My PCP's nurse called this morning to deliver her bad news: I have worsening osteoporosis. She knows that I won't take a biophosonate, but she said that my numbers are bad enough that I should consider Reclast, an IV, or something similar.
Naturally, I was disappointed and envisioned myself in a wheelchair soon.
I asked her if she could tell me how I compared to my previous test and she seemed to fumble around. I told her I would drive to the testing center and get a copy of the results and compare them with other years before I made any decisions. The scores are statistical T-scores based on a norm of a young adult female.
Remember that my PCP wondered why I wanted the test because I wasn't willing to treat my osteoporosis. When I told him I was taking strontium, calcium and vitamin D, he seemed unimpressed and said he would prescribe the test for "information purposes only."
When I got a copy of the test results, I saw a completely different result than the nurse led me to believe.
Instead of getting worse, my numbers were better! The strontium not only stopped my degenerative progression, it has started to reverse it and my bone density increased. This while being on a steroid and having to avoid walking/biking exercise all summer due to an inflamed knee.
Here is the progression of my numbers:
11/1998: lumbar spine: -1.84; right hip: -.87 (premenopausal)
9/2005: lumbar spine: -2.6; left hip: -2.1
2/2009: lumbar spine: -2.8; left hip: -2.1
12/2011: lumbar spine: -3.4; left hip: -2.9
12/2013: lumbar spine: -2.9; left hip: -2.7
The WHO defines osteoporosis as a T score of -2.5 or less and osteopenia as a T score of -1.0 to -2.49.
I was taking Fosamax during some of the earlier dates above and began taking Entocort in 2007. These still are not great numbers, but the strontium is clearly helping to rebuild the bone. I am encouraged and will be calling the doctor's office tomorrow to tell them that my treatment is working.
DH and I signed up to use the track at the community health club, which is nearer our house than the mall (and with no temptation to shop!) and I'm hoping we'll go walking more frequently this winter.
Gloria
Bone Density Test Results with Strontium
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Bone Density Test Results with Strontium
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
YES!!!!!! 
That's great news. I had high hopes for that treatment, and it certainly appears to be working. How long have you been taking the strontium?
You have proven 2 things here:
1. Strontium ranelate works. That's a significant improvement.
2. We certainly can't trust our doctors to interpret our test results when they have an agenda due to the fact they disagree with our choice of treatment plans. It makes one wonder if they actually have our best interest in mind, or if they place their ego before our welfare.
Thanks for sharing that information. I find it very, very interesting, especially since the conventional "officially approved" treatments have such Draconian side effect risks.
Tex
That's great news. I had high hopes for that treatment, and it certainly appears to be working. How long have you been taking the strontium?
You have proven 2 things here:
1. Strontium ranelate works. That's a significant improvement.
2. We certainly can't trust our doctors to interpret our test results when they have an agenda due to the fact they disagree with our choice of treatment plans. It makes one wonder if they actually have our best interest in mind, or if they place their ego before our welfare.
Thanks for sharing that information. I find it very, very interesting, especially since the conventional "officially approved" treatments have such Draconian side effect risks.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Gabes-Apg
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- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
Great News Gloria!!!
it is 'interesting' how the interpretation of the results can mean something very different, when you review the results in context of the previous results! !
Hope the improvement continues!
NB: I have inputted all my test results for the past 6 years into an excel spreadsheet... My Renal specialist said that having that amount of data in an easy to review format is vital... and more patients should do it
it is 'interesting' how the interpretation of the results can mean something very different, when you review the results in context of the previous results! !
Hope the improvement continues!
NB: I have inputted all my test results for the past 6 years into an excel spreadsheet... My Renal specialist said that having that amount of data in an easy to review format is vital... and more patients should do it
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
Tex,
I've been taking the strontium for two years, since my last bone density test in 2011. I tried taking it earlier, but got headaches and had to quit it. After the 2011 test, I tried again, introducing it slowly, one pill at first, then two. It's pretty cheap, too. I buy a month's supply at The Vitamin Shoppe for around $8, their web price. I've had no side effects. This is the first time that the degeneration has not only stopped, but has reversed, even compared to the times I took Fosamax. Why aren't doctors telling their patients about strontium? Thank goodness for the Internet, or I would never have known about it.
I think the nurse was stammering because she could see that my results showed an improvement and didn't know how to answer. It states right on the report "The bone density of the lumbar spine and the left hip have increased in the interim, remaining within the range of osteoporosis." The doctor had to have seen that, also. I never improved on Fosamax; the degradation was just halted in my hip in 2009. I stopped taking Fosamax in January 2010 because I thought I'd need surgery to remove the tumor near my brain stem. The tumor turned out to be calcified, and I didn't need the surgery, but I didn't go back on Fosamax. Nearly two years passed before I started strontium; that was when I had a lot of deterioration.
Gabes,
You know how I love spreadsheets. I have all of our doctors visits, treatments, etc. on a spreadsheet. I think your idea of having test results all on one is a great idea.
Gloria
I've been taking the strontium for two years, since my last bone density test in 2011. I tried taking it earlier, but got headaches and had to quit it. After the 2011 test, I tried again, introducing it slowly, one pill at first, then two. It's pretty cheap, too. I buy a month's supply at The Vitamin Shoppe for around $8, their web price. I've had no side effects. This is the first time that the degeneration has not only stopped, but has reversed, even compared to the times I took Fosamax. Why aren't doctors telling their patients about strontium? Thank goodness for the Internet, or I would never have known about it.
I think the nurse was stammering because she could see that my results showed an improvement and didn't know how to answer. It states right on the report "The bone density of the lumbar spine and the left hip have increased in the interim, remaining within the range of osteoporosis." The doctor had to have seen that, also. I never improved on Fosamax; the degradation was just halted in my hip in 2009. I stopped taking Fosamax in January 2010 because I thought I'd need surgery to remove the tumor near my brain stem. The tumor turned out to be calcified, and I didn't need the surgery, but I didn't go back on Fosamax. Nearly two years passed before I started strontium; that was when I had a lot of deterioration.
Gabes,
You know how I love spreadsheets. I have all of our doctors visits, treatments, etc. on a spreadsheet. I think your idea of having test results all on one is a great idea.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Good news, Gloria! What dosage of strontium and calcium do you take?
It's pretty sad when doctors don't provide the data necessary for us to make decisions about our health. Makes me wonder if yours even looked at the results, just assumed they would be the same or worse. I love that you're so diligent about tracking your results!
Jean
It's pretty sad when doctors don't provide the data necessary for us to make decisions about our health. Makes me wonder if yours even looked at the results, just assumed they would be the same or worse. I love that you're so diligent about tracking your results!
Jean
"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." Mark Twain
Jean,
I take two Doctor's Best strontium (340 mg each) at bedtime. It's supposed to be taken a few hours apart from any calcium supplements. At each meal I take 250 mg of Freeda's Cal-Citrate Plus Vitamin D. I get 400-500 mg calcium from my meals, giving me a total of about 1250-1300 mg a day. I learned about strontium on an osteoporosis board where the members reported great success with it and walking.
I used to take more calcium supplements until someone (probably Tex) on the board posted an article warning that too many calcium supplements could cause calcium buildup in the arteries, as I recall.
Gloria
I take two Doctor's Best strontium (340 mg each) at bedtime. It's supposed to be taken a few hours apart from any calcium supplements. At each meal I take 250 mg of Freeda's Cal-Citrate Plus Vitamin D. I get 400-500 mg calcium from my meals, giving me a total of about 1250-1300 mg a day. I learned about strontium on an osteoporosis board where the members reported great success with it and walking.
I used to take more calcium supplements until someone (probably Tex) on the board posted an article warning that too many calcium supplements could cause calcium buildup in the arteries, as I recall.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Wow, Gloria! That is very encouraging! Thanks for sharing that news.
And it's timely info for me, as both my GYN and rheumatologist are pushing me to take one of the newer bone density drugs, possibly by IV. I am resisting, as my bone density score (osteopenia) was stable from two years ago on calcium plus higher doses of vitamin D, I do weight-bearing exercise, etc. My rheumo was freaking out that I don't do dairy, apparently not aware that almond milk also has calcium.
And it's timely info for me, as both my GYN and rheumatologist are pushing me to take one of the newer bone density drugs, possibly by IV. I am resisting, as my bone density score (osteopenia) was stable from two years ago on calcium plus higher doses of vitamin D, I do weight-bearing exercise, etc. My rheumo was freaking out that I don't do dairy, apparently not aware that almond milk also has calcium.
Suze
Well, because it's too cheap, and none of the drug reps are pushing it. If the drug reps don't promote it, doctors aren't likely to prescribe it — they tend to go with the money, and there's no endorsement money (disguised as "research" grants) available for strontium treatments.Why aren't doctors telling their patients about strontium?
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
What encouraging news! I'm so glad for you! A lesson for me is the misinterpretation by the nurse & doctor! That is shocking but not surprising! Nice to know such a smart lady!
Sunny
Sunny
"It is very difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. "
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
.I never improved on Fosamax; the degradation was just halted in my hip in 2009
That wasn't much of a showing for Fosamax. Compared with that (especially considering that you have been taking budesonide for 6 years now, the strontium is clearly running circles around the Fosamax, and doing it without the side effect risks carried by the bisphosphonates.
It does make one wonder how some doctors make the decisions that define their priorities.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Gabes-Apg
- Emperor Penguin
- Posts: 8332
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:12 pm
- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
Tex (aka Dr Persky)
I think you are being a bit ambitious that majority of doctors ( of course Polly and the rare good ones are exempted from this grouping) are able to review and make informed decisions...
Especially when it comes to conditions and symptoms that cross over the various disciplines, and/or when the patient has various issues, and there is a wider scope to be assessed.
The training /the system does not prepare them for that.
I think you are being a bit ambitious that majority of doctors ( of course Polly and the rare good ones are exempted from this grouping) are able to review and make informed decisions...
Especially when it comes to conditions and symptoms that cross over the various disciplines, and/or when the patient has various issues, and there is a wider scope to be assessed.
The training /the system does not prepare them for that.
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
I certainly wouldn't argue with that.Gabes wrote:The training /the system does not prepare them for that.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
