Trying to choose supplements carefully

I saw an MD specialist. She had no problems with dairy calcium. In fact, she said she preferred food calcium to supplement calcium, but calcium regardless. My MD specialist thought it dangerous for me to wear weights on my back, as I have osteo in my spine. Vit D is a yes, weight-bearing exercise, various ones, is a yes. Medication is a yes. My understanding is that once on the osteo slope, all you can do is slow, or if lucky stop, the decline. And of course, falling down is out of the question, so activities or weather with that risk needs to be approached with caution. I am on medication too, BTW. Go to the good sources of information rather than random advice.

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.

Dr. McCormick?