Treating Osteoporosis: What works for you?

@callalloo - is this the article you have read?
https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/osteoporosis-drugs-which-one-is-right-for-you

Oh, good. I actually spoke with her yesterday and she dealt with both osteoporosis, which she swears she and others have revversed, and breast cancer. She's very nice and happy to share what worked for her and others.

Following that author for years now. Site is full of ideas and good advice.

I found a website about osteopenia interesting. The site was started by an academic who found herself dealing with bone density loss and approachef it like ant other research project. The site is free and she says that she and others have in fact slowed down or reversed bone loss. She suggests starting with the page addressing causes of loss of bone and work through the information on what seems to work to reverse or slow that down. As always, don't accept everything as a permanent truth since science is still working on how to do this, but it's a good overview. And she mentions some things that are frequently over looked like proton pump inhibitors which several studies link to bone loss. The website URL is below:

osteopenia3.com

Thanks, I'm going to look into it. My doctors are all at the local Cleveland Clinic, and, as with Mayo and other top institutions, it tends to stay with state-of-the-art equipment.

This is ditto-ing mentors and others in these threads who lobby for people to try to get affiliated with a medical facility, associated with a medical school or otherwise with a 'depth on the bench team and research-commitment.

It was by sheer accident that I needed to find a new PCP last September. Called CC on Friday, had an appointment the following Monday with a doctor three friends now go to as well. From the time of the first call to annual routine mammo to Uh-Ohh bad news, biopsy and lumpectomy was less than 5 weeks. That was the only thing that was a great relief. If I'd had to interview a surgeons, Radiologists, oncologists, etc., this would have been a much harder path.

you can get a good description/explanation of the new Echolight technology/device that uses ultrasound rather than radiation (like the DEXA machines use) by typing (in a google search box)- will the new ultrasound device replace DEXA bone density testing Once there you can read an article from Apr 2021 by Dr. Susan E. Brown. might also find this article on her Website- betterbones.com

It's good that you're getting a second opinion, especially with an endocrinologist or rheumatologist who also has significant experience with osteoporosis. The drug choice is important as there are several kinds, some more promising than others.

I do not have a medical credential, but I believe there is hope for you to lower your risk of fractures by increasing the amount of calcium in your diet to the recommended amount and consistently doing weight bearing exercises. Your younger age may be an advantage in that better treatments and better information may come along for you in the near future.

This is exactly my concern! I have mild osteopenia, which I`m determined to do everything that I can to prevent progressing to osteoporosis, and maybe roll back to low osteopenia. So I've been reading about the various drugs for osteoporosis in case I have to decide on one someday.

But the big issue for me is that a DEXA scan gives very limited information. And the old bisphosphonates don't result in new healthy non-brittle bone being deposited. So what test(s) will yield real, valid measures of healthy, replicating bone? Since there's a lot more to the bone story than just thickness. Or, worse, just a picture of it.

Has anyone read any research about the difference between bone strength and bone density? Has anyone read anything about new technology that measures BOTH ? A new technology/device called Echolight uses radiofrequency like an ultrasound instead of the radiation that's used during a DEXA scan for bone density. I've been reading about the Echolight scan which recently rec'd FDA approval. Hopefully Echolight scans will be readily available in all states.