Osteoporosis - which supplements to take?

[maryb]

Have been diagnosed with osteoporosis today - it was osteopenia 3yrs ago but I just stuck my head in the sand Doc has prescribed Fossamax and adcal (calc carbonate + vitd3) I don't fancy either

Can anyone reccomend any supplements? I know I looked at a algae and strontium combo a while back for my auntie but can't remember the name, I wouldn't take algae though. I'm sensitive to a lot of stuff so will maybe try strontium on its own plus a good mineral supp if I can find one.
Your advice and info be appreciated.

 

[Sushi]

Have been diagnosed with osteoporosis today - it was osteopenia 3yrs ago but I just stuck my head in the sand Doc has prescribed Fossamax and adcal (calc carbonate + vitd3) I don't fancy either

Can anyone reccomend any supplements? I know I looked at a algae and strontium combo a while back for my auntie but can't remember the name, I wouldn't take algae though. I'm sensitive to a lot of stuff so will maybe try strontium on its own plus a good mineral supp if I can find one.
Your advice and info be appreciated.

I take strontium on its own along with some other bone-protections supplements. Susan Brown Ph.D. has a good blog on bones--presents all the options. http://www.betterbones.com/?id=30&c...+e+brown+phd&gclid=CMH0__PHt7kCFZE7Mgod338AmQ

Personally I wouldn't go near Fosamax or any of that class of drugs. Long term studies don't show benefit and do show some scary side-effects.

Sushi

 

[maryb]

Sushi
thanks I had a quick look at the site, will go back tomorrow - I can probably get my doc to prescribe strontium ranelate - but will have to source other supps.
Which do you take? I'd love a combo that I could tolerate but maybe thats not possible for me.

 

[Sushi]

Sushi
thanks I had a quick look at the site, will go back tomorrow - I can probably get my doc to prescribe strontium ranelate - but will have to source other supps.
Which do you take? I'd love a combo that I could tolerate but maybe thats not possible for me.

I don't take the drug form just 2 caps a day of the supplemental form: http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-strontium-680-mg-per-serving-120-vegetarian-capsules

You might want to research the drug form of strontium. It is not available in the US (or wasn't last time I checked) but I think there were some side-effects reported in Europe.

I once put together all the supplements that were recommended for bones (they are probably listed on that site) and now I just take them with my other supplements and forget which are for bones!

Sushi

 

[maryb]

Sushi
thanks for the strontium link - yes its true a lot of different supps for bones plus what else we need to take, makes you dizzy, I appreciate you taking the time

 

[perchance dreamer]

MaryB, when I got an osteoporosis diagnosis several years ago, my nutritionist recommended strontium and calcium from algae. He thinks that's the most well-absorbed form.

I take this one from Vitamin Code's Grow Bone:

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-V...UTF8&qid=1378506498&sr=1-1&keywords=grow+bone

The nice thing about this is that it has a calcium supplement with supporting vitamins and minerals and a separate strontium supplement. You take the strontium hours apart from the calcium.

In addition, I use Vitamin K2 drops from Thorne and Jarrowsil, which is a type of silicon. I also take a separate magnesium malate/glycinate supplement as well as magnesium oil spray.

I also do exercises for bone density.

I'm overdue for a bone density followup, but about 1/1/2 years ago I had a followup test and had gained 6% improvement in my upper spine. My lumbar had not improved, but it didn't get any worse, either.

The tech said the 6% was really good, considering I don't do the bone drugs.

Good luck!

 

[Ema]

Vitamin K2/MK4 at 45 mg/day...Vit D3 as well.

Make sure your estrogen levels are well above 0. 40-60 min in pg/mL.

Yuck to Fosamax! Not in a million years.

Ema

 

[Little Bluestem]

I was recently diagnosed with osteopenia (lumbar spine) and osteoporosis (hips). My upper spine was not scanned. My doctor recommended a bone supplement - OsteoPrev by Ortho Molecular Products.

It contains:
Vitamin D3
Vitamin K1 & K2 (MK7)
Folic Acid
Calcium
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Selenium
Copper
Manganese
Molybdenum
Ipriflavone
Boron

I was surprised that it only contains 500 mg calcium per day. I was horrified that it contains folic acid. I am one of the nearly four fifths of older women who cannot convert folic acid. I am having to try to find all of the ingredients in approximately the amounts specified except substitute folinic acid for folic acid. It is a pain.

Since you are farther along into osteoporosis, this may not be sufficient for you.

 

[maryb]

perchance dreamer
I did look at this - bothered about the algae?? being so sensitive, but the only way to try is buy!!!
I'm trying to cobble together stuff in my supp cupboard until I decide on a product, got calcium orotate, magnesium, selenium and bits of other stuff - thanks for the K2 reminder Ema. Its been really helpful thanks all.
Little Bluestem
thanks for the link - they do another product Pro Bono which looks okay but still has the folic acid - I won't know until I have my 23and me results analysed whether I can take the folic acid so will wait a bit longer before jumping in.

 

[sianrecovery]

Really sorry to hear this Maryb - me too with this diagnosis. I've taken a lot of stuff in my time., but can no longer take most of the osteoporosis type supps because my kidney's are calcifying. I also worry about the effects of both calcium and magnesium on biofilm infections. I refused the drugs. Dr Myhill is keen on strontium supplementation.
Green leafy veg would seem to be the order of the day, and whatever weight-bearing stuff you can do, however little.

 

[caledonia]

My mom, who had ME/CFS, had a problem with one of the bone drugs (might have been Fosamax, not sure). Anyway, it was an injection that you would get twice a year. She felt horrible from it for six months. Of course, the doc said she had never heard of that happening before.

If you're on an SSRI, there is recent research showing that it's stored in your bones and thus can cause osteoporosis. After you stop taking the med, it can take a year to come back out of your bones.

Note: if you do decide to get off an SSRI, you need to be very cautious. You need to taper very slowly - 10% of the previous dose every 3-6 weeks is a safe schedule. I'm actually going a little slower than this - 10% every 8 weeks. And yes, it may take several years to get safely off these drugs. Doc don't know about this and will give too fast of a taper schedule potentially causing a horrible withdrawal syndrome. See the Paxil Progress forum for more info.

 

[maryb]

caledonia
thanks - I'm not on any SSrIs - only zopiclone.

 

[IreneF]

I have read that natto helps prevent bone loss:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16614424
http://www.osteopenia3.com/Natto-Osteopenia.html

 

[Sherlock]

I think I posted some time ago about high histamine causing osteoporosis - and of course that ties into the Mast Cell angle.

[edit] Here you go, I looked it up: http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/severe-osteoporosis.22763/page-2#post-353365

 

[maryb]

Thanks for that link @Sherlock - its such a problem for those of us who don't want to take calcium products.

 

[Sherlock]

Thanks for that link @Sherlock - its such a problem for those of us who don't want to take calcium products.

I seem to recall a youtube talk where the research-based claim was that more calcium led to more osteoporosis. So not taking calcium might not necessarily be bad. IIRC, the talk was from an MD, maybe Michael Greger the vegan. If I come across that again, I'll post it.

 

[SickOfSickness]

I'm against regular calcium supplements. I have not looked into algae based calcium.

From a study of 45mg daily MK4: "Over the two year period there were 30 new fractures (30.3%) in the women who did not take the MK4, and only 13 fractures (10.9%) in the women who did supplement with 45 mg/day of MK4."

My MK4 capsules are only 5mg, I think most are 5mg or lower

 

[maryb]

I'm still on the hunt for a supplement to take. I've been juicing kale, lettuce and carrots for a couple of months, taking parsley as well as using transdermal minerals. This is okay whilst I'm feeling well, but washing, preparing veg, rubbing the minerals in, its just been too much recently and I realise I'm not well enough to continue this constantly.
So its back to looking at the algaecal supplements, I have MCS and severe intolerances, many of these products have numerous additions to calcium so just wondering if anyone in the same position as me has tried any of them?

 

[maryb]

No-one?

 

[adreno]

As others have suggested, vitamin K2 (MK-4).

You can get it in oil form, which might be more tolerable:
http://www.iherb.com/Thorne-Research-Vitamin-K2-1-fl-oz-30-ml/21592