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Statins and osteoporosis
Anyone else dealing with osteoporosis and hypercholesterolemia? Have the statins had any impact on your bone density? Have you seen an improvement or a decline? I've read that low dose statins my be protective for bone health, but high doses may harm bone health. Anyone know anything about this?
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@daisy17 We all share your frustration! I think osteoporosis doesn't trigger the kind of emotional reaction that cancer does. It primarily strikes women in the last stage of life. People don't really care about afflictions of the old since we've already lived our lives and osteoporosis typically isn't deadly. There is so much potential for research into the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis yet it just doesn't seem to be happening. I recently came across some studies suggesting metformin may boost osteoblast activity and may even help with macular degeneration. Interesting, yet nothing conclusive so it's not ready to serve as a treatment for those who are not diabetic or pre-diabetic.
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2 Reactions@soggybones
I have high Lipo(a), went from 20mg statin down to 10mg statin and added ezetimibe.
I have better cholesterol lowering numbers on the combination therapy with the 10mg statin.
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3 Reactions@oknowwhatpixie Interesting! Glad to hear that combination worked for you!
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2 ReactionsDr. Gersch, an integrative gynecologist, mentioned a study which showed women on high doses of statins have a 71% increased risk of diabetes, which does not preclude its use, but it needs to be watched. I'm sorry I can't refer the study but just a video from the doctor. Here is Dr. Gersch's video. https://www.youtube.com/watch
I, too, am struggling with high cholesterol and what to do about statins to help my bones. Dr. Gersch does a good job explaining the function of cholesterol in the later part of the video. She also mentions the mixed results shown in studies, such as we are discussing. I started a low dose of a statin drug and lowered my LDL 50 points, but it still was high and I'm now on 20 mg of atorvastatin and LDL is 120. This is still high and they'd like me on 40 mg.
Yes, it would be great to have clarity!
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1 Reaction@soggybones thank you for your input. That is very interesting about metformin but I am not diabetic nor am I overweight. I am recovering from spine surgery 3 weeks ago and not looking to make any changes yet but I will research your suggestion about ezetimibe and maybe bring it up with my cardiologist and/or endo later. Thank you!
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1 Reaction@daisy17 you might be right about research not targeting women enough because traditionally they have primarily used men in research studies and I think that needs to be changed. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there about the bone sparing and bone building drugs. For the time being I am going to bide my time before taking another stab at finding an appropriate drug without nasty side effects. Thanks for your input.
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2 Reactions@llander1966
I also have Osteoporosis plus very high Lp(a)-264- and all my treatable lipids have responded very well to mod dose rosuvastatin (10 mg) plus 10 mg Ezetamibe ( zetia). my cardiologist felt this combo best and avoids the high dose statin. My reading indicates no strong bone downside to this. Will of course keep reading….
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2 Reactions@daylemaples my LP(a) is 932 so I think it best to stick with the 40 mg of rosuvastatin that my cardiologist prescribed. As mentioned I am still very undecided about what, if any drugs I can safely take for my osteo. I will see my endo in early June and will discuss it then. In the meantime, more reading.
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2 Reactions@daylemaples thank you for your comment. I have an Lp(a) of 132. I just had labs yesterday after 3 months of Rosuvastatin 5. Our plan is to go to 10 and I may suggest to her adding zetia. Our goal is LDL < 50. Or going to 20 on Rosuvastatin. This will all depend on my labs. Just not sure which would give me the best outcome?
@crbarefoot
I did better on the combo therapy statin & zetia (ezetimibe) than on the higher dose statin. I had been on the higher dose statin and wasn't getting the LDL lowered so dropping down to 10mg and adding ezetimibe got me a lower LDL.
"Patients are more likely to reach LDL-C goals (e.g., < 70 mg/dL) with combination therapy, with one study showing a 79.2% success rate versus 50.0% with high-dose monotherapy."
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