Hey Phyllis, thanks so much for joining us!!  I better read this book because I've heard so many people talking about it, for years, and I want to know exactly what it's about.  When I first heard the title I was mad, since I thought the word "myth" was a poor choice of words to link with osteoporosis, but now I understand that Jillian Sanson was referring to several things but the most important one was the re-definition of osteoporosis made by the World Health Org back in 1992.

She goes on to say that she didn't mean that the entire disorder is untrue, and that those with established osteo and fractures are true examples of those with this disorder and that she wasn't saying that the disorder doesn't exist.  I have to tell you when I first read the title I just thought it was a catchy way to make a lot of money since we all know that we gravitate to the negative or controversial, and I'm sure she's sold a ton of books because of the wording.  I would have preferred a title more like "The Misleading Facts of Osteoporosis," or "Clearing Up The Misunderstood Factors of Osteoporosis," but you can certainly tell I won't be writing a book, if those are my examples of a good title   Pretty bad-huh???

Those of us who've had our lives inextricably altered from osteo know that it's not a myth or untruth which is what a myth means, so I'll have to give it a read and see what everyone is talking about.  You also don't have to have many fractures to be classified as having established osteo so I don't want to leave out any members that have really low bmd but haven't had a fracture.  I'm not sure if it will help me any, but I sure will give it the old college try!!  I definitely believe the theory that some have good quality bone and some don't, but the dxa can only measure density, so for now that's all we have for testing, aside from bone markers.  I do hope they can come up with a test for quality besides having a bone biopsy, which I don't recommend even though it will tell you about your bone quality.

I'm glad you really liked the book and I'm sure there are many others who agree with your assesment of it.  If a book can ease your fears, give you constructive ideas on dealing with the stress of it, and suggestions on what to do for it, then it has all the important info necessary for those struggling with this problem.

I hope others who've read it will jump in and join our discussion so we can hear their favorite parts and how it helped them.

Can you give us a list of the "myths" that the author includes in the book so I can get a better take on it before I run off to the library?  If the library doesn't have it, do you know if it's a resonably priced book?

If you have any other books you'd like to share, please do, I bet you've read more than just one book and you could help us with our compilation of a good osteo book library.

Take Care and let us know if you can tell us about anymore good books--I'm an education junky and always will be so your info will jump start me in this direction. I need to get away from the dry, hard to understand Journal articles I read which can be very frustrating at times, but we need to remember that these Journal articles weren't written for the patient--we aren't the targeted audience--so that's why they can be hard to read when you're lacking a medical education.  I remember in English class, the first thing the instructor would remind you is to ask yourself "who" you are writting for (audience) and then proceed with those people kept in mind.

Thanks again for the wonderful suggestion!!