have linked Fosamax to a serious bone disorder known as osteonecrosis of the jaw; the bone dies and disintegrates due to insufficient blood supply. IN 2010, the media has at last told the story of these bone density drugs causing 'worsening' of bone density in hip and jaw bones. Sadly, when you talk to your doctor about side effects that seem unusual or especially bothersome and the doctor tells you to ‘stay the course'. I recommend that you get a new doctor. While this may be the medical community’s solution to increase bone mass, it was not my idea of the way to live. So after months of spending four days a week suffering, I realized I had to make a course correction. I switched doctors and began on Actonel which eliminated four days of being out of commission because of stomach upset. It contains Risedronate which alters the cycle of bone formation and breakdown in the body. Then came more shocking news, I have a brain tumor of the pituitary gland. Another drug was added to the regimen, a daily injection of human growth hormone. The growth caused the pituitary to stop producing the nature hormone that regulates bone reproduction. The diagnosis for this call required and endrochronoligist to chemically induce my body into a diabetic state and determine how my pituitary gland responded to stop the failure. I didn’t last a year on the human growth hormone because my body let me know it was not safe. Human growth hormone can cause diabetes and pancreatic problems; something the doctor did not tell me. But for the first time since diagnosis, my bone density increased, so even though my bone density improved for the first time, my body began to handle the food I ate as an attack. Within days of stopping the injections, my body recovered from side effects leaving me to wonder if Actonel would be a solution for the bone problem. Two years later the bone broke in exactly the same place with just a slight sideways movement while carrying thirty pounds. Of course, by this time, there were two more treatments on the market. One was an injection that was found to cause tumors of the bone after long term use and the other a once a month pill that was found to cause auto immune attacks that required steroids to treat. Well since osteoporosis is already an auto immune disease, I didn’t want more and more tumors and I didn't want to start taking 'roids' so both just sounded like a bad idea. Of course, in Europe you can take an intravenous drug Zometa or zoledronic acid that results in 70% bone mass increase in the first year without any side effects. What is not known is whether zoledronic acid reduces the risk of fractures or if long term use causes side effects. One of those side effects appears to be broken hip bones. Whether bisphosphonates are taken orally or given intravenously, there are side effects. • difficulty breathing; closing of the throat; swelling of the lips, tongue, or face; or hives • difficulty or pain when swallowing • pain or burning under the ribs or in the back • new or worsening heartburn • stomach upset, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea • headache • muscle or joint soreness or aches • broken hip bones After spending years in a state of denial about my bone deterioration followed by acceptance of a treatment schedule in many forms that were not yielding improved results, I decided to hit back. I began with my own research; the trigger, my bone density had deteriorated another 3% after a 6 year treatment cycle of ‘chemical’ solutions. And, by this point, I was also taking Arthrotec for pain in the spine from the continued bone loss and spine compression. Bone is composed of an organic component made from natural collagen and a mineral component of calcium and phosphate salts. So, it was highly likely I was either not manufacturing one or all of the three because of a pituitary growth or my body’s aging processes. The result, inside my bones something was derailed. That’s when I learned about two cell types inside the bone marrow, osteoclasts and osteoblats. The osteoclasts remove dead bone and the osteoblats produce new bone tissue. My condition was caused because there was an inhibitory effect on my osteoblats combined with stimulation of osteoclasts. The signs for this were there for over a decade. At the beginning of this mess, if the literature mentioned that one symptom of bone density change begins with the ‘color’ of elimination, I would have understood. No one gave me this key, look for a whitish color, it’s a symptom that more white bone mass is leaving the body because the 'clasts' are increasing and removing too much bone matter and the 'blats' are decreased formation of bone. The final straw was taking drugs to control the bone cell process was very damaging and caused acid reflux or a backflow of stomach acid into the esophagus, also known as GERD. I was put on Prilosec and as the latest news announced, it causes bone deterioration in the hip bones. One drug causes another problem and the treatment for the new problem wipes out the benefits of the first drug. After careful research I came back and asked the question: Was this a hormone problem? Yes. But going back on injectable human growth hormones as the remedy had too many side effects. Putting chemicals into my body a a treatment course was not yielding improvement. In other words the ‘chemical tricking’ of cells into thinking I was doing impact exercises to stimulate the increase of osteoblats and the decrease of osteoclasts was not fooling my natural body. Armed with accurate information, I could now plan what was best for my own health. In my case, I began taking a new form of organic calcium called Aspartate Anhydrous which is made from plants and vegetables and has a 90% absorption rate. There are many products in the market place like Jarrow or EZorb. The next step was to add a low impact exercise program that includes jumping on a small trampoline while inside protective net cage to prevent falling and more fractures. Last, but certainly not least, I began using an electromagnetic generator. It sets up frequency fields of proper intensity as pure energy for the cell to better accomplish their function and repair when damaged. In the first week of using the EMG, I didn’t take one pain pill and I haven’t had once since I began using the energy device. I’m excited that I have taken charge of my treatment options and that my physician is working with me as we watch my bone density through a monitoring schedule. I'm no longer hypnotized by the drug companies program for my auto immune condition of osteoporosis.