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Significant osteoporosis: I need a bone plan
60 y/o , fit and active (I thought) but my first bone scan showed osteoporosis in spine (-3.3). Want to start Evenity, Tyblos, or Forteo. Its really the first health issue I've had in my life, and I'm kind of stumped. How can I find reliable third party research into their relative risks & efficacy -- only research I can find online is done by the companies themselves.
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Thanks for posting this article. The study was very small (81 levothyroxine users and 364 nonusers) so more research is needed. Also, it could be the thyroid condition itself causing the bone loss and not Levothyroxine. This is of concern to me, since I had my thyroid removed and have taken this medication for many years, and I have severe osteoporosis. Not taking the thyroid med is not an option for people who require it, but users should work with their doctors to take the lowest possible dose.
Very True. Is it the Levothyroxine or the need to use it that may be the cause of bone density loss? Observational studies may lead to more detailed ones to explore the connection. First, however, the correlation needs to be identified.
And sometimes there is a caution in seeking a second opinion. I lost my endocrinologist due to that. Once I had consult with second endocrinologist I was transferred over without it being discussed with me first, and apparently you cannot have two endocrinologists at the same time, so I really have no option as you do need to have an endocrinologist to access some of the drugs like Forteo and Evenity. Of course I am in Canada, so maybe that is different in the States.
@normahorn thanks for letting us know about this. I tried to find the actual study and it does not appear to be published yet. All I turned up with my studies are news releases. In those it mixes up levels of thyroid hormones with TSH levels. TSH is the signal to the thyroid gland effecting the production of the actual thyroid hormones (hope I got that right). Anyway there are important distinctions to be made. Were the actual T3 and T4 hormones part of the study are just the TSH?
With more info it might be possible to speculate on how this news might just maybe matter to someone taking thyroid hormones. Myself I'm using the Armour Thyroid product but if this is true for the synthetic hormone product it might be relevant to the more natural approach also.
Anyway thanks for this and if you see the actual study come out please let us know.
I do not have thyroid problems so the details were lost on me. (The article just caught my eye.) Looks like there might be more info available after the paper is presented next week at a conference.
I do know 3 people whose doctors have recently been reducing their dosage of thyroid medicine in steps. None of the 3 seem all that happy about the reduction. Something might be going on that the target level is being lowered.
I was prescribed medication a number of years ago. It made no difference in my energy level so the prescription was never refilled. Maybe I lucked out.
@normahorn @ripley While trying to find the paper about the Levothyroxine and bone loss I came across this one about Levothyroxine and muscle loss in the quadriceps. At least one of the same researchers was in both these studies. Something going on here with Levothyroxine or just manipulating thyroid hormones in general?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10088133
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@broken13 I get second opinions all the time in the US. For cancer I even got 4! I have gotten a second opinion on osteoporosis treatment that was covered by insurance and didn't cause any problems. It must be different in Canada.