Hello,

A friend of mine recently had some type of bone scan done.  She called it a
"QRD".  I'm not sure if the acronym is totally right.  Anyway, the scan showed
that she had normal bone density (>100%) for many bones in her body, except
that her femur was down to about 80%.  She was told this is the beginning
of osteoporosis.  She is 42 years old.

Some questions:

1) Is this procedure accurate?

2) Is 80% density of the femur at age 42 (pre-menopause) serious, or is this
   near-normal?

3) What is the treatment?  (I've heard that dairy protein, though high in
   calcium, actually can cause calcium removal.  There is a direct correlation,
   so I've been told, between dairy product consumption and osteoporosis.)

4) Share anything else you'd like.

Thanks.

Jon Noring

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.................[deleted]

After suffering 2 serious fractures in less than 2 years, I had a bone density  
scan done, and thank heavens it came out normal.  However, they scanned only my  
spine, saying that the spine will give the condition of the rest of the  
skeletal structure, and will also show up any stress fractures caused by  
osteoporosis.  I don't know if this is standard practice, but they couldn't  
have done all of me anyway---my upper right arm is full of "hardware" holding  
my elbow together.

Good luck to your friend,

Stephanie

I am not sure if the person you are referring to would be considered a
candidate for this treatment, but a doctor can prescribe some or all of the
the following treatment (take this as one data point):

Didronel cycled on and off
1500 mg elemental calcium a day
Rocaltrol (a prescription form of Vitimin D)
Testostorone

This is all the heavy artillery that I know about for osteoporosis. Check
with a doctor to get the full answer. I am not giving medical advice. Just
pointing out some things that you can ask the doctor about.

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