Diagnosed 2022 with osteoporosis, now saying osteopenia

Posted by lilliegrace @lilliegrace, Mar 31 5:02am

I'm very confused at this point! I'm October 2022, the DEXA showed I had osteoporosis. My doctor wanted to start me on Prolia (?). I declined at that time and soon had additional health issues that were more pressing. Forward to 2025 and DEXA is showing I have osteopenia.

Are these normal results??

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

lilliegrace | @lilliegrace | Apr 2 4:07am

Thank you

victor5211 | @victor5211 | Apr 2 4:42am

In reply to @normahorn "I found this about a class action lawsuit. www.timesdigitalmagazine.com/prolia-class-action-lawsuit/" + (show)

Thank you so much Norma very interesting. I expect they will blame the
Dr's who prescribed it.

torque2anne | @torque2anne | Apr 3 5:17am

In reply to @njx58 "If it's available near you and you don't mind paying, I'd consider getting an Echolight scan...." + (show)

That was really helpful to hear about the Echolight scan. I did not believe this technology was available in Australia. On investigation there are a few places in both Melbourne and Brisbane and one in Sydney using it!! This may be really useful in helping make a decision about if and when to take osteoporosis medications. This is up for discussion with my doctor, after another DEXA scan, in the middle of the year ...

missey | @missey | Apr 3 11:59am

Compare the two different exams and the numbers and they will tell you who made the mistake

loriesco | @loriesco | Apr 3 1:05pm

I'm not sure what to make of the other responses because they don't have experience. I had that experience. There are a variety of things to say about what happened to you:
1) it happens.
2) The reason could be several-fold: A) different equipment B) different machine calibration (if you had it done at the same place on the same machine C) was the diagnosis based strictly on the numbers and did the criteria change?
3) testing on different body parts
4) not using a machine with software that analyzes "TBS." (Trabecular Bone Score). All 20 years of DEXA did not help me when I went to cervical spine surgery and my C5 fell apart in the surgeon's hand. I asked him about going from osteoporosis to osteopenia and he said the tests are only "general" assessments. You can ask your doctor to test you on something more accurate if you have a real concern about your bone health and see what they say. Also get a referral to an orthopedic surgeon and speak with them. I learned everything after the fact. 😉 but I lived to talk about it!

lilliegrace | @lilliegrace | Apr 3 4:50pm

In reply to @loriesco "I'm not sure what to make of the other responses because they don't have experience. I..." + (show)

Thank you SO much for the information!! I can't even imagine what you've been through.

I do have concern as my grandmother had osteoporosis really bad... she would sneeze and break a rib!

Since over 2 years passed that I had the first scan, it appears they have a different machine (and AI to translate results). I believe the technician to be the same person. And, the gps were scanned both times. Looks like results were based strictly on numbers. I'm not sure about the rest. However, the information you have provided will be invaluable to my search for answers.

Take care and thank you!!

lilliegrace | @lilliegrace | Apr 3 4:53pm

In reply to @missey "Compare the two different exams and the numbers and they will tell you who made the..." + (show)

I don't see how that would help? The machines have changed and the results were read by a person for the first scan and AI for the second.

The technician was the same for both tests.

missey | @missey | Apr 3 7:23pm

What were the numbers for the first test and the numbers for the second test. They could’ve been off by only a little bit and one of the scans pushed it into osteoporosis instead of the other test, which had it posted as osteopenia.

lilliegrace | @lilliegrace | Apr 4 5:55am

The new report shows that bone density has increased by 6% in my left hip and 6.4 % in my right. Yet the bone density of the lumbar spine has decreased by 2.4%.

10 year fracture risk, Major factor risk is up from 16.4% to 20.6%

missey | @missey | Apr 4 8:16am

In reply to @lilliegrace "The new report shows that bone density has increased by 6% in my left hip and..." + (show)

I can absolutely see why you were so confused because to me, and I am not a doctor, how is it possible that you have a wonderful increase in bone density in some areas but a decrease in others! It doesn’t make sense to me either. Thinking I would seek have another opinion to explain this big discrepancy.