Metal to bone, even in dentistry or especially in dentistry, can be horrific. So why not take care now to stem the tide on that prospect? Fewer and fewer things are inevitable in this world thanks to science. It is true that a hip replacement can save a life. And can keep people productive and active. I don't really know. I know only one person who has had a hip replacement. Check out Stephen Tower's experience with his hip replacement done in 2006.Opinion: Can your hip replacement kill you? https://t.co/4DIQApdHrL— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 13, 2018
When Stephen Tower’s right hip gave out in 2006, he asked his surgeon to implant an artificial one — specifically, a metal-on-metal hip called the ASR XL, made by Johnson &Johnson. He knew what he was talking about: As an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Tower specializes in complex hip replacements. But what he knew wasn’t enough to protect him from a defect in the device.Five years after his surgery, and in excruciating pain, Dr. Tower underwent more surgery, this time to have the device replaced.
When the surgeon sliced into his hip, what he saw looked like a crankcase full of dirty oil. Tissue surrounding the hip was black. Cobalt leaking from the ASR hip had caused a condition called metallosis, destroying not only local muscle, tendons and ligaments, but harming Dr. Tower’s heart and brain as well.That can't be good. So to avoid this problem down the line, be sure to keep your bones strong. But with what? Calcium? Hardly, particularly for post-menopausal women. This fact made me blink
Strangely, modern medicine acts as if it is baffled and dumbfounded when it is commonly reported that arteries calcify at a rate that correlates with loss of calcium from bone. This is called the "calcification paradox." There is no paradox, except in the minds of ill-informed physicians.Wow. As our limbs grow thinner and we lose bone, the calcium does not exit the body; it only transfers to our arteries, hardening them. Ouch. But there is an antidote for this: vitamin D3.
From that same Bill Sardi article, he writes
Estrogen sends a signal for calcium to be held in bones. Without that signal, calcium slowly exits bone and is deposited in arteries. The risk for heart disease rises by 360% with the onset of menopause. Calcium released from bone is deposited in arteries, which causes loss of elasticity, inability to control blood pressure, and eventual blood clots or calcium plaque that can block a coronary artery that feeds the heart oxygen. This arterial blockage is called a heart attack.The point is that post-menopausal women do not want to be supplementing with calcium. Instead, supplement with estrogen.
Calcium supplementation in menopause is futile. Studies do show calcium supplementation helps to slow down the loss of calcium from bone, but there is no gain in bone density. On a net sum basis, calcium is still being lost from bone.
Why don't women simply replace estrogen?
The answer to the above question is that women have literally been frightened away from estrogen replacement without adequate scientific evidence. This is despite the fact that estrogen replacement decreases the incidence of osteoporotic bone fractures by 25% to 50%. Instead, doctors now prescribe alternate medications to inhibit bone loss (Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel) which produce abhorrent side effects such as esophageal erosion, stomach irritation and even jaw-bone damage.
Hormone replacement therapy reduces bone turnover, increases bone mineral density (BMD), and decreases vertebral fracture rates by approximately 40%, even in women over 70 years of age.
It will come as a surprise to learn that abandonment of hormone replacement therapy in 2002 was a false alarm. Investigators were recently surprised by the "enormous discrepancy they found between the belief that hormones are dangerous and the lack of supporting data."
