Bone Loss After VSG

I don't know. The bones are the same size, but less dense? The combo of WLS, being post-menopausal, and off estrogen replacement have probably contributed to the decrease. It was a wake-up call to be vigilant about taking my supplements faithfully, which I have been doing, and to continue with the weight training.
 
Maybe, the decrease is normal for someone my age? I don't know, and will be interested to hear back from the 2 Docs that I e-mailed about the issue. They'll probably say, I'm normal, but I am going to continue with taking the amount of Vit D and CA that I have been taking. I wonder, if increasing the calcium to 1800 mg would help.

As proactive as I have been during this entire process, the bone loss still happened.

Gail

I'll be interested in what they say... I'm an old lady so I do have to worry about this sort of thing.

I have been proactive too, ever since I found out that I had osteopenia so many years ago. I didn't do weight lifting--my doctor actually recommended AGAINST strength training, but I was careful about calcium and I figured my weight would actually help some. I took all the meds (which now they are finding more and more risky) and that helped for a while. Earlier this year, the endo put me on a fairly new drug, Forteo, which is a daily injection. It is not without risk but the results are usually quite good; however, it caused my serum calcium to go through the roof so I had to go off it. (it also caused me to gain 5 lbs in about a nano second, and I'm still trying to get 'em off!). Now he wants me to try Prolia, another new one. But it has a lot of risks and is SO new that I'm leery. So I'm waiting to see how my scan is this year to get a better sense of trajectory without drugs. Sucks.

Lizanne

      Yeah, it must really suck. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. It is really difficult not having control of our bodies, when we are doing everything correctly and being proactive about our care.

Gail

I wouldn't trade it for being fat again, that's for sure, especially since I'm not sure it would make much difference in my case.

The funny thing is that my endocrinologist always forgets that I have had WLS and invariably says, "Well, it's because you're tall, thin and white," a deadly trio for osteoporosis apparently...

Well, he does have a point. The less one weighs, the less stress the muscles exert on the bones, so you are in a higher risk category. Add in WLS, and you have added to your original risk factors.
 
He would probably tell me, it was because I was thin and petite (strange typing that). Being small, petite, and Asian are risk factors. I'm not Asian, but I am petite and weigh less than I did before WLS. I wouldn't trade being fat again. I would have even more problems.

Carrying around 100+lbs of extra weight helps bone density. It turns every day tasks into weight bearing exercise. That's one of the reasons you lose muscle and bone mass with weightloss.  The constant stress on the bones is decreased.  There are all kinds of studies that demonstrate positive correlation between being heavier and having better bone density.  Weight bearing exercise and supplementation help, but I don't think you can make up for the constant stress of carring a lot of excess weight around.

 This is exactly what I have read as well.

 Gail, thanks for posting this - lots of good info I'm afraid I'm going to need. bookmarking it!

I really need to at least get down to one PPI a day instead of two. GAH.