Is 3% annual gain in bone density a realistic goal?
Age 80, male. Able to exercise, yoga, bike, hike, etc. All DEXA scores rated Osteoporosis. Spine T score -3.5.
Probable cause many years of steroids for lung diseases. Cut Wixela dosage to 250/50 once per day from 2 per day. Result: only moderate increase in lung symptoms. I prefer that to breaking my hip or a vertebrae.
My draft plan is approach bone density normal in six years with Vitamin D, calcium, protein, exercise, and some osteo medicine. I am taking Alendronate, 10mg/day.
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If i am not wrong, the % gain is based on the actual bone density value in g/cm2. So with 2 years of 5.3% gain per annum, the expected bone density would be:
Pre-treatment BMD in g/cm2 x 1.053 x 1.053
The new bone density would then translate to a new T-Score which has to be below 2.5 to fall within the osteopaenia range