I'd be interested to know from anyone whose T score has improved either since taking prescribed drugs or natural supplements etc.
Yes. I went on Hrt and had an 8% improvement in 12 months.
Wow that is impressive, just hrt or any other prescribed drugs?
No other drug whatsoever. Just HRT. When I have time I will give you my "full story", but that was back in 1999. This year my tscore on right hip has crept up to -2.4 so after a 14 year break from HRT (and now aged 59). I have been put back on transdermal bio identical HRT for 5 years and then been told to go on a 50% dosage after then to maintain my bone density
I shall look that particular hrt up, having had breast cancer 13 years ago when 47 I cannot be prescribed hrt but maybe there are nkw hrt drugs I can take.
I look forward to your full story.
I improved my bone density from -2 to -1.6 in one year just by natural means (diet, supplements, appropriate exercise).
Which supplements did you take Anhaga? And any specific changes to diet aside of just healthy eating?
Hi
Great to see someone else on HRT for osteoporosis. I've been on the gel transdermal HRT since about 2012. It's a life long thing apparantly, my GP's were not happy about it at first, but seem fine about it now. It increased my density measurements, but then it just stabilised, so the dr told me to increase the squirts, no dexa scan since then, but feel OK.
I am 60 and I was given testosterone gel too.
Who told you to go on HRT? a GP or a specialist??
Glad it's working for you.
Hi Dee. HRT did nothing for my bone density, but we are all different. I have been taking Risedronate for 2 years and have had a good result. Spine was -3.5 now -2.9 and hips -3.4 now - 2.4 I had previously suffered 2 fractured vertebrae. I have always had a good diet and exercise regime and don't smoke.No family history either.
It' so encouraging to hear that Alison many thanks
Sorry for delay Dee. Computer problems. I take calcium citrate in a formulation which includes D3 and magnesium and a couple of other things. I also take vitamin K2. I eat lots of leafy greens and walk a lot.
Great thanks Anhaga, Where did you buy this concoction of supplements?
I live in a small city in Canada and none of my supplements are through prescription. I can get some things at pharmacy, but K2 for some reason is only at places selling health foods, plus the health foods store seems to have better formulations of bone supplements which include lots of micronutrients. I don't take a formulation like that all the time because it's expensive, but once in a while I'll buy a bottle just in case I'm low on micronutrients like copper, etc. I get an oily vitamin D3 at pharmacy.
Here's my hrt experience:-
In 1999 I was diagnosed at 41 after going through an early menopause with Osteopenia and had a Dexa scan reading of 0.785 g/cm2 in my left femur neck which gave me a Tscore of -1.62. I am in the UK and my GP put me on HRT. After just 12 months she ordered another Dexa scan and my BMD in left femur neck had increased to 0.849 g/cm2 and a Tscore of -1.09. There was a note on my file telling my doctor that I should not have been sent for another reading for 2 years on the basis that change is unlikely to be sufficient to be measured over one year but the Radiologist consultant says, "clearly this would have been wrong in view of the marked improvement in the reading".
I continued to have 2 yearly Dexa scans with improvements each time. After 5 years of HRT I decided to come off it as this was the time of "scares" regarding its safety and the fact my Mum had just died from ovarian cancer (and her mother had previously died from breast cancer). My GP transferred me to Raloxifen (SERMS). I stayed on this for 8 years until 2012 and although I had scan in 2012 showing Osteopenia for the first time it was just -2.0. My spine readings have never dropped into the -2.0 readings.
2 yearly Dexa scans continued.
I am of petite frame with very small wrists and measure 5 foot 1 inch and have exercised regularly since I was 30 and am very fit and active. I have never fractured.
I have never been able to take the Calcium supplements recommended to me by my GP as they always made me nauseous.
In March 2017 at 59 years of age (18 years on from first diagnosis) my hips are showing a Tscore of -2.4 and -2.2.
I have a work colleague who has very severe Osteoporosis and I want to do all I can from ending up with the multiple fractures she endures. She has also had to have both sides of her jaw rebuilt through the Bisphosphonates she was prescribed.
I have made the decision to take transdermal bio identical HRT, 13 years from my last use of oral HRT, and 18 years on from going through the menopause.
Osteoporosis/Osteopenia is a chronic condition and one that needs to be managed throughout my later years. I am not totally against Bisphosphonates, but have been told by my specialist I can stay on hrt for 5 years and then go on a 50% dosage to maintain my bone gains for 5 years. By that time I am hoping that medical science will find a drug that helps us to increase new healthy bone and not just make us cling on to our old crumbling bone.
This is not a decision I have taken lightly. For the last 8 months, I have researched and researched and had an open mind to various drug and natural regimes.
I am also taking daily:-
Calcium
D3
Magnesium
Zinc
Potassium
Olive leaf (Bon Olive)
Tumeric
K2
Silica
I also eat 8 prunes a day, 12 raw almonds, 6 dried apricots, 6 walnuts, yoghurt, and try to eat protein with every meal plus oily fish 2 times a week and try to eat a calcium rich diet with green vegetables and salad at least once per day. I also start most days with a fortified breakfast cereal.
I limit myself to 1 coffee a day and try to eat a diet low in sugar.
I walk 3 miles a day for 3 days a week, do resistance weights and bands 3 days a week.
I know it is a "shotgun" approach but the thought of not being independent and active fills me with total fear.
I have had many sleepless nights and worry filled days since my diagnosis. With a feeling of abandonment by my health professionals. I was told by phone how close I was to Osteoporosis and that there was a prescription for Bisphosphonates waiting for me to collect.
It is a lonely place but now I have an action plan I feel more at ease.
I hope this helps someone.
Here's my hrt experience:-
In 1999 I was diagnosed at 41 after going through an early menopause with Osteopenia and had a Dexa scan reading of 0.785 g/cm2 in my left femur neck which gave me a Tscore of -1.62. I am in the UK and my GP put me on HRT. After just 12 months she ordered another Dexa scan and my BMD in left femur neck had increased to 0.849 g/cm2 and a Tscore of -1.09. There was a note on my file telling my doctor that I should not have been sent for another reading for 2 years on the basis that change is unlikely to be sufficient to be measured over one year but the Radiologist consultant says, "clearly this would have been wrong in view of the marked improvement in the reading".
I continued to have 2 yearly Dexa scans with improvements each time. After 5 years of HRT I decided to come off it as this was the time of "scares" regarding its safety and the fact my Mum had just died from ovarian cancer (and her mother had previously died from breast cancer). My GP transferred me to Raloxifen (SERMS). I stayed on this for 8 years until 2012 and although I had scan in 2012 showing Osteopenia for the first time it was just -2.0. My spine readings have never dropped into the -2.0 readings.
2 yearly Dexa scans continued.
I am of petite frame with very small wrists and measure 5 foot 1 inch and have exercised regularly since I was 30 and am very fit and active. I have never fractured.
I have never been able to take the Calcium supplements recommended to me by my GP as they always made me nauseous.
In March 2017 at 59 years of age (18 years on from first diagnosis) my hips are showing a Tscore of -2.4 and -2.2.
I have a work colleague who has very severe Osteoporosis and I want to do all I can from ending up with the multiple fractures she endures. She has also had to have both sides of her jaw rebuilt through the Bisphosphonates she was prescribed.
I have made the decision to take transdermal bio identical HRT, 13 years from my last use of oral HRT, and 18 years on from going through the menopause.
Osteoporosis/Osteopenia is a chronic condition and one that needs to be managed throughout my later years. I am not totally against Bisphosphonates, but have been told by my specialist I can stay on hrt for 5 years and then go on a 50% dosage to maintain my bone gains for 5 years. By that time I am hoping that medical science will find a drug that helps us to increase new healthy bone and not just make us cling on to our old crumbling bone.
This is not a decision I have taken lightly. For the last 8 months, I have researched and researched and had an open mind to various drug and natural regimes.
I am also taking daily:-
Calcium
D3
Magnesium
Zinc
Potassium
Olive leaf (Bon Olive)
Tumeric
K2
Silica
I also eat 8 prunes a day, 12 raw almonds, 6 dried apricots, 6 walnuts, yoghurt, and try to eat protein with every meal plus oily fish 2 times a week and try to eat a calcium rich diet with green vegetables and salad at least once per day. I also start most days with a fortified breakfast cereal.
I limit myself to 1 coffee a day and try to eat a diet low in sugar.
I walk 3 miles a day for 3 days a week, do resistance weights and bands 3 days a week.
I know it is a "shotgun" approach but the thought of not being independent and active fills me with total fear.
I have had many sleepless nights and worry filled days since my diagnosis. With a feeling of abandonment by my health professionals. I was told by phone how close I was to Osteoporosis and that there was a prescription for Bisphosphonates waiting for me to collect.
It is a lonely place but now I have an action plan I feel more at ease.
I hope this helps someone.
Hi,
I have recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis. I was told the only treatment was with bisphosphonates. I looked them up and after reading the side effects thought there was no way I was going to take the medication.
I have done some research and found that what is recommended by the NHS is pointless.
It is not caused by calcium or oestrogen defficiency but too much of both.
I am taking magnesium, vitamin D3, viamin C, Zinc and natural progesterone (by cream but you can't get it on the NHS). You need fairly high doses for these supplements. Your GP will probably say this is complete nonsense but do your own research. Look up Patrick Holford I am not necessarily endorsing him but he is a very good starting point.
The score for my spine was -3.23 which I think is quite bad. I wasn't referred for this by my GP even though I had a very early menopause and am very slim. I am only 51. A nutritionist recommended I ask for a scan. I am very unhappy with my GP practice about this.
Good luck.
Do you take vitamin k2?
Hi,
I am at the moment because I have low beneficial bacteria. I am taking probiotics. I read that the bacteria in your gut make vitamin K2. I am going to take it for a couple of months and then hopefully I should be making my own.
You need to do a bit more research as we are, apparently, not very efficient at making K2. we used to get what we needed from grass fed animals, but now that our animals are grain fed they can't make K2 for us and we are becoming deficient. We do get small quantities from fermented foods. Indeed the supplements are derived from natto, Japanese fermented soybeans.
Hi. I am a bit confused. Are you suggesting that OP is caused by too much calcium and /or oestrogen. Perhaps I have just misunderstood your post and, if I have, I apologise