I feel very lucky to have known my great-grandparents, born in 1880 in Hungary. They moved to the U.S. in their late teens. They lived to their mid-90s, living on their own in their own apartment, taking care of themselves. To my knowledge, they never saw a doctor in their lives. They were definitely never in a hospital. Medicare wasn't available until their mid-80s and I doubt they ever signed up for it.
My great-grandma woke up one morning to find my great-grandpa had died overnight. She called my grandmother. My grandmother headed over there immediately (about a 10-minute trip). By the time she got there, my great-grandma had passed away too. She loved grandpa so much.
They ate a traditional Hungarian diet. Every time we went over there, my great-grandma cooked up some chicken paprikash for us or some other kind of soup or stew made with a cheap cut of beef and some carrots, onions and potatoes. Sometimes she made egg noodles from scratch. My great-grandpa had worked as a tailor his whole life, so they were poor and had to be thrifty. My great-grandpa's only indulgence was books. Thick ones. The entire apartment was filled with bookshelves. He would never lend out any of his books. My Dad wanted to borrow grandpa's Lincoln biography. Grandpa said no.
I'd say try to eat what your great-grandma from the old country would have prepared for you and stay away from the medical-industrial complex at all costs.
Back in the day when I went to an ob-gyn he suggested I have a bone density scan. I was late forties/early fifties. Diagnosis: osteopenia. I had just taken a pretty hard spill off my Warmblood jumper and not broken anything so I questioned the doctor about his proposed treatment plan - yearly infusions of pharmaceutical 💩 or a medication (which my mother had recently taken and had a horrible reaction to). I declined and said I’d like to go home and research this a bit more before making a decision. I called back to let the doctor know that I would not be taking any medications for my ‘disease’ only to be told by the nurse that the doctor would not be seeing me any longer as I was ‘non-compliant’. That is actually the last time I saw a doctor. Over 20 years ago and boy talk about a blessing in disguise! Thanks so much for this excellent ‘stack.
GOVERNMENT SETS THE GUIDELINES. Is that enough to know? From what is obese, cholesterol, and OA and OP rates. The drugs from these 2 alone will Ruin your GI TRACT, AND KILL. What they don't do is fix the two Arithitis'. Supplements can and do reverse OP. Ask yourself which ones are for a baby's bone growth, and multiply them out to your body, there is no written amount. It won't work overnight, but it will work. Your Endo will advise Calcium 1,000 mg and D 500 UI but leaves Out the Magnesium Citrate/Glutamate, and STRONTIUM Citrate. The form of Calcium should be Citrate and a higher dosage of MGs, D3 1,000 UI, and Avoid Magnesium Oxide it is not well absorbed and will give you diarrhea. Magnesium Citrate/Glutamate and STRONTIUM Citrate are half the dose of the Calcium and are taken at night. Then there are the Trace vitamins and minerals like Folate and Biotin. Do some research. And yes they have gotten expensive, but they won't kill you. Yes, you will take quite a few. Your body your choice. Even men get OP and OA. I emphasize the STRONTIUM as it is very necessary in getting the rest to work.
Very insightful - thank you. In the aging department, would be fascinated if you ever had time to delve into therapies for age-related male & female hair loss (e.g., oral minoxidil, finesteride, dutasteride, topicals, red light therapy, PRP, vitamins). Talk about a big market! Thank you for all your thoughtful research!
The question used to be, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound ?" That has evolved into, "If a tree falls in the forest and everyone agrees to ignore it, does it matter if it makes a sound?"
Here’s some warnings about another drug being given. Twice a year and very expensive. It’s some kind of “antibody” treatment that made me suspicious from the start. Don’t take it. PROLIA. Awful side effects may take time to appear or immediately. My friend is on it. 73 and a jogger with excellent health but will not go up stairs if no handrail or even barely walks on grass, she has been so frightened by her doctor. Her mother supposedly had osteoporosis but never had a fracture and died right before her 101 st birthday. My friend takes very few risks so consequently she’s almost a shut in but for the jogging--which is puzzling. I jogged too for years and, yes, tripped or wrenched an ankle a couple of times. I was in an accident in 2022 and fractured the ball of my femur and in 2919 stepped in a hole fast walking and trying to get balanced became airborne and landed hard on my wrist with my body. Duh. I got a fracture. But I work at strength the ways mentioned. Beware PROLIA.
Keith McCormick has a very useful book about bone health; he had osteoporosis in his 30s, diagnosed after he had broken a few bones with no unusual stressor (that is, they shouldn't have broken). There's a good discussion on a podcast between him and Kara Fitzgerald.
John Neustadt also has a book, though I think it's much shorter. He used to have a naturopathic practice in western Montana but has since moved on.
Thank you for posting this! My doctor said I have "thinning bones" after a bone density test and wants to put me on that medication, but I dodged and said I would take calcium supplements for now, see what happens as I've never broken any bones. I upped my calcium as recommended, and then learned about the importance of Vitamin D3 to absorb the calcium (which the doctor did NOT mention), so upped that as well. The next time I go for my checkup and she offers that medication again, I will say "no thank you", simply monitor if my bones are getting any thinner from the scan and search for natural alternatives.
As you say, Problem, Reaction, Solution and circular reasoning will keep the money flowing.
That folk can be bamboozled into thinking bones are all about calcium is staggering. When people talk to me about bones and calcium I ask them to think of a stick of chalk and how easy it is to break. I know it's not a fair comparison as blackboard chalk is re-formed chalk dust ultimately gained from linestone, but in its elemental state calcium is a soft alkaline earth metal which I suspect most folk have no inkling about so it's fair game in my view to make the basic concept in relation to our bones. Pretty much everyone can relate to the teacher breaking chalk on the board and they know chalks are calcium...
Anyway - the calicum is for sure a vital part of the bone matrix but as you point out there is SO much more in bones, for their generation and sustainability, than the simple level of one mineral. Collagen springs to mind and its importance seems to be not mentioned in general discussions around bones. Collagen is not just for joints and connective tissues. In bones collagen provides more than 90% of the organic matrix, the framework on which the mineral is deposited to add rigidity to this elastic material. That's why bone broth is a good dietary source of collagen, it's a protein and it cooks out into the water. It's not the minerals in the bones going into the liquor, it's the vital collagen. And no - you can't get it from plants. They miss a vital amino acid needed to form collagen. It's animal protein.
I also think that the global 'encouragement' aka propaganda/psyop paradigm to consume more plant and less or ideally no animal forms part of the problem reaction solution . Get a population into less than optimal health by eating a poor diet and sell product to correct rather than educating for appropriate nutrition - there is no money in not selling drugs and supplements is there. No gravy train of lifelong drug dependence in healthy folk.
Bones in our bodies are living, dynamic structures, not the empty dead shell we see when all else has been destroyed on death.
Thank you for opening this discussion and let's hope that awareness spreads.
Thank you for this excellent article on Osteoporosis! You have given those of us who have been diagnosed with it and said No to the drugs the great gift of more knowledge than the Medical Industrial Complex will ever tell us.
I feel very lucky to have known my great-grandparents, born in 1880 in Hungary. They moved to the U.S. in their late teens. They lived to their mid-90s, living on their own in their own apartment, taking care of themselves. To my knowledge, they never saw a doctor in their lives. They were definitely never in a hospital. Medicare wasn't available until their mid-80s and I doubt they ever signed up for it.
My great-grandma woke up one morning to find my great-grandpa had died overnight. She called my grandmother. My grandmother headed over there immediately (about a 10-minute trip). By the time she got there, my great-grandma had passed away too. She loved grandpa so much.
They ate a traditional Hungarian diet. Every time we went over there, my great-grandma cooked up some chicken paprikash for us or some other kind of soup or stew made with a cheap cut of beef and some carrots, onions and potatoes. Sometimes she made egg noodles from scratch. My great-grandpa had worked as a tailor his whole life, so they were poor and had to be thrifty. My great-grandpa's only indulgence was books. Thick ones. The entire apartment was filled with bookshelves. He would never lend out any of his books. My Dad wanted to borrow grandpa's Lincoln biography. Grandpa said no.
I'd say try to eat what your great-grandma from the old country would have prepared for you and stay away from the medical-industrial complex at all costs.
Back in the day when I went to an ob-gyn he suggested I have a bone density scan. I was late forties/early fifties. Diagnosis: osteopenia. I had just taken a pretty hard spill off my Warmblood jumper and not broken anything so I questioned the doctor about his proposed treatment plan - yearly infusions of pharmaceutical 💩 or a medication (which my mother had recently taken and had a horrible reaction to). I declined and said I’d like to go home and research this a bit more before making a decision. I called back to let the doctor know that I would not be taking any medications for my ‘disease’ only to be told by the nurse that the doctor would not be seeing me any longer as I was ‘non-compliant’. That is actually the last time I saw a doctor. Over 20 years ago and boy talk about a blessing in disguise! Thanks so much for this excellent ‘stack.
GOVERNMENT SETS THE GUIDELINES. Is that enough to know? From what is obese, cholesterol, and OA and OP rates. The drugs from these 2 alone will Ruin your GI TRACT, AND KILL. What they don't do is fix the two Arithitis'. Supplements can and do reverse OP. Ask yourself which ones are for a baby's bone growth, and multiply them out to your body, there is no written amount. It won't work overnight, but it will work. Your Endo will advise Calcium 1,000 mg and D 500 UI but leaves Out the Magnesium Citrate/Glutamate, and STRONTIUM Citrate. The form of Calcium should be Citrate and a higher dosage of MGs, D3 1,000 UI, and Avoid Magnesium Oxide it is not well absorbed and will give you diarrhea. Magnesium Citrate/Glutamate and STRONTIUM Citrate are half the dose of the Calcium and are taken at night. Then there are the Trace vitamins and minerals like Folate and Biotin. Do some research. And yes they have gotten expensive, but they won't kill you. Yes, you will take quite a few. Your body your choice. Even men get OP and OA. I emphasize the STRONTIUM as it is very necessary in getting the rest to work.
So, SO great! This one is indeed a beauty. Thank you!
Very insightful - thank you. In the aging department, would be fascinated if you ever had time to delve into therapies for age-related male & female hair loss (e.g., oral minoxidil, finesteride, dutasteride, topicals, red light therapy, PRP, vitamins). Talk about a big market! Thank you for all your thoughtful research!
The question used to be, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound ?" That has evolved into, "If a tree falls in the forest and everyone agrees to ignore it, does it matter if it makes a sound?"
Had to subscribe...you do so much hard work of making these clear synopsis for us all
Here’s some warnings about another drug being given. Twice a year and very expensive. It’s some kind of “antibody” treatment that made me suspicious from the start. Don’t take it. PROLIA. Awful side effects may take time to appear or immediately. My friend is on it. 73 and a jogger with excellent health but will not go up stairs if no handrail or even barely walks on grass, she has been so frightened by her doctor. Her mother supposedly had osteoporosis but never had a fracture and died right before her 101 st birthday. My friend takes very few risks so consequently she’s almost a shut in but for the jogging--which is puzzling. I jogged too for years and, yes, tripped or wrenched an ankle a couple of times. I was in an accident in 2022 and fractured the ball of my femur and in 2919 stepped in a hole fast walking and trying to get balanced became airborne and landed hard on my wrist with my body. Duh. I got a fracture. But I work at strength the ways mentioned. Beware PROLIA.
https://www.aboutlawsuits.com/prolia-bone-fracture-study-155973/https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/lawsuit/prolia-fda-reporting-system-cutaneous-adverse.html
https://www.aboutlawsuits.com/prolia-bone-fracture-study-155973/
I was hoping someone would get to this. The diabolical osteoporosis complex.
Keith McCormick has a very useful book about bone health; he had osteoporosis in his 30s, diagnosed after he had broken a few bones with no unusual stressor (that is, they shouldn't have broken). There's a good discussion on a podcast between him and Kara Fitzgerald.
John Neustadt also has a book, though I think it's much shorter. He used to have a naturopathic practice in western Montana but has since moved on.
Thank you for posting this! My doctor said I have "thinning bones" after a bone density test and wants to put me on that medication, but I dodged and said I would take calcium supplements for now, see what happens as I've never broken any bones. I upped my calcium as recommended, and then learned about the importance of Vitamin D3 to absorb the calcium (which the doctor did NOT mention), so upped that as well. The next time I go for my checkup and she offers that medication again, I will say "no thank you", simply monitor if my bones are getting any thinner from the scan and search for natural alternatives.
Great article Unbekoming, thanks!
As you say, Problem, Reaction, Solution and circular reasoning will keep the money flowing.
That folk can be bamboozled into thinking bones are all about calcium is staggering. When people talk to me about bones and calcium I ask them to think of a stick of chalk and how easy it is to break. I know it's not a fair comparison as blackboard chalk is re-formed chalk dust ultimately gained from linestone, but in its elemental state calcium is a soft alkaline earth metal which I suspect most folk have no inkling about so it's fair game in my view to make the basic concept in relation to our bones. Pretty much everyone can relate to the teacher breaking chalk on the board and they know chalks are calcium...
Anyway - the calicum is for sure a vital part of the bone matrix but as you point out there is SO much more in bones, for their generation and sustainability, than the simple level of one mineral. Collagen springs to mind and its importance seems to be not mentioned in general discussions around bones. Collagen is not just for joints and connective tissues. In bones collagen provides more than 90% of the organic matrix, the framework on which the mineral is deposited to add rigidity to this elastic material. That's why bone broth is a good dietary source of collagen, it's a protein and it cooks out into the water. It's not the minerals in the bones going into the liquor, it's the vital collagen. And no - you can't get it from plants. They miss a vital amino acid needed to form collagen. It's animal protein.
I also think that the global 'encouragement' aka propaganda/psyop paradigm to consume more plant and less or ideally no animal forms part of the problem reaction solution . Get a population into less than optimal health by eating a poor diet and sell product to correct rather than educating for appropriate nutrition - there is no money in not selling drugs and supplements is there. No gravy train of lifelong drug dependence in healthy folk.
Bones in our bodies are living, dynamic structures, not the empty dead shell we see when all else has been destroyed on death.
Thank you for opening this discussion and let's hope that awareness spreads.
Apologies in advance for the inevitable typos.
Thank you, super interesting post. Also interesting that I found this substack in promotions rather than usual emails. All a rich industry's trick....
Dear Unbekoming,
Thank you for this excellent article on Osteoporosis! You have given those of us who have been diagnosed with it and said No to the drugs the great gift of more knowledge than the Medical Industrial Complex will ever tell us.
Never forget - pharma sets the ‘thresholds’ for all of their “diseases”
Glucose levels, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, bone density etc.
it’s all a lie for money.
Excellent article. Loved the tree analogy.