Since I was first diagnosed with osteopenia about 6 years ago at the age of 46, I've been running scared. I didn't want to take hormone therapy or drugs. Instead, I followed the standard recommendations for bone-building exercise, namely, focusing on weight-bearing exercise and increasing muscle mass by using weights. I also increased my calcium supplements and made a conscious effort to increase my time in the sun.

I've been a committed at-home exerciser for decades, using aerobics, the step, and weight training. I increased the weight load as directed, up to the limits recommended in Strong Women, Strong Bones. Yet my next bone density scan revealed that the bone loss continued. The hip measurement from my 2004 scan was -2.28. (A T-score of -2.5 or lower indicates osteoporosis.)

Why wasn't this working? Why did my bone mass continue to decline despite five to six days a week of weight-lifting and low-impact exercise? I worried that I'd have to start taking Fosamax or another drug to prevent full-blown osteoporosis. I visited countless websites and read too many books on bone health and menopause until finally I came across Dr. Carolyn Dean's Hormone Balancing. In that book, Dr. Dean mentions T-Tapp as a way to help counter the negative effects of perimenopause and menopause. An online search took me to the T-Tapp website where I found Berei's impressive success story. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope. If a woman in her seventies could improve her bone mass enough to stop taking osteoporosis medication, maybe T-Tapp could help me stay off those meds.

I began Tapping at the ripe old age of 50, and I've been fairly consistent over the past two years, but I didn't have the nerve to get another bone density (DEXA) scan until this past summer. Would the scan show continued bone loss? Would I have to return to weights and aerobics, or worse yet, submit to pharmaceutical therapy? I had been working to understand and incorporate better form over my 20 months of T-Tapp, but maybe it wasn't good enough. After all, that had been the pattern with my previous exercise measures.

But despite my fears and negativity, I had to admit that T-Tapp was changing my body. The pain in my upper back, shoulder, and neck after too many hours at the computer - gone! I could see more and better muscle tone in my chest, thighs and back. I'm also buying pants at least one size smaller than when I started Tapping. I felt better overall and physically stronger, and my height had even increased a bit. I finally worked myself into a reasonably positive frame of mind and scheduled a DEXA scan.

I am thrilled to report that T-Tapp came through! My hip T-score is now -1.8, up from that low of -2.28. Yes, I still have osteopenia, according to the DEXA measurement, but finally the bone loss in my hip seems to have slowed. This latest reading even seems to indicate that my body is actually building bone now.

I'm post-menopausal now and still not on hormone replacement therapy, nor am I taking any osteoporosis medication. I still take calcium supplements, but I've added more magnesium, as recommended by Dr. Dean, and transdermal magnesium (via foot soaks in magnesium oil). I usually T-Tapp three to five times a week. I have had some adrenal problems so I've occasionally pulled back from three full body workouts per week to BWO+ (I use the Ladybug tape mostly or do the standard BWO+ from memory) and try to include a floor workout (Tempo Lower Body or Ladybug Floor) and SATI once a week (thanks to my older sister, who recently surprised me with that DVD).

My goal now is to continue to improve my hip T-score and maintain my lumbar T-score. I'm counting on T-Tapp to help make this happen.

Thanks to Michelle, Margit, Kiona, and Lannette for all their help in classes and via email. The T-Tapp forums have been a wonderful resource, too, inspiring and teaching me all along the way. And thank you, Teresa, for helping me make a healthier body the T-Tapp way!

Betsy K.