Calcium and Vitamin D for bone density

@parrotqueen Glad you only got the smoke even that is bad enough. I feel sorry for all those people who lost there homes how devastating You ae right about Dr,s not knowing anything about holistic they aren't taught prevention just how to cure a problem . My husband died Dec 22 2000 so I don't like the Christmas season I got a wonderful son out of it and many happy memories. This is where my son,s family lives. saw Judy tonight about Judy Garland what a horrible sad live she had .

My fiancé died three years ago on Thanksgiving - so I'm not big on Thanksgiving anymore. I understand. I've been wanting to see Judy I heard Rene Zellweger did a fabulous job - I have a long list of movies I want to see. I have to say, my infectious disease doctor is very good with holistic medicine. She is also the director of International Vision Volunteers (IVV), so is used to making do with very little. (IVV built a small hospital and surgery in Zambia and they go there 4-5 times a year and help people regain their eyesight and pass out eyeglasses. Her husband is a ophthalmologist.). These wildfires are a nightmare. My town burned down in 1991 and we are extremely careful. We have goats that come and eat the underbrush every year and the firemen come around and inspect all of our yards. I feel really sorry for the farmers that are losing their crops - even the avocado, citrus, almond, walnut, etc. farmers are losing everything. California grows a lot of the food we eat across the country. My friend owns a gorgeous house on the coast in Mendocino - right in the forest - and he is selling his house next spring. Even my house is just outside a HUGE forest (Redwood Park).

@parrotqueen I'm sorry for your lose . I can understand holidays. Judy was a good movie and Rene Zellweger did a great job. I wont let out what I was surprised about but there was sadness in her life . The IVV sound like a really good organization. Goats are good to have even in my area of Pa a person had goats that ate the grass there he was lazy didn't want to use a lawn mower. lol Bless our firemen and women they have earned there gold star 10 times over . I pray the Redwoods don't catch fire what a tragedy that would be . Time to make my smoothie and add the bone meal for my bones . Take care have a good day .

@lioness @parrotqueen I just googled Topricin and it is supposedly good for quite a few different types of tissue pain. I was wondering if it might help sore muscles and also bursitis.
https://www.drugs.com/drp/topricin-cream.html
It does have echinacea in it which I am not supposed to take but often things that are not recommended for me to ingest, such as CBD, can be used topically so I may check on this. Now that I am getting back to exercise I have painful muscles a lot. CBD cream has seemed to help the pain in my shins. I am not sure if they are shin splints or not, I thought shin splints lasted longer, but they feel like shin splints. My hip hurts all of the time too, either from the fracture or from bursitis.

Parrotqueen, I am sorry to hear you are affected by the fires and smoke. These CA fires are really horrible. We have been to wine country -- Napa and Sonoma -- several times and it sounds as if some of the towns we were in have been greatly affected.
JK

hi --- as far as i know --- checking magnesium level in a blood test does not let you know the true magnesium level b/cuz the important information is the level of magnesium in the tissues.

I’m having trouble finding an endocrinologist with an osteoporosis specialty. I have had Osteopenia for 10 or so years. In 2016 I fractured my fifth metatarsal, in September 2018, I fell in Gatlinburg in front of a restaurant on a broken sidewalk.
I broke my right femur, cracked my hip and pelvis. I had a IM nailing at that time. In August I had a rod exchange because the rod was too small creating a nonunion of the broken bone.
Although I don’t have osteoporosis , I have had multiple breaks.Therefore the doctor wants me to change medications and find an endocrinologist with an osteoporosis specialty. How did you find the fact that the doctor specializes in osteoporosis?

I work with an endocrinologist that is very knowledgeable about osteoporosis as that was the main reason I was referred. However, I go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and from what you said, it sounds like you may be in Tennessee, which would be very far away.

@butch24350 I recently faced that myself, having just been diagnosed with osteoporosis from a DEXA scan. I generally go to Mass General for most of my specialists (I live in southern NH). I went through their list of endocrinologists and rheumatologists (they also treat osteoporosis and my PCP actually told me to go to a rheumatologist) and checked to see which ones mentioned osteoporosis. I already had an endocrinologist for diabetes and hypothyroidism who I coincidentally had an appointment with last week and discovered that he too treats osteoporosis. I expect he is very good, he said he spends an hour for the first osteoporosis appointment because there is much to go over, but since I am post-transplant he thought too that I might be better off at Mass General.
If you are not near a large medical facility with lists of doctors that you can review, you may just need to call the doctors in those two specialties who are in your area and ask if they treat osteoporosis, or find their website and see what it says.
Sometimes asking other people who have they used can be the best way to find good doctors too but that is not always reliable. Some people may like certain doctors or find them good while others do not.
There are also rating sites like Vitals and Healthgrades where you can check ratings. I find those are not very reliable unless the doctor has a large number of ratings. If the doctor only has one or two it's too subjective.
I presume if your doctor suggested that you see an endocrinologist you probably have osteopenia at least. Your doctor is on top of things to suggest you see an endo. My PCP was not which may be why my osteopenia advanced to osteoporosis -- I never had a repeat DEXA scan and six years went by.
JK

I saw a new endocrinologist last week. We had a nice long talk and I told him the story of why I have osteoporosis. We discussed all my health issues and he was overwhelmed! I told him I was not interested in taking Prolia, Fosamax, or any of the drugs that "build bone." I told him I am coming at it from a nutritional and hormonal way (I'm on low-dose estrogen and progesterone, and also Human Growth Hormone for a lifelong deficiency due to pituitary tumor). STILL he insisted on bringing up the idea of me taking Reclast if my next Dexa Scan comes out bad. What is it with doctors they cannot hear? I did a lot of research - enough to know those drugs are not for me. My body is very sensitive and I had side effects from Fosamax. By the end of 45 minutes, I knew that he didn't have as much general knowledge as me about osteoporosis (I'm not kidding and I'm not bragging - I expected more!).

Oh butch - I'm so sorry to read about all the fractures! I think you DO have osteoporosis. Has anybody checked your parathyroid? I have been to at least half a dozen endocrinologists, and not one of them has known much about osteoporosis. They are pushing those drugs that promise to grow bone. Heck, you might want to try one of those drugs - I just want you to be sure and do a lot of research about those drugs first. The truth that I have found is that those drugs give the appearance of bone growth - but one month after you go off the drug, all that "bone growth" disappears. It also costs a lot of money. I think it is like strontium - it gives the "appearance of bone growth." I joined an osteoporosis support group on Facebook that is very lively - lots of great posts and videos and late-breaking medical news. Very cutting edge. Those women are on a mission! They put me in touch with some women who took those bone growth drugs and got osteonecrosis (bone death) in their jaws. Just speaking to those women scared me into thinking long and hard about taking those drugs. I decided to give supplements, hormones, and good eating a try. I am taking calcium, vitamin D3, vitamin K2 (MK4 + MK7), a good multivitamin and a good vitamin C, boron, flaxseed oil, magnesium, and I'm taking beef collagen when I can. I am also taking a very low dose estrogen patch and taking progesterone - and you might want to talk to your doctor about that if you are fracturing. I was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor that robbed my body of Human Growth Hormone and that is why I got osteoporosis. My Dexa scan came back at -5.7 (severe osteoporosis begins at -2.5). What works for my body may not work for your body - and you should always run any changes by your doctor first.

My best advice is to find one good doctor. Then ask that doctor for referrals. If you have a gynecologist, ask that doctor for a referral to a good endocrinologist or other doctor that can help with osteoporosis. If you live near a big town with a teaching hospital, go there. It's a shame you aren't closer to someplace like Mayo. I really think you have it; with all those fractures you're having, something is wrong. You CAN build bone by doing what I'm doing. I'm doing what all the other women on the FaceBook support group are doing. Many of them have posted their before and after Dexa Scan scores, and many of them have made drastic improvement. One woman started at -3.7 and is now at -1.9 after two years of eating right and taking supplements. There are posts like that every day. You do not. need an MD to become informed. Read everything you can find about osteoporosis and keep digging for more information. The latest big news is Vitamin K2 (MK4 + MK7). You can buy that in any drug store or even off Amazon. There are books about Vitamin K2 now. It seems very promising. (Especially for people who are worried about taking calcium and getting a kidney stone or heart attack. Vitamin K2 tells the calcium to go to the bones - not the arteries or kidneys.)

One thing I know is that you have to fight hard to find a good doctor. And you need to be as informed as you can possibly be because there are a lot of bad people out there ready to take your money and not deliver any help. Once I started reading more about the human body, I was able to make better decisions, and my doctors are very amazed with the positive improvements I have made in my life. It's YOUR body - you have to figure out how to make it happy or it will break down on you. Best of luck to all of us!

Also, I will tell you a few things I do for pain. Diclofenac Sodium Topical Gel 1% - I rub this on anything that hurts. I have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and I use it like hand cream. Magnesium is a great muscle relaxer. CBD from cannabis, not hemp. I swear that CBD relieves my pain as well as any of the strong pain meds my doctor prescribes. (I jjust cannot afford it.) Herbs I use for arthritis: turmeric, Devil's Claw (check to be sure you won't have a drug interaction), Corydalis (although less now) and organic wild lettuce capsules when I need sleep. I'm one of those strange people for whom magnets work. I wear hematite beads around my ankles and wrists and it helps with the arthritis in my hands and feet. Sometimes I put hematite beads under my back in bed. Someone gave me a magnet mattress. It only works on some people. If you want to find out if you are one of them, buy a cheap hematite bracelet off Amazon or somewhere and wear it for a day or two. That's how I found out it works for me. I also wear arthritis gloves a lot - and they have really helped to tame my Reynaud's. Finally, I have my doctor write a prescription for lidocaine patches. I have one on my back and two on my arm as I write! Tomorrow my arm and my lower back will be numb. I thought I had a compression fracture in my back, but the L5 has just moved out of the spinal column and has relocated somewhere else. It is very painful but I think there is nothing to be done for it. (At least it wasn't a fracture.). Remember to breathe, and also remember to get enough rest. Ice is your friend.