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Not taking issue with your statement..."It is a fact that ADT weaken your bones."
Nor that "My doctors specifically recommended, calcium, and vitamin D to help offset that." again, not the issue.
I do not dispute "The longer you are on ADT the more important it becomes."
What I am saying is the time periods I have been on it, 18, then 12, months, have not required me to be on D3 and Calcium. In part, maybe because I do resistance training almost every day. My diet generally provides what I need...
Maybe were I to be on ADT continuously, longer, perhaps the need for supplements would come in play.
I did have Dexa scans, no issues other than being old and the usual arthritis here and there..
I think you may not be focusing on my issue, automatically telling us to take supplements without assessing where we are and a plan to monitor throughout the duration of our treatment.
Replies to "@jeffmarc Not taking issue with your statement..."It is a fact that ADT weaken your bones." Nor..."
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@kujhawk1978 I see your point about watching your blood tests to see what supplements an individual may need rather than just using a blanket statement. But in the case of ADT beyond a period of 6 months, I think is fair to say that every patient will need some amount of calcium and D3 supplementation to keep their blood calcium level in the normal range which helps keep their bones strong. I know for me on ADT for one year, that I needed a minimum of 1000 mg of calcium to stay normal from blood tests every three months. If I even went down to 750 mg of calcium, my calcium blood level went below normal. A patient with more dietary calcium would need less than 1000 mg of supplement, but from anecdotal conversations with other patients and the research I read, I think it is safe to say that every ADT patient needs some level of calcium and D3 supplementation specific to them.
I did this same experiment with iron supplementation because ADT lowers red blood cell counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels towards becoming anemic. I had to carefully keep increasing my iron supplementation to get those levels in normal ranges. ADT and radiation to the pelvic area affects these counts and the patient only has iron supplements to help bring them up. This has to be done very carefully because too much iron supplementation becomes toxic. But just like with calcium and D3 supplementation, I think it is safe to say that every patient using ADT beyond six months will benefit with some level of iron supplementation specific to them.