Can long-term use of SSRIs possibly contribute to osteoporosis?

I’m not sure the image uploaded so I’ll describe it. Nature Nade, high absorption Magnesium Glycinate, 200 mg, 100% chelated. I take two capsules at night an hour before sleep time. I chose this on on recommendation from a friend and a lot of reading.

I have been taking Effexor for about 12 years. I am now down to the lowest dose. I, too, started having bone loss on Effexor and read about the connection. My doctor says there is no connection, but I believe there very much is. I do NOT want to take bone loss medications which can have terrible side effects. I agree that I don’t want to take a medication that creates the need for another medication and on and on. When I wanted to reduce the Effexor dose my doctor said to do the higher dose alternated with the next lower dose for two weeks and, boom, you’ll be on the lower dose. I did NOT find that to be true. I had severe side effects. For me, that just did not work. I, also, was told that the side effects were proof I shouldn’t go off of it. Instead of giving up I created my own plan spending many months to lower the dose and increasing for a day or two if I had side effects. I will stay on the lowest dose for maybe 6 months and very slowly decrease, over months, to get off of it, always increasing back to the next higher dose for a day or two to stabilize before slowly decreasing again. I might take the lower dose once a week in the beginning. I use a two week daily pill container to monitor it. I have a Rx for the higher dose and one for the next lower dose. Effexor is notorious for being difficult to get off of. I listen to my body and don’t allow side effects to get hold of me and haven’t had a problem by always increasing for a few days if i feel the slightest side effect. Go slow and easy. There is no deadline to accomplish this. It has been a very long process, but worth it. All in all it will be well over a year to get off, maybe even two. During that time i had a high stress event in my life and went to the next higher dose again daily. Now the event has eased and i slowly reduced back to the lowest dose. I also started doing minor weight bearing exercises for the bone loss.

effexor is not in SSRI category. It is SNRI.

There are research studies being conducted now about low dose beta blockers counteracting the effects of anti-depressants on bone loss

I asked the psychiatrist who prescribes my antidepressant (Lexapro) about the antidepressant-osteoporosis connection. He says the risk of an antidepressant being a major contributing factor is very low. Still, could contribute, so I have no idea how to evaluate this info.

Could you please tell me more about those beta blocker studies? This is news to me.

Dr Ducy out of Columbia University published a research study on how Prozac leads to bone loss through some hormone that affects brain signals to break down bones. Low dose propranolol reversed this in mice by blocking the signal.

There's a plant based melatonin branded as Herbatonin by Symphony Natural Health. It's bioidentical to human melatonin. The dosage is low enough for extended use. It's only 0.3 mg.
https://symphonynaturalhealth.com/products/herbatonin-0-3mg

This information might be of interest to you: https://www.madinamerica.com/2019/03/peer-support-groups-right-official-guidelines-wrong-dr-mark-horowitz-tapering-off-antidepressants/

THANK YOU!! That was very interesting and validated what I found to be true: reduction of antidepressants must be very slow.