What supplements help Osteopenia, Osteoporosis?

Posted by grace1215 @grace1215, Feb 4, 2020

Hi, I am a new member here and wanted to find out if anyone has used AlgaeCal Plus & Strontium Citrate for Osteopenia? I have had this condition for 10 years now plus five years with Osteoarthritis of the hip which I am hoping will help not only my hip but the DEXA scan came up with Osteopenia scores.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Osteoporosis & Bone Health Support Group.

@jasperina

Thanks for the link. I am mystified about my lp(a) reading. It increased by 50% in a few months. All other values are good.

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Try to think back about what you may have changed.it can also increase with drop in estrogen at menopause. Mine went up a few points with menopause, but the vitamin k increase was pretty remarkable. I’m just glad it went back down, needs to go further.

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@mayblin

Hi @sallyj2, while studies in mice shouldn't be directly extrapolated to human, what you have experienced is interesting. LP-a is said to be genetically determined by both copies of parents' genes (they call it co-dorminance) and not affected by diet, exercise or drugs. There is a slight increase in postmenopausal women. Most people just need one test during their lifetime. Mine was done twice by accident, the difference was 60%. Since both of my results are at low end, 10 and 16nmol/L, they didn't trigger my nerve. The distributions of LPa among the population is very skewed. If you are at low end, the difference between tests might be inherent test errors. Did you go to the same lab? The results are also expressed in different units, nmol/L vs mg/L. Check and see if both of your results used the same units.

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Yes, same lab, mine wasn’t normal to begin with and early cardiac death in my family. I had to bring the research, but three doctors and nutritionist have said Vit K, not worth the risk for me.

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@semurrey

Just thought I’d mention that my oncologist mentioned Tumeric does have estrogen characteristics so if anyone out there like me has estrogen fueled breast cancer I’d skip the Tumeric. One year into Letrozole for my breast cancer put me into osteoporosis at 58 yrs old. I was religious about Vit D, Citracal, Vit K and Magnesium and strength exercises but my endocrinologist said hard to make a difference on cancer meds so I have just started weekly Fosamax which I want thrilled about but fear of spinal fractures I guess is real!

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My oncologist said DIM could also enhance reactivity to Estrogen, similar pathways. Ironically, I can use low dose transdermal estrogen, but not DIM.

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@sallyj2

Yes, same lab, mine wasn’t normal to begin with and early cardiac death in my family. I had to bring the research, but three doctors and nutritionist have said Vit K, not worth the risk for me.

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That's a mystery, isn't it? The info in my earlier reply to you is from Stanford's cardiology grand rounds and a presentation at NYU Langone. The doctors stated LPa is indeed most atherogenic. So it's very concerning if I were you.

Have you considered taking natto? It's the most rich source of mk7. I won't be surprised the supplements are made using natto. But if your LPa is affected by mk7, then no.

Natto promotes heart health via its nattokinase and copper, something to think about.

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@sallyj2
https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articled/PMC7862223/

2021 article: Menaquinone 4 increases plasma lipid levels in hyoetcholesterolemic mice.
Study by: Weisell, Ruotsalsinen, et al

FYI, I am not a mouse and mine increased substantially. Three months after stopping, it went back down. Hoping estrogen lowers it further.

I guess my caution would be that even supplements have effects and side effects and everyone is different. I just happened to stumble on this, knowing it was the only change I had made. Another good reason to add things one at a time when possible,

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I'm sorry as I don't understand a lot of the medical terminology as I have
no access to much out here where I live and no medical care anymore because
lack of transportation and circumstances put me in a bad way. It's serious,
and I can't respond to emails and read the posts as I'd like to. Thank you
for responding and for your feedback. Pamela

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@semurrey

Just thought I’d mention that my oncologist mentioned Tumeric does have estrogen characteristics so if anyone out there like me has estrogen fueled breast cancer I’d skip the Tumeric. One year into Letrozole for my breast cancer put me into osteoporosis at 58 yrs old. I was religious about Vit D, Citracal, Vit K and Magnesium and strength exercises but my endocrinologist said hard to make a difference on cancer meds so I have just started weekly Fosamax which I want thrilled about but fear of spinal fractures I guess is real!

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I want to reply as I was on Fosamax but the doctor gave me information that
is important and my dentist told me the same information as well. I was
told Fosamax affects the mouth/jaw bones? And if you need dental work done,
it's best to tell dentist on Fosamax. Did the doctor tell you about this?
I'm just curious because i notice some doctors give important information
to me and others say nothing and I notice most doctors tell me nothing.

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@awfultruth

That's great, actually pretty incredible. Could you post your t-scores so we could see the measured changes? Thanks

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What are T-scores and is osteoporosis and any bone related problems a problem related to the endocrine system? I know of your not a doctor, I have so many medical problems and doctors I've seen don't work together and tell me nothing when I ask and it didn't used to be this way.

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@rubles, simply put the T-Score is the easiest and most commonly used number on a DXA bone density scan to tell you what your bone density is. The T-score will compare a patient’s bone density against that of a healthy 30-year-old person.
T-scores between -1 and -2.5 indicate that a person has low bone mass, but it’s not quite low enough for them to be diagnosed with osteoporosis. A diagnosis of osteoporosis is made if a person’s T-score is -2.5 or lower. So if the number is negative (-) the bigger the number the more porous the bones. Thus a T-score of -4 is worse than a score of -2.5.
And yes, bone problems do relate to the endocrine system and many other body systems. Hopefully you can find doctors who are willing to explain things to you.

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Thank you for helpful information. I also have kidney disease and damage. This also effects the bones but doctors wont go into this either. So I'll leave this alone and thanks again

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@rubles

I want to reply as I was on Fosamax but the doctor gave me information that
is important and my dentist told me the same information as well. I was
told Fosamax affects the mouth/jaw bones? And if you need dental work done,
it's best to tell dentist on Fosamax. Did the doctor tell you about this?
I'm just curious because i notice some doctors give important information
to me and others say nothing and I notice most doctors tell me nothing.

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Yes my endocrinologist mentioned this risk but did say rare and given I’m 58 I said may need crown and/or root canal and he and my dentist said not a concern. They are concerned however if you need surgery as an implant! Still anxious so i sure hope this oral Fosamax works to improve scores but won’t know until an entire yr for next DEXA!

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