Trying to choose supplements carefully

@lylii @az88 I agree that there can be risks from to many calcium supplements. But people whose bones are breaking already have "big problems". Doctors cannot keep up with all of the research, and there is nobody to pay for high quality expensive research on supplements because they cannot be patented.

My doctor DID tell me to take calcium supplements if I could not get 1200 mg from food.

Below is an example paper that gives another view, but this is just one of many sources of information with a variety of takes. Unfortunately most of us have found that we need to research things on our own and not just take what our very-busy doctors say.
Proper Calcium Use: Vitamin K2 as a Promoter of Bone and Cardiovascular Health
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4566462/
EXCERPT: " ... Thus, calcium in tandem with vitamin K2 may well be the solution for bringing necessary bone benefits while circumventing an increased risk for heart disease."

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.

@kfhoz I didn't mean that no one should take calcium supplements, I was just sharing my experience. If you want to take calcium or if your doctor tells you that you should, then definitely you should do so. I'm not judging anyone here. Everyone has to do what they feel is best for themselves!

@leeosteo sorry I don't know if Forteo needs more D3.

@ymv 52 is a good level....maybe you can stabilize with 3,000 units a day. You are taking a lot and it can get toxic if too high. Hope you can ask your doc!

@windyshores , thanks for the reminder that too high Vitamin D3 can be toxic. I need to increase my Vitamin D3 levels that are borderline normal at 30.7 score. I have started to take 4,000 IU per day. I wonder if I should increase it to 5,000 IU per day.

@petitefitsmartfemale I took 4000/day for a few months, and my D3 level doubled from 27 to 54. I then moved down to 3000 because I didn't want it to keep going up. Interestingly, when I dropped down to 2000, D3 started to go down. 3000 seems to be the happy medium. It's really a trial-and-error process that is highly individual.

P.S. "windyshores" left this Forum quite a while ago. Her account is no longer active.

I cannot take any of the drugs having had expensive and painful periodontal surgery in the early years of Fosamax. All the related drugs have similar side effects. I took Algae Cal and within a year I had statistically significant increases in all DEXA measurements. It bears mentioning that the DEXA numbers were set up randomly at first and have never been changed. That is good enough for me, given the heavy drug marketing, the faulty measurements and the results. This is one of those things that doctors panic about until you agree to take often-dangerous drugs.