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Osteo
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women somewhat differently than it affects men.
...So why don’t I, a world-class chicken, fear OP much? Because I’m pretty sure I won’t get it since there seems to be no OP gene in my family and because over my lifetime, I’ve always done a great deal of weight-bearing exercise and work (hey, you think it’s easy to lug this ego around all day?). What does hard work and exercise have to do with my bones? Nearly everything, but first, a little primer on OP, another of the many conditions that are going to severely strain our health care system as baby boomers limp unhealthily into older age.
...To begin, OP is a disease in which bones “thin” resulting in a higher risk of fracture. What may surprise you to learn, though, is that for many people, OP actually starts in childhood. That’s because it’s in childhood and young adulthood that you build your bones, and (although it’s a much more complicated process than this simple generalization), you build bone mass by eating enough calcium, getting enough vitamin D (vitamin D is essential for calcium to get ab-sorbed; we get most of our vitamin D from sun exposure and some from the diet), and by doing enough weight-bearing exercise.
Starting at around age 25 or 30, your bones gradually grow thinner, a process that speeds significantly |
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...As a typical doctor, I’ve always been pathologically afraid of developing nearly every illness and condition I learn about, especially, as I get older, those “silent” chronic conditions (diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and many, many more) that don’t present with much in the way of symptoms until they’re pretty advanced.
...There’s one exception, however, to that blanket statement about my fear of chronic health problems and that’s that problem known as osteoporosis or OP. For some reason, you see, I just don’t fear OP.
...That is not for a moment to say that OP is not to be feared. “Au contraire, mes ami,” as the French are always saying whenever anyone tries to get them onside with anything (besides perhaps the need to drink more |
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cabernet), OP is a condition that is very much to be feared because it’s a destroyer of health and a killer (and I’m not being overly dramatic when I put it like that, mes choucroutes, as you’ll soon learn).
I also don’t want anyone to jump to the conclusion that I don’t fear OP simply because, as many of you will assume, I’m a male. Actually, I better rephrase that because I didn’t mean to say that you’re assuming that I’m a male. Hey, anyone with eyes can see that I’m indeed a 100 % male (albeit one who loves to shop, but only for gear, so hey, that’s OK, isn’t it?)
...Rather, what I meant to say is that most people assume that OP doesn’t affect men, or more precisely, that OP is primarily a “woman’s disease”. Pas de tout, mes petits pamplemouses: OP hits both genders, although it affects |
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