Maggie had a total hysterectomy at the age of 23. By the time she was 40, doctors told her she had the bones of a 72-year-old. After trying Fosamax and Actonel and reading about “dead jaw syndrome” she found Dr. Brown. Since working with Dr. Brown, Maggie has seen a significant improvement in her bones — without the use of prescription drugs.
“The story of my bones started when I was 19. I had a cyst burst on my ovary, which lead to a serious infection and peritonitis. My doctor would have given me a total hysterectomy then, but he was Catholic and wanted me to be able to have children, so he only removed one ovary and a fallopian tube. A few years after that I wanted to try and get pregnant, so I went off of birth control. But the pregnancy never happened. What did happen is that I was diagnosed with endometriosis and it was so painful that I ended up having a total hysterectomy at age 23.
“That was back in the dark ages when doctors didn’t know very much about our hormones. Following a hysterectomy, they basically told you to exercise a lot and use a lot of lotion to prevent dry skin — after that, you’re on your own, kid! Eventually, I was encouraged to go on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but the increased hormones stimulated my endometriosis again, and it grew into my bladder. I went off of HRT and was always afraid to go back to it.
“By my mid 40’s I was told I had the bones of a 72-year-old! My doctor put me on Fosamax, but I hated the way it made me feel. We tried Actonel and it was the same thing — I just don’t like being on prescription drugs at all. I think many times they’re foisted upon us and we aren’t given any other choice. Thankfully, around this time I’d met Dr. Brown at a conference and was really interested in her ideas about bones. I read her book and other articles she’d written. But it wasn’t until I started reading about the link between ‘dead jaw syndrome’ and bisphosphonates that I decided it was time for me to find an alternative to bisphosphonates.
“That’s when I called Dr. Brown. She helped me with a plan to increase my bone health without being on a prescription drug. The biggest changes I made were in my supplements and my diet. I’d seen a nutritionist years back, and was put on various vitamins, but they weren’t specific to bone health. With Dr. Brown, I realized I needed more vitamin D, K2, potassium, and others to work on bone building. The alkaline diet made a lot of sense to me as well. With my busy lifestyle, it’s hard to remember which foods are acidifying and which are alkalizing, so I keep lists of alkalizing foods around the house. I’m trying to eat an alkaline diet 50% of the time. After a year of working on my bones with Dr. Brown, my spine had stabilized, and I gained significant bone density in my hip.
“I feel as though science and medicine have let women down tremendously. With all the confusion around hormone therapy and now the side effects of Fosamax, I’m just glad Dr. Brown is doing research and looking out for women’s best interests. It may be a leap of faith for some women to go off of a prescription medication or to try preventative measures before getting to osteoporosis or osteopenia, but it is certainly something to try first. I think if we treat our bodies well, they will treat us well.”