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Understanding advice for dealing with osteoporosis and navigating info
I am looking at where I went wrong following the advice to exercise, eat well and take supplements. I did all of that - religiously for 9 months and I failed and in looking and how that could have happened I have been revising my actions and the advice I followed and what went wrong so I can correct it and hopefully help others. I am embarrassed to say that it was just not obvious to me.
I was told that walking is great for osteoporosis - so I did a lot of walking. Working up to 10k steps a day - But I am now learning that walking, just walking does not build bone density if it’s leisurely, even if for long duration. It has to be at a significant pace. And of course stair climbing and the elliptical but the heart rate has to rise to a particular level as well. Find out what that is for your body.
Weight bearing exercises - that is not enough. The exercises have to specially and safely address the spine and other bones and they have to be done properly or one loses the benefit of the exercise. I needed more of some exercises and fewer of the others and squats, for example, I was not doing them properly even though I had trainers watching me. My exercise physiologist helped me with proper form.
A wide variety of vegetables is recommended - but there are fruits, vegetables and nuts that are high in oxalates. If, like me, you have an issue with oxalates or are consistently eating a high oxalate diet - spinach, Swiss chard, rhubarb, almonds, prunes - like I was - day in and day out - oxalates bind to calcium and are excreted through urine.
I was eating copious amounts of rhubarb, Swiss chard, collards, sweet potatoes, almonds, almond flour in my crackers and foods. I thought I was eating calcium rich foods that were helping me but they were making me worse. Nobody told me this could be detrimental to my particular bone health.
I know look at not only calcium content but how high the oxalate content is. So I am actually absorbing the calcium intake in and it is going to my bones. It bears looking into this. My calcium oxalate level on the 24 hr urine test was 396. I brought it down to the normal level of 21 by changing my diet alone. No medication. However I had to be diligent and I am now navigating getting enough nutrients and calcium while regulating oxalates.
It’s not enough to “eat a lot of green leafy vegetables and have your plate look like a rainbow of colors”. Because many have high or moderately high oxalate content and either need to be boiled and the water drained in order to reduce the oxalate level, or avoided altogether depending on your situation. It’s important to read up on and understand how oxalates affect bone health and I had to figure this out the hard way because no one told me, not one doctor. Until it was a problem. With osteoporosis and bone health in general, I think this is a critical piece of information. I dont understand why this is not included in the general information.
The other part of the equation is our digestive system. I realized that if my digestive system was not absorbing nutrients properly, no matter how much or how nutrient dense my diet is, if my body is not absorbing and redirecting g these nutrients to the parts of my body that need it, the benefit is greatly reduced. The digestive system has to be healthy and able to absorb the nutrients you put into it. I thought just eating a pristine healthy diet would fix this but sometimes one needs a little more support in this area.
I wanted to mention this because for me, I realized that it was not enough to know what to do, and all I was told and all I read was what to do. I know now it has everything to do with how and to ask questions and when told I am making myself crazy (vs being given answers to my questions) to go elsewhere. I am learning to ask the how’s and the whys these things are happening and to research as much as I can instead of just following what I have been told to do, which is just not enough, at least for me and my body.
And I also believe that there is this assumption that everyone with osteoporosis is going to take medication so maybe it’s not important to know. And that the medication will just fix the bones. But it is important to know. So important, whether one takes meds or not, doctors and healthcare providers have to go a big step further to offer more than the status quo of walking, weight bearing exercise and eating leafy green vegetables, as do the sites that put out information on bone health.
This is what I am learning.
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Me too. I am seeing a functional nutritionist who has helped me quite a bit in some respects. But still have the bloating, pain and fatigue from a bad stomach.
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1 ReactionOne doctor I was sent to said that I had to take Prolio. I said NO! I watched my mother loose her teeth on that drug and I wasn't going through that. He dismissed me as a patient. And within the next 6 months he was dismissed.
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2 ReactionsThere is a book - it’s very old but I know someone who had very bad ibs and went into remission using their protocol. She recommended it to me. It is The Specific Carbohydrate Diet by Elaine Gottschall for people that have ibs, crohns and other digestive issues. I also know someone who is vegan and had crohn’s and is now in remission - she did not use the book, she worked with a vegan coach who specifically works with people that have crohns. That is inspiring and gives me hope to see that people who have bigger digestive challenges than me have found healing in ways that work for them.
So I can tell you that it is possible. It is about finding what works for you. I follow my curiosity, hunches and questions that pop up in my mind as I am in discovery mode.
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2 ReactionsThank you.
I’ll find that book online. I am open to anything that might help. I am always doing research and trying new things. I had a very stressful career and worked six days a week for many years and that didn’t help my gut issues at all. Now I am not working and spending time trying to heal.
All the best to you.
Please stay in touch
Candy
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2 ReactionsI would like to know if anyone has taken boron and/or strontium nitrate for their osteoporosis and what kind of results they had.
Nitrate or citrate? The algaecal community has a lot of information and feedback on that since it’s part of their bone building supplement program - a lot of people are having great results, some cannot tolerate it, others are getting results without it but I know people are not solely relying on just supplements - the women on the program are working hard on all facets of bone building - they share a lot of what they are doing - it’s a great community and you will get a lot of feedback on Strontium there from both the women on it and practitioners. They have a fantastic support staff as well. I love them - I am just not able to use their supplements though I was on them. I have nothing but great things to say from my own experience. If you do not see an improvement in your dexa scores (check to see how their guarantee works) or you cannot tolerate it they will refund your money 100%. I am not saying you should go in the supplements or change what you’re doing I’m saying that this is a great resource to connect with a lot of people taking strontium citrate as part of the supplement program and it’s I think another resource for the I for the information you are seeking. So you know, their support staff are all nutritionists and they are knowledgeable. Call their support line and ask them about strontium. Make sure your kidneys are healthy too as you’re considering your options. And ask them about strontium and kidney health.
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1 ReactionStrontium makes the DEXA scans look better than they are. Strontium is heavier than calcium so when it replaces calcium in the bones, it affects the DEXA.
It was banned in Europe for a short while, in the prescription Ranelate form, due to cardiovascular risk but it seems to have returned for severe cases.
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1 ReactionI hear the same thing windyshores. My endo says it makes the bones look brighter. At the same time the women that have been on strontium citrate for years that can tolerate it have been reporting that they are feeling and doing well. So I am not sure what to believe. If the bones look brighter what does that mean? Is strontium fortifying the bones? Are they saying that there is still no microarchitecture and the results mean what they are seeing are false positives? I am not seeing any feedback from any user of strontium citrate - that can tolerate it - and has had an improved dexa scan, that they are doing worse or feeling worse or weaker or more brittle or suffering from dental issues.
I am by no means endorsing strontium and I cannot take it and I question how it affects kidney health even if one does have solid eGFR results. I don't recall seeing follow-up from the medical community that does not endorse strontium anything beyond that it makes the scans look better or the bones brighter. Are women in more danger as a result? What are they saying beyond strontium making the bones brighter on the scans? I am by no means wanting to be contrary, I am simply wanting to understand exactly what the implications are beyond making the bones look brighter. If anyone knows, I would appreciate your sharing the knowledge you have.
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2 ReactionsI have read that strontium can indeed improve bone density-if too slowly for some. So the issue is mainly that assessment on DEXA is skewed.
The problem is that posts claim gains that may not be accurate. But there may be gains, yes.
Europe withdrew approval over risks and side effects, not effectiveness. It is back on the market for severe cases who cannot take anything else.
My kidneys are bad, and I have a heart condition, or I would consider it as a follow-up to Tymlos, to be honest. My doctor doesn't work with it, and Keith McCormick (who wrote "The Whole Body Approach to Osteoporosis:) did not recommend it to me in my consultation with him.
But if I cannot tolerate Reclast and my doc doesn't prescribe Prolia, I feel like I am running out of options and I will look into strontium risks more deeply. But I were to use it, I would never post gains on this site without a disclaimer!!
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2 ReactionsI am going to chime in here. I will share what has happened to me. After taking Algae Cal and Stronium from the Algae Cal company for a yr and a half my DEXA improved mostly in my spine from average of -3.6 to -3.3. I also had improvement in my hips, though not as concerned with them . This past summer right at the end of CoVID I fractured my L1 , coming to stand off a horrible couch where I flexed my trunk foward probably too much . My L1 score was actually the best of all my lumbar scores. Anyway… after that having been diving more into this stuff. According to the people at Algae Cal they acknowledge that your scores will be a bit inflated and even in a book they have a way to calculate that. At first I was ok with knowing that and felt I’d continue with the Stronium, however my endo was not a fan , and then just as indicated on this site I also came across info about it replacing the calcium and because it’s heavier it makes your DEXA appear better. At that point I stopped just the Stronium , but have continued with the Algae Cal . Since then when I participated in the Natural Approaches to Osteoporosis and Bone Health Symposium, it was stated there again …. The statement made was that the Stronium makes your bones more brittle. So I felt I had made a good decision stopping that, for me for now. Because as I saw it … I had made T score gains that were significant about 5+ percent but yet I fractured where I hadn’t in the past. Now I’m also going to add this …. I’ve also seen that about 2 weeks after CoVID researchers have seen an increase in osteoporosis issues with mice….for whatever that’s worth. Of which I was just at the end of recovering from. WHO KNOWS … just thought I’d share that tidbit.
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