Pre-vention, Inter-vention, or Fixin’

Pre-vention, Inter-vention, or Fixin’

by Menopause Taylor 

I’ve often said that doctors are repairmen. The entire four years of medical education and the four to five years of residency training are all devoted to learning how to repair people once they’re broken.

Of course, the tools for fixing broken people aren’t the same as those for fixing broken objects. Instead of wrenches and glue and such, they’re pharmaceutical drugs and surgical procedures.

And, if you completed your medical and residency training in Texas, as did I, fixing isn’t pronounced “fix – ing.” Instead, it’s “fixin’.” Texans have their very own unique vernacular.

In fact, the entire so-called “health care industry” isn’t really a health care industry at all. It’s a “disease care industry.” It consists of doctors who are trained to recognize disease so that they can fix you when you need fixin’.

The wellness industry is really the “health care industry.” It’s designed to keep you well so that you don’t need fixin’.

This would be fine if it didn’t confound your ability to get the tests you need to stay well.

Take the guidelines for bone density testing, for example. You would expect them to recommend your first bone density test at an age when you can prevent bone loss due to osteoporosis. That way, you could diagnose early bone loss when all you need is pre-vention.

At the very least, you’d expect them to designate an age for your first bone density test somewhat close to the age at which you start losing bone. Then you could discover bone loss early. That would give you the opportunity for early inter-vention.

You start loosing bone when you lose your estrogen at about the age of 50. And you lose 2% of your bone each year in the first five years of your post-menopause. Then, you continue to lose 1% of your bone every year after that.

But, despite all that bone loss, there are no early symptoms to tell you you’re losing bone. Most women discover that they have osteoporosis when they suddenly fracture their spine, hip, or wrist from things that should never cause a fracture, like sneezing, sitting down forcefully, or clapping.

The fact that osteoporosis is a “silent disease” — without symptoms to warn you that you have it — would seem like reason enough to designate an age close to 50 for getting your first bone density test.

But, alas, the age designated for getting your very first bone density test by all guidelines is ... da da da da: 65!

Hot diggedy dog, as they say in Texas. By age 65, you very well could have already lost a whopping (or whopping,’ in Texas) 25% of your bone.

Well, that’s not going to warrant pre-vention or early inter-vention. It’s gonna require fixin’.

And it won’t be a quick fix or an easy fix.

In fact, with guidelines for your first bone density test at age 65, you very well may already have suffered a fracture. And that makes the fixin’ even harder.

In Texas, people often say they’re “fixin’ to do something.” But, you can’t really “fix to do something.” Usually, it’s the other way around. You do something else first that leads to the need for fixin’. Or, in the case of following the guidelines for bone density testing, you don’t do something else (such as getting a bone density test before the age of 65) first ... which leads to the need for fixin’ because your osteoporosis is so advanced.

Besides, they say a lot of illogical things in Texas. For instance, there, the plural of “you” isn’t “you.” It’s “you all.” But Texans don’t pronounce it “you all.” They say, “ya’all.” And they even have a pluralized form of the already-plural “ya’all.” It’s “all ya’all”!

Whether you’re a Texan or not, you’re a lot better off gettin’ yur bone density taest a whole heck if a lot sooner than age 65. Fork out the cash yur own self if ya have ta. Ferget the gaadelines.

If all ya’ll get yur bone density test when ya lose yur estrogen at ‘bout age 50, you’ll do a whole lot more pre-ventin’ and early inter-vention, ... and a whole lot less fixin’.