I went in for a DEXA scan yesterday to get a gauge on my current bone density. The last time I had one was back when I was 22 or so (I turn 29 this month). I was nervous about this, because at my advanced age now I don't have a lot of prospects for improving bone density. It's all downhill from here.
Quick history: When I was in my late teens I was diagnosed with osteopenia in one hip and one of my vertebrae, with another vertebra looking marginal. I had the test redone after a good degree of weight restoration, when I was 22, and I had managed to get up to the low end of normal range by then. So, now that I'm an old lady, R. has really been pushing me to get tested again. Not that there's a whole lot we can really do at this stage if it's low.
I was 100% sure that the last time I was scanned it was a whole-body deal. I have a distinct memory of seeing a really cool X-ray image of my whole body, and it gave me a bunch of metrics like body fat percentage, estimated bone weight, etc. I had it done at an endocrinologist's office that time. Anyway, this time I just went to the general radiology department at the hospital, and they only did my left hip and lower spine. So no skeleton selfie.
They also refused to give me even a preliminary printout of the results; they said they had to be send to the radiologist first, then R., and I could get the news from her at my next appointment (Friday).
Fortunately, R. is awesome, and when she got the results just two hours after my scan, she called me with the news: NORMAL. Low normal, but in the normal range! Woot woot! Look at these beefcake bones! ;)
So that was a huge relief. I guess it makes sense: even though I've technically stayed "underweight", I haven't let my weight dip below a certain BMI threshold since that weight restoration in my early 20s, except for a few months earlier this year. And I started on hormonal birth control when I was 23 (although I have heard that this doesn't actually help with bone density, despite often being prescribed to women with amenorrhea for that purpose). Whatever the reason, I'm just really relieved, especially because all the stress fracture issues I've had over the past couple of years have made me wonder if my bones are already basically made out of Jiffy Pop.
Good news for once! More updates soon. Love y'all.
1 comment:
that is AWESOME news. Thank goodness!!! Bodies are amazing. You have inspired me to look into getting another DEXA scan for myself - I am soooooo curious what my bones look like.
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