1. < Osteoporosis & Bone Health

Finding a specialist who provides individualized treatment

Posted by hopefullibrarian @hopefullibrarian, Nov 11, 2023

Connect is an amazing place to support, educate, and help each other. We're spread out across the country, and even the world, so our experiences are varied because of this.

One thing most of us have in common, is the struggle to find the "right" doctor.

I've been doing all that I can to educate myself on osteoporosis treatment--Great Bones by Dr. McCormick, Dr. Ben Leder's Combined and Sequential Approaches to Osteoporosis Therapy, the very informative YouTube videos by Dr. Doug Lucas, and delving into the peer reviewed research. Having done so, I can't bear the idea of burning through multiple specialists to find one willing to do the testing and research needed to be able to figure out and treat the cause of my bone loss.

The chance that anyone in my area reads this and is able to make a suggestion is slim, but it's worth a shot.

I live in the midwest U.S. Unfortunately, the Mayo Clinic is not on my plan (it's and HMO). Much of the UW (University of Wisconsin) Health system in central and southern Wisconsin, as well as Swedish American in Rockford, IL are on the plan as well as smaller community based systems throughout the region all the way west to Dubuque, IA.

If by any miracle someone out there can point me in the direction of an open-minded and capable specialist worth looking into, I'd be especially grateful.

Feel free to send me a private message if you prefer that to posting.

Thank you!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Osteoporosis & Bone Health Support Group.

hopefullibrarian | @hopefullibrarian | May 13 11:00am
In reply to @hopefullibrarian "I'm 2 years post menopausal, however I've almost certainly had undiagnosed osteoporosis for several years. I've..." + (show)
@hopefullibrarian

I'm 2 years post menopausal, however I've almost certainly had undiagnosed osteoporosis for several years.
I've had hip pain off and on for about 10 years. It would come and go, so I never saw a doctor about it. I wish that I had, because now I know that can be one of the signs of osteoporosis.
I have epilepsy with rare tonic clonic seizures. Three years ago during one such seizure, I suffered a vertebral compression fracture. Even though I was 50 years old and in perimenopause at the time, no one (ER doctors, GP, Neurologist) seemed to know the cause. I burned through 3 doctors, and a physio before one of them considered the possiblilty of osteoporosis. Even then, I had to push for a DEXA scan.
When I was finally diagnosed 11 months ago, my t-scores were very low---3.2 femoral neck and -3.7 lumbar.
I also had a CMP which showed that my vitamin D levels were extremely low despite supplementing for several years with a high quality tincture of 5000 IU per day.
In my estimation, all of these factors comined suggest that my bone loss is due to in part by something more than aging. Side note: AEDs (anti-epileptic drugs) can cause bone loss, however the one that I take supposedly does not.
Recently, I asked my Osteopath to run more tests to explore the cause of the vit. D deficiancy. His reply, and this is a quote, was, "That would take a lot of work on my part."
It's time to find a new doctor.

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I need to make a correction and an update about the doctor I refered to in my comment which I'm now replying to.

Correction: I said in my comment that the doctor I was refering to was an Osteopath. That was an error. He's an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Update: He's not only made a huge shift in his thinking, he's excited to learn more about treating osteoporosis, and to work with me to reverse my condition.
Recently, he joined a professional OP organization, and is even talking with our local clinic administration about the possibility of putting together an OP conference.

I now feel incredibly fortunate to have him on my treatment team.

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