Help needed to read DXA

If the negative number is less negative than before, that's good! Your spine went from -3.9 to -3.1. Your left neck went from -2.9 to -2.4. Those are gains! And, you still have another year to make further gains.

@njx58
Oh thank you!
I was reading it the opposite, that my spine went from -3.9 to -3.10!
I will be seeing my endocrinologist soon but my anxiety was building until then.
I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

@mundy Your doctor will be happy with those results!

Think of it as a number line:

-3.9 -3.8 -3.7 -3.6 -3.5 -3.4 -3.3 -3.2 -3.1

These are good results! The medication is working. Keep doing what you're doing and hopefully you will improve even more as you continue treatment.

@mundy
Congratulations! Your new Tscores show improvements at all three sites (lumbar spine, total hip, and femoral neck), which is impressive overall after 1yr of Tymlos, especially since the hip and femoral neck are typically the hardest areas to improve.

If you have the actual BMD values (g/cm2), you can calculate the percent change using
(BMD2025 - BMD2023) /BMD2023 x 100%
Some DXA reports generate the BMD % change for us.

Somewhere in the DXA report (often in the footnote) the Least Significant Change (LSC) is listed. If your BMD change is greater than the LSC, then the change is considered statistically significant rather than due to normal machine-related variation.

@mundy

Please let us know how it goes with your endocrinologist.

@mayblin
I am looking for the LSC you reference but cannot find anything on any of the 3 DEXA reports I have since 2022. The reports are Hologic. This 'normal variation' number would seem to be very helpful for many of us with small numerical changes.

I am not going to be as exuberant as everyone else because I had really great scores and they didn’t take into account the reality of my bones. No one asked you if you had a DEXA with a TBS score. If you had your DEXA with a TBS score to compare you can be more confident. Without the TBS score (the software analysis) there’s a lot of room for air between two years. Also, you didn’t list the month that you started the TYMLOS, and the month that you took the DEXA. If you took the DEXA as a baseline, then the medicine has not had time to impact your scores. I would suggest you ask your doctor for an annual DEXA. I have an annual DEXA with athe DEXA as a baseline, then the medicine has not had time to impact your scores. I would suggest you ask your doctor for a annual DEXA. I have an annual DEXA with a TBS score and they are more helpful. I want to remind everyone that it DEXA score in end of itself is not reality. It’s a gauge towards reality. I had DEXA scores since 1998 and my 2022 DEXA score was amazing. I was normal not even in osteopenia! But the reality was when I went for spine surgery in 2023 my C5 cervical spine bone fell apart in the surgeon’s hands. My scores were less reliable because they had to be taken in various other places where my bones were actually really strong, which was not the reality of other bones in my body, which were soft. Don’t let it discourage. You don’t have anxiety over it. You are doing the best thing for your body as you age. Don’t forget that exercise is important and eating a good solid nutritional diet. The numbers aren’t everything living your life well is.!

@rjd
That's a great point. LSC could be facility-specific and not always included on the patient's report. I'm scanned on a DXA machine located within the endocrinology clinic, and I usually ask the tech to print the full report - 8 pages with graphs. The version that appears in MyChart is typically much shorter.