BHRT vs PHRT

@gargoy
I started on BHRT in my 40's during perimenopause.

There is no way to know if BHRT alone helped my personal dexa numbers. There is research and recommendations by Menopause groups like the Royal Osteoporosis Society that say that the research shows that HRT impacts osteoporosis at least as well as bisphosphonates do.
https://theros.org.uk/information-and-support/osteoporosis/treatment/hormone-replacement-therapy/
I am in normal bone density now and normal bone quality, but I am also a strontium citrate user and exercise with weight bearing exercise and take all the "usual suspects" of bood bone health.

Since bone health is synergistic in action with lots of moving parts, it is hard to know without an actual research study with controlled parameters what makes a difference and what does not.

So we can tell our personal stories but they are best seen thru the lens of available research.

@kathleen1314 It was shocking to read the link you sent about how the Royal Osteoporosis Society says the research shows that HRT impacts osteoporosis at least as well as bisphosphonates do.

What a statement!

To think of all the possible harm that bisphosphonates can do compared to BHRT! And yet if you didn't do the research for yourself, and if you were with a traditionally trained doctor, you'd be heading down a slippery slope with the pharmaceuticals they so readily prescribe.

I am a believer in holistic medicine.

Which, to me, means you take the best of the best of all fields of medicine. Unfortunately, many of our Western-trained doctors don't believe in "alternative" medicine.

This is why women have to advocate for ourselves. It's scary to go against the grain. Luckily, we have this support group to help us brave up and get healthier!

@squitirogloria
Well, to be fair, BHRT is a fairly new field and the statement by many menopause societies is fairly new also.

It is just I look at this research constantly and correspond with others that are searching also.
Plus, we are retired and not operating a full time medical facility with patients all day long.

AI is going to make a huge difference for doctors though. My orthopedic doctor says that just in documenting patient visits, the Ai is saving him over 48 hours a week in time. Eventually AI will be able to locate all the research for the doctors and the doctors will then be able to key that into your medical history and the doctor's life knowledge to give you much better results.

Ai can really be a boon for all of us if we can just handle it better than we have social media. Sigh
I might ask Ai how best to do that...ha

@gargoy
No more than your normal hormones would interact with strontium in ground water or food, I would think.

I have take BHRT since I began perimenopause and strontium citrate for about 16 years. I am now 73 years old.

@kathleen1314 Hi Kathleen, How much strontium citrate do ?you take per day

@mcallister1002
I take the amount which research studies has said works for osteoporosis. 680mg daily of strontium.
I take strontium last thing at night away from all calcium products. I take calcium all day long and check on cronometer to see if I need to supplement calcium in case my diet is lacking.

Calcium and strontium use some of the same receptors in the body and the body will ignore strontium in favor or calcium. This is the reason for taking them at different time periods.

@mcallister1002
I take the amount which research studies has said works for osteoporosis. 680mg daily of strontium.
I take strontium last thing at night away from all calcium products. I take calcium all day long and check on cronometer to see if I need to supplement calcium in case my diet is lacking.

Calcium and strontium use some of the same receptors in the body and the body will ignore strontium in favor or calcium. This is the reason for taking them at different time periods.

@squitirogloria
You ask "you are in normal bone territory. Is it just from the BHRT and strontium, or other things as well?"

Well, Bone health is a synergistic action. Lots of moving parts that make up how a healthy body makes bone and keeps it healthy. Pharma drugs try to put a stop or a push to parts of that synergistic action.
Supplements, exercise try to meet the needs of the bodies' synergistic bone actions. To basically up everything that the body needs or supply what the body is not getting and allow the body to react. BHRT especially works in this context to provide the hormones needed for an aging body to mimic a younger body and make bone.

Now....consider...

Strontium citrate is a mix of pulling all the levers of normal bone actions in full, not in part like pharma drugs do. It impacts both osteoclasts and osteoblasts using the bodies' own calcium receptors and something which science believes may be a strontium receptor. So taking strontium gives the body something for which it is already set up to receive.

But here is the difference, strontium citrate users take strontium at a therapeutic level, at a drug level. So although the body knows and uses the strontium similar to calcium, if you use strontium citrate you usually take it at a "drug" similar level.

And yes, BHRT plays a role. My endocrinologist explained it this way: "the estrogen drives the calcium and strontium into the bone". But I know from talking to hundreds of strontium users that strontium citrate can work without BHRT.
Whether strontium at a non therapeutic level combined with BHRT would work, I do not know; it would probably depend on the level of osteoporosis.

We need more research, but that is hard to finance for a supplement.

So yes, bone building using supplements which the body already recognizes involves many moving parts, but using strontium citrate at a therapeutic level seems to be able to act on its own to change bone density and fracture risk. (per all the research which I have seen)
https://www.inspire.com/groups/bone-health-and-osteoporosis/discussion/2020-a-review-of-latest-insights-into-the-mechanism-of-action-by-strontium-/

@kathleen1314 Good morning, Kathleen, and everyone else on this site!

I just started using Cronometer (or, at least I'm trying to!) and I find it very difficult to work with compared to MyFitnessPal.

I'm trying to add recipes that I prepare myself and consume frequently, but it seems like that app only wants to record in grams instead of ounces. For instance: I want to record half a pound of spinach in one recipe, and I have to first figure out how many grams that is.

Do you have this problem with Cronometer? (I have the unpaid version.)

Also, I'm taking the Strontium first thing in the morning because it seems to keep me up when I take it at night. I think it bothers my stomach and that leads to a stuffy nose. I have terrible insomnia, so lots of things keep me awake.

In any case, do you think it's okay to take Strontium in the morning? I generally don't eat for a few hours afterwards.

Wishing you a lovely day!

@kathleen1314
were you advised to use strong tium by a doctor? No discussion about the extra heaviness of a strontium molecule compare t calcium or the degradation of bone if you stop? Are you sure it is safe? THANK YOU!