Was just diagnosed last Friday with Osteoporosis in my lower spine. Had Osteopenia for last 5 years. I walk 3 to 4 miles a day, not overweight etc. I have been Lactose intolerant for 12 plus years and of course as of May 2014 have MC. Just wondering if this is prevalent in folks with MC. My NT told me to buy Now brand of powder bone meal and mix that with juice or my smoothie in the morning.
Thanks,
Jan
Osteoporosis
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Osteoporosis
Collagenous Colitis, Benign Cramp Fasciculations in lower legs, Thyroid and High Cholesterol
Hi Jan,
Yes, osteoporosis is very commonly associated with MC. The reason is because virtually all of us are sensitive to gluten, and gluten is probably the number 1 cause of osteoporosis. Another reason why so many of us have osteoporosis is because the body cannot utilize calcium in the diet to make new bone tissue unless plenty of vitamin D and magnesium are available. Research shows that most people in developed countries do not have an adequate level of vitamin D in their body, and most people also have a magnesium deficiency. IBDs (including MC) deplete vitamin D (and probably magnesium), so those of us who have MC typically have to take significant amounts of vitamin D3 and magnesium in order to prevent osteoporosis from developing or becoming worse.
In addition, taking a corticosteroid (such as Prednisone or Entocort) depletes vitamin D, so taking a corticosteroid also causes osteoporosis (unless we take plenty of vitamin D and magnesium).
I'm not a doctor, but IMO you will be much more likely to reverse your osteoporosis problem if you take vitamin D and magnesium, and forget about taking bone meal power. I can provide medical research references on this if you want to read them.
I hope that some of this is helpful. This is such a common problem that I have written a book on Vitamin D and Autoimmune Disease, and I would be happy to send you a free copy if you would be interested in reading it. Just tell me whether you want a printed copy (you will need to PM me your mailing address) or a digital copy for an e-reader. For a digital copy, I would need to know the type (brand) of digital reader that you have, so that I can send a properly-formatted file attached to an email.
Tex
Yes, osteoporosis is very commonly associated with MC. The reason is because virtually all of us are sensitive to gluten, and gluten is probably the number 1 cause of osteoporosis. Another reason why so many of us have osteoporosis is because the body cannot utilize calcium in the diet to make new bone tissue unless plenty of vitamin D and magnesium are available. Research shows that most people in developed countries do not have an adequate level of vitamin D in their body, and most people also have a magnesium deficiency. IBDs (including MC) deplete vitamin D (and probably magnesium), so those of us who have MC typically have to take significant amounts of vitamin D3 and magnesium in order to prevent osteoporosis from developing or becoming worse.
In addition, taking a corticosteroid (such as Prednisone or Entocort) depletes vitamin D, so taking a corticosteroid also causes osteoporosis (unless we take plenty of vitamin D and magnesium).
I'm not a doctor, but IMO you will be much more likely to reverse your osteoporosis problem if you take vitamin D and magnesium, and forget about taking bone meal power. I can provide medical research references on this if you want to read them.
I hope that some of this is helpful. This is such a common problem that I have written a book on Vitamin D and Autoimmune Disease, and I would be happy to send you a free copy if you would be interested in reading it. Just tell me whether you want a printed copy (you will need to PM me your mailing address) or a digital copy for an e-reader. For a digital copy, I would need to know the type (brand) of digital reader that you have, so that I can send a properly-formatted file attached to an email.
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.
Re: Osteoporosis
I definitively believe it is prevalent, but there has been done little research. I was diagnosed with osteopenia in my lower spine while started on budesonide, and I don't believe much in this kind of coincidences.jcml12 wrote:Just wondering if this is prevalent in folks with MC.
Research has shown that osteopenia/osteoporosis is prevalent in classic IBD, and that small intestines is involved in approximately 50% of MC patients. One small study has shown low bone mass in MC: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-230X/11/58. There is another study on it's way in Denmark, but I don't know when the results are due.
Tor
Life's hard and then you die
I take 10,000 iu of Vit D everyday and yes in the past about 5 or 6 years ago I was so low on D that I had to take a RX. The doc's stopped the magnesium due to all the diarrhea with the MC. I have had both levels check in the last month and they looked fine. I would love to get the book so how do I go about sending you my address.
Thank you,
Jan
Thank you,
Jan
Collagenous Colitis, Benign Cramp Fasciculations in lower legs, Thyroid and High Cholesterol
That's probably more vitamin D than you need, unless it's prescription vitamin D. Prescription vitamin D is in the form of D2, which is very poorly absorbed. All over-the-counter vitamin D is D3, which works much better. The difference is explained in the book, and a medical research reference is provided.Jan wrote:I have had both levels check in the last month and they looked fine. I would love to get the book so how do I go about sending you my address.
The magnesium test that doctors use (a blood test) is worthless unless one's magnesium level is so low that all of the cells in the body are critically low on magnesium. Magnesium is stored in muscle cells all over the body. Magnesium is a critical electrolyte so if magnesium is insufficient in the diet, the body will pull magnesium from the cells to make sure that that blood level is always in the normal range. But because of that, the blood test won't show a deficiency until the magnesium level in the body is so low that the patient is at risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
I had a magnesium deficiency for years, but my blood test was normal (naturally), and I was taking a magnesium supplement, so I assumed that my magnesium level was OK. But last spring I had an adverse reaction to an antibiotic, and it quickly depleted the already short supply of magnesium left in my cells. I would wake up in the middle of the night, sweating like a pig, with my heart racing (at twice the normal rate), my blood pressure would either be way too low, or way too high, and I would be short of breath, unable to take a deep breath. I used to have asthma when I was a kid, and this breathing was just like a serious asthma attack except that there was no wheezing. IOW, my body couldn't properly regulate my heart rate, blood pressure, nor breathing, because I was so low on magnesium. And I couldn't think clearly, either, because the brain doesn't work well when an electrolyte is low. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I went to the ER. They did all sorts of tests, and fortunately one of them was a magnesium test (the blood test). The doctors said that my results were all normal and sent me home.
My symptoms continued, so the second day after my ER visit, I decided to check my test results on the Internet. Guess what? My results were normal all right, except that my magnesium test result was actually flagged as low by the lab, and my kidney function was low.
So I immediately began taking much more magnesium, and by the time I had a followup blood test with my PCP, my symptoms were pretty much back to normal, and so were my test results, except that it took a few more days for my kidneys to completely recover.
So my conclusions were that most doctors don't understand how our body uses magnesium, and how critical it actually is, because none of them recognized my symptoms, and the ER docs even ignored the flagged low test result.
There is a tissue test that can be used to accurately assess one's magnesium level in the body, but doctors apparently never use it, because it's so much easier to order a blood test.As Gabes suggested, many members here use a topical magnesium spray or gel applied to the skin, or they soak their feet in Epsom salt, or add Epsom salt to their bath water. As she pointed out, topical magnesium will not cause D. Also, most of us have found that chelated magnesium (magnesium glycinate) will not cause D in at least moderate doses, especially if they are spread out during the day. Many of us take 400–600 mg of magnesium glycinate without any problems. But try to avoid buffered chelated magnesium, because it is virtually always "buffered" with cheap magnesium oxide, and magnesium oxide is not only poorly absorbed, but it causes D, and some people are allergic to it. I had to stop using Vitacost's clelated (buffered) magnesium because I was not getting enough magnesium out of it, and it made me itch. I switched to Doctor's Best brand, and my symptoms slowly faded away.
You can send me your mailing address by clicking on either the "pm" button or the "email" button at the bottom of this post. The pm button will allow you to send me a private message, and the email button will of course open a window where you can send me an email.
You're very welcome,
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.