Trying to choose supplements carefully

A woman I know reported this on a non-medical board and I am still scratching my head over the calcium comments. I have no idea if these are real Canadian doctors on just play ones. Can anyone provide a basis for the calcium claims that may have been misconstrued?

"while watching a video produced by two Canadian doctors on how to strengthen your bones. Recommendations were to wear a weighted vest, because carrying weight builds bone, doing weight bearing exercises like walking, eating healthily, taking vitamin D, taking supplements such as magnesium and zinc (but they considered zinc less necessary. They reiterated that taking calcium can deplete calcium, and said just to eat food with calcium that wasn't dairy."

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.

I find the supplement issue to be too complicated for me,so I started taking the supplements that Dr. McCormick has on his website. Do they work? Who’s to say?

Wondering if anyone has taken or is taking Dr McCormick's Osteo Stim supplement. I'd like to try the Sustain but it's tablets & I can't do those unless they are small & I doubt these are small.

Am "consulting" tomorrow with a UW endocrinologst tomorrow. Hope it goes well.

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.

I have osteoporosis and have had one Reclast infusion. My endocrinologist suggests that I have a 600 mg calcium a day with the other 600 mg in food intake. I have had an over abundance of vitamin D in my last blood tests, so I get the calcium without vitamin D, and it is hard to find unless you hunt on internet.