Recently diagnosed with osteoporosis. Where to start?

Hello all, been a long time time since I've been thru here, but I've had a laundry list of stuff to keep me busy the last five years. Colo-rectal cancer, several obstructions, fissures and fistula, anemia, ostomy surgery and three weeks ago an upper GI Bleed that landed me in the hospital for a week. During that stay I was sent for a bone density scan, along with a liver ultra sound and what seemed like a MILLION other tests. Anyway, I was told I have osteoporosis. Like everything else, time to fight. My question is, where do I start? I've been reading posts and it seems as though people are refrencing their Endo Docs. Are they the specialist here? I've got GREAT Hemo and Oncology Docs, but I'm not sure if they're the folks to help.

Anyway, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony

What is your current vitamin schedule?

You need to know your vitamin D levels.  Most of us on here take at least 50.000 iu of dry D3.  You want to be on:

= 3-4g of calcium split over at least 6 batches.  It should be calcium citrate or Micro Crystalline Calcium Hydroxyappatite such as Vitacost's Bone Booster Complex.
= Vitamin K2 MK7 600mcg split over 6 batches
= Magnesium citrate taken at a 2:1 ratio, so if you have 600mg calcium then you have 300mg magnesium
= strontium

If you're on a PPI you could try reducing as they block calcium absorption.  Also cut out caffeine and carbonated drinks as they cause bone issues.  Plus load bearing exercise will help too (so not spinning or swimming).

You can turn it around.  Gina/MajorMom had osteoporosis and that's now lessened to osteopenia.

Thank you SO much for your info, now I have a poit on the compass to get started from.

Oh my goodness, you have been through the wringer!  

I only saw my primary care doc for the osteoporosis and she put me on Fosamax for a year and told me to take more D3 and double the calcium I was taking. So, I did the Fosamax, a.k.a rat poison, if you read all the warnings. I talked Vitalady about the calcium and D3, etc. My labs were perfect for calcium, D3, and PTH but still got ostoporosis--I had osteopenia pre-op. She told me to increase my calcium citrate to 6 - 600 mg doses a day in capsule form. With each of those calcium doses I take 3 mg of boron, and 240 mg of magnesium citrate in capsule form. With my big morning and evening vitamin batches I take 300 mcg of vitamin K2 (MK-7) for a total of 600 mcg a day. I take 50,000 IUs of dry D3 a day. I also take hormone replacement prescribed by my GYN. 

The year I was on Fosamax, my D3 plumitted and my PTH went totally wonky too high.  It took about a year after stopping the Fosamax to get my labs back to normal and another year to start seeing actual improvment in my dexa scans.

I get everything from Vitalady and I really like the capsules rather than tablets.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

--gina

Thank you Gina. I was taken in for an abdominal xray and it showed signs of "several" healed rib fracturers. I hope I haven't gone to far down the road to where I won't be able to re build my bone mass. I have a VERY six year old. All those rib fracturers, I thought they were pulled muscles...

I will keep you updated and if you have ANYTHING to add, I'll gladly listen .

Tony

With those small fractures you may indeed want to see a specialist. One of our members used an injection called Forteo for her osteo. That did well for her early on and actuall increased her bone density rather than just stopping the bone loss. You might want to keep that medication in mind to discuss especially as we probably malabsorb some oral medications.

--g