Doctor Visit

Yesterday was my annual visit to my bone specialist Doctor in Colorado. After 15 months of daily Forteo shots, monitoring my daily calcium intake, and focusing on bone-stressing exercise, I was really looking forward to this visit, hoping for a definitive diagnosis that my body was making bone again. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was anything but definitive; the good news is that my daily meditation practice helped me deal with a frustrating day:)

The Doctor showed up 20 minutes late to my appointment and then spent 10 minutes with me - 5 of which was chit chat. He hadn’t looked at my chart ahead of time and, as he rattled through his papers trying to locate my blood test results, it wasn’t clear that he had or saw anything that compared my recent blood work to previous results. In my simplistic thinking, I would have built a table or spreadsheet of all my blood tests over the past 2 years to see, at a glance how the critical variables (e.g., calcium) were trending. 

At one point he said I might be making new bone and later said I was; however, he also said I now need to test my testosterone to ensure levels are sufficient. During last year’s visit, he led me to believe that this year’s blood tests would tell us whether the Forteo was doing what it was supposed to.  So my expectations for yesterday’s visit were high.

I didn’t understand the doctor’s explanation about why testosterone is important and this is the first time he’s mentioned a need to test it. Evidently, even if I’m making bone, my testosterone levels also need to be at a certain level for my Osteoporosis condition to improve. I didn’t think to ask the Doctor why he didn’t have the lab test my testosterone levels when they did my blood work 3 weeks earlier. Instead, he just said he needed to see my testosterone levels and for me to come back in a year. So, 2 years since my tibia fracture, Osteoporosis diagnosis, lots of tests, and 15 months of daily shots, I still have no idea whether I’m better or worse off….frustrating.

I checked WEBMD this evening and discovered that low testosterone levels are one of the primary causes of osteoporosis in men.

Despite a very disappointing visit with the bone specialist, I’m trying to remain positive and have decided on the following course of action:

• Stop seeing my current bone specialist
• Get a bone density test (May 2013 was my last)
• Continue to monitor nutrition intake (especially calcium; RDA is 1200mg/day; I’m averaging 1500mg/day)
• Continue regular bone stressing exercise (e.g., weights, light jogging); this may mean I need to decrease swimming frequency to workout more with weights
• Research the literature and my last 2 years of blood test results to figure out (hopefully) whether I’m making bone or not
• Research what testosterone levels have to do with making bone and Osteoporosis
• Get a bone density test; will have to pay out of pocket
• Based on the above, I’ll determine later this year whether I want to see another bone specialist; hopefully no additional fractures in the interim:)