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Trying to choose supplements carefully
Osteoporosis & Bone Health | Last Active: 6 days ago | Replies (53)Comment receiving replies
I think we may be on the same page. I am not anti-drug. My husband had Parkinson’s and before he died the drugs made his life a lot more tolerable. But I am very skeptical of these drugs. The bottom line for pharmaceutical companies is all about making money, and we are a very large and vulnerable group. The companies make billions of dollars with these drugs. My mother had six sisters. All seven of them had osteoporosis and none of them took drugs because they didn’t exist then. They had no major issues and all lived into their 90’s. I know some of you have had horrible experiences with fractures and therefore choose to take the drugs. I understand that. I know many of you have had positive results with the drugs. I know some of you have had horrible side effects. I guess the conclusion here is that we must each do what feels right to us.
Replies to "I think we may be on the same page. I am not anti-drug. My husband had..."
I totally get what you're saying about medications. I, too, am skeptical about medications in general. I weigh risk/benefit and do the research and read all the studies. I get concerned about the financial incentives for prescribing medications which currently provide $14 billion-a-year revenue to these pharmaceutical companies with the prediction that it will increase another $10 billion in ten years. That said, I have no doubt that these drugs can be very effective for in the treatment of osteoporosis, if tolerated, but they do come with a chance of serious side effects. For now, I am holding off while trying holistic measures to stabilize my bone loss or, if I'm extremely lucky, possibly show a slight improvement. I wouldn't know until my next DEXA in April. Then I'll reevaluate if I want to go on medication.
I come from a family of tiny, small-boned women on my mother's side. Some barely reached 5', including my mother (I'm 5'3" and was considered the "tall" one). I don't know if any had osteoporosis but my guess is that they must have had it because of their diminutive size. I do know none fractured or had a dowager's hump. They didn't exercise unless you consider baking, cooking, or gossiping a form of exercise (only kidding about the gossiping part - sort of). They adhered to a typical Mediterranean diet. And other than B-12, they took no other supplements. And yet, most lived to their late 90s and one lived to 102. None lived in assisted living or a nursing home. They either lived alone or with one of their children.
With one fractured vertebra, I know I'm high risk. I'm giving myself one year to see if there's any improvement or at the very least, stabilized. Of course it could get worse but then I'll reevaluate. But just as you said, everyone has to do what's right for them.
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I was skeptical until I had a 20% gain in spine from Tymlos.
Most drugs for most health conditions have side effects so it is all about risk/beneft. I have a kid on insulin who would be dead quickly without it, but insulin also causes life-threatening low blood sugars. No choice. Kid is also on anti-convulsants with side effects. No choice. My osteoporosis: no choice.
If people's scores are not too low, I think trying holistic approaches is very reasonable. But my point was to take meds BEFORE fractures, not after! @sandrajhunt do you know if your mother's sisters had a humped back, even subtley? Or if any undiagnosed fractures caused GI or breathing issues? I know older women (mid-90's) who clearly have a lot of fractures- I can tell by looking at them- but meds were not available.
The scary thing about these meds in my mind is that experts and researchers did not anticipat 1) atypical femur fracture and jaw necrosis if bisphosphonate ar used too long 2) that Prolia caused rebound when stopped leaving patients worse off and 3) that Evenity is anabolic only for the first weeks or months and anti-resorptive thereafter. For any new drug, like Evenity, I am cautious and even wary and used it for only 4 months this time around.
The other issue is how to maintain over time. We need more research! The time limits for each medication make me think that people should wait for meds as long as they can. However, osteoporosis has no symptoms and we can fracture while feeling strong. DEXA's and bone markers can guide the timing.