Treating Osteoporosis: What works for you?

I have been working very closely with a physical therapist for over a year. what I have learned is what exercise you do depends on your level of fitness. if you are relatively fit to begin with starting slowly and going forward with pretty much anything will help strengthen your bones especially if you use weights. but if you are not fit to begin with, you need to start very slowly and move carefully in order to not create problems with different muscle systems as you get your body in shape.

if at all possible I highly recommend working with a physical therapist because they can target specific issues related to osteoporosis and make sure that your body is trained well so that when you have an injury you can keep moving very easily. for example my physical therapist spent a lot of time making my back strong and helping me learn to stand up without using my arms. my legs and back are a lot stronger than they would have been had I not been doing those two specific exercises, just walking would not have accomplish what I needed. during my ankle injury It has been much easier to stand up on one leg then it would have been had I not done those exercises. This made it easier for me to move, which kept me moving, which then allowed me not to fall anywhere near as far backwards as i did with my rib injury. this is extremely importot. Statistically one week of immobility requires two weeks of hard work to get back to Where you were.

again I emphasize that it's extremely important to have a good sense of where you are physically and to know what you need. I was part of a wonderful very well-meaning online group that suggested in order to strengthen my back I do knee squats against the wall. my physical therapist told me that had I done this I would have made my back problems worse. you need to know if you were working with somebody who is trying to make you into an exercise guru, trying to help you get more fit, or trying to help you rehab muscles.

That's what I assumed. I hate auto-correct!

At the moment, the doctor has me on 7,000 IU of vitamin D a day and is going through my insurance company to skip the bisphosphonates and go straight to prolia. My vitamin D level was too low to be measured, so that is why we are hitting that hard first. My blood calcium was high, but for now, we are assuming that was caused by the utter lack of vitamin D. We're re-doing the blood work June 1st.

Sorry - I wrote Maryny but my phone corrected it and I didn't notice!

Hi Marty - so hard! What are you doing about it?

I was just diagnosed in April. I've always been active and busy and watched my diet and tried to get outside most days to get some sunshine. Utter failure in the vitamin D department and consequently osteoporosis at 58.
T-score is -2.9.

Hi @susandockter and @emcote63, and welcome to Connect. Thanks for joining this ongoing conversation. It jumps around quite a bit, so I'm posting my response at the end of the thread to bring everyone into the discussion. I’m also tagging @mohavegal, @angelas and @jmbjar who are all active members in this thread.

@susandockter, how do you work to strengthen your bones and muscles beyond your medications? You emphasize the importance of being treated, but I’m sure the group would love to hear if you have any exercises that help.

@emcote63, have you and your doctor had conversations about certain medications? I ask because there may be others on this thread who are already taking them or have in the past. They may be able to provide input on their experiences.

I can understand everyone's fear of the side effects, but the very likely side effect of not getting treated quickly is a permanent wheelchair. I am not kidding here! I am 50, had two breaks before I got my bones tested. I have a 2.5 ish score on 2/3 of my bones. Please believe me that getting into this breaking cycle is VERY hard to get out of. I cracked a rib and was immobilized for 8 weeks. I was in good health to begin with but not a common exerciser. I lost so much in balance and strength that another fall was ineviatable. Broke my elbow, now my ankle. Been unable to walk for 8 weeks and counting because my bad bones broke soooooooooooooo much worse than they would have if they are healthy. Even with medication osteoporosis takes 2 - 3 years to fix. Anyone care to guess how many times more over the next few years I am going to fall and break somethIng during that time? What if it's my hip? Sincerely I beg you to consider getting treated as soon as you can!

I am new to this group and also was diagnosed with osteoporosis (-3.7 spine) recently at 52. My doctor said that I need to go on medication right away- and that lifestyle changes (diet/exercise) will not be enough. However, after reading about the various medications, I am hesitant to take them and am also thinking of waiting a year, improving my diet and exercising to see if this helps. I also have an appointment Friday with an endocrinologist to see what he recommends. My vitamin D level was low (23) so I was prescribed a high dosage for three months. My calcium was 9.7 MG/DL. I am still researching the meds but the more I read the scarier it gets!

I had my first injection about 4 weeks ago. Was scared to death, especially after reading only a small portion of the material that came with the injection. So far I haven't experienced any side effects. Doubt that you are getting enough mg's of calcium from a chewable. I had to greatly increase my intake because I began to experience some pain. Am now taking 2300 mg's daily.
Good luck