Increasing Calcium in diet for Osteoporosis

Calculating risk in your case is irrelevant MOnica. You already know the risk. If you read the notes about the risk checker, it says that it's not for people with already-diagnosed osteoporosis.

As I've explained before, your risk was established decades ago. Everybody loses bone mineral density, so the trick is to build up a high level when you're young and bone is still being formed.

which I have every reason to assume I did.

I appreciate the ROS questionnaire is not for those already diagnosed, but had I done it this time last year...........

M0nica

which I have every reason to assume I did.

I appreciate the ROS questionnaire is not for those already diagnosed, but had I done it this time last year...........

You can't know that after all these years.

Shwez

Hi you need to take K2 along with D3 . The K2 takes the calcium and puts it in your bones

I tried vitamin K and had a very bad experience. Ended up with gastritis which took 4 months to clear.

*amount of calcium in a pint of milk is unchanged whether you drink whole milk or skimmed milk.*

I understood that skimmed milk has slightly more calcium? In any case that's the only kind I drink as I don't really like the taste.

MOnica The important risk number for you is your future risk of breaking a bone after a minor fall.

Presumably, you know your T score, which can then be used in addition to other risk factors, using FRAX, to calculate your risk of having a fracture.

I was given all my data after I had a DXA scan. I have osteopenia and my 10 year risk is 15%.

Optimal levels of calcium, Vit D and exercise might help. I understand you were taking part in a UK Biobank study when this was all discovered. You probably know that Biobank has a vast data bank and is currently trying to find links between genetics, environment and lifestyle. It could be that there are risk factors which haven't yet been discovered.

The information will be helpful at a national or global level. At an individual level, there's nothing anybody can do about their genes, environment or past lifestyle history. I've had breast cancer, a heart attack and was diagnosed as T2 diabetic in my mid 30s. A risk tool wouldn't have shown that I was at particularly high risk of any of them _ I guess I just drew some short straws. That doesn't mean I don't do what I can to reduce my risk for the future (although I wish people would stop trying to sell snake oil).

I just used this FRAX tool to calculate my risk over the next 10 years.

frax.shef.ac.uk/FRAX/tool.aspx?country=19

I'm 68, but then changed my age to 80.

My risk of a major osteoporotic incident changed from 15% to 36%. My risk of a hip fracture changed from 3.6% to 26%. There is absolutely nothing I can do about getting older - in fact, I'd prefer to get older than the alternative.

growstuff I know absolutely nothing about osteoporosis that I have not found out for myself.

As I have said I haven't seen a doctor or nurse and my minimal contact with the hospital has been two short conversations, clearly with a doctor with a long list of calls to make and wanting to get through them as quickly as possible. In them, all I was told was that I had osteoporosis and they were putting me on medication for life, thank you and good bye, you will not be hearing from us again.

I was surprised to discover I had the problem because, apart from anything else, I fall over regularly. I have a weak ankle and dyspraxia, and despite some quite bad falls, I have never broken anything, except the recently discovered fractured vertibrae, which I trace back to a fall 12 years ago, when I slipped on a wet grassy bank and landed with a thump on my back.

As I said I was surprised by the diagnosis as I tick none of the boxes that predispose me to the problem, but my real complaint has been about the casual way the hospital has treated me. I have been given none of the information you have received. As no one has seen me, beyond the DEXA scan, those dealing with me have no idea how fit or frail I am, have no idea what my exercise level is, no idea whether I I would benefit from seeing a physiotherapist or specialised nurse. In fact they know absolutely nothing about me apart from a DEXA scan and a date of birth.

I have just been given a pill and dismissed to sink or swim.

Monica, is it worth asking to speak to your GP about this and ask for some clarity?
I find it strange that you have had no follow up appointment.
My GP always contacts me after receiving a letter advising of new medication.

MOnica I'm a little confused. Your DEXA scan will give you a T score. If you haven't received your results, you can request them. The letter I received also had my FRAX results, which gave me my risk of suffering an osteoporotic fracture. Whoever subscribed you medication will have received those results and will know how frail you are.

You've obviously looked at the ROS site, which gives you all the information you need. There are suggested exercises and guidelines about nutrition and other lifestyle changes. What other advice do you think you could be given?

Incidentally, you do tick a box which predisposes you to osteoporosis - your age.

Did you have a hospital DEXA scan or was it only the Biobank one?

This is part of the letter I received from the hospital.

If you haven't received similar information, make a formal request for it.

Apart from that, I don't see what you're expecting of anybody. You've been given medication. You know about nutrition and exercise. There's nothing else anybody can do.

growstuff I have received letters from the hospital. They do not contain any of the data included in your letter - and that is the whole point. All I have received is one letter stating I am minus one number on one joint and a different number on another, no explanation, and recommendng I be put on a specific drug (not Alendronic Aci). Nothng happened,

I waited 4 months then contacted my GP who knew nothing about it and said that that specific drug can only be administered by the hospital.

I contacted the hospital and was given another telephone appointment three months further on, when after a brief chat I was put on Alendronic Acid and referred to the ROS site. I have been told to make sure I consume a certain dose of Vit D every day and have a certain level of calcium, but no information on how I can do it, whether I might have any problems, Just referring me to the ROS site is not sufficient unless they know I know how to do so and am capable of dealing with information it contains. The letter ends I have not arranged any further follow-up but wish you all the best. In other words we have done all we are going to do, you are on your own now.

The hospital does not know whether I am a thin and frail old lady, struggling to manage and with carers or someone still generally healthy, who keeps fit and is more than capable of finding their way round a computer. So they have no way of knowing whether I am capable of dealing with the minimal advice I have been given or not andwhether I am in a position to know how to find any other help and advice I might need. It is fine to say that I am able enough and knowledgeable enough to find out all I need, this hospital is dealing with lots of people who get the minimal help and advice I have received and who are not capable of following it up.

I might add that while, objectively, I think the ROS site is very good, personally I find it way to much touchy feely, walking in your shoes, for me. I find it very off putting

Marydoll, I have lost all confidence in my GP following another associated problem I have. With this I have been reduced to referring myself to a private consultant to get the problem properly assessed.

To be fair to my GP we are in an area where thousands of new houses are being built every year. The surgery has just got consent to double the number of consulting rooms to meet the growing demand, our GPs are absolutely overwhelmed and I have no idea where they are going to get the new GPs necessary to meet this increasing load.

I'm sure you know how to use Google. The ROS website isn't difficult to find.

So you have had your scores! What else do you want?

You're already receiving all the treatment which is recommended and available. There's nothing else any doctor or nurse can do.

GPs just don't have the time to hold their patients' hands and go through with them information they've already been given.

If you have money to waste now, you could try getting a private consultation and being told what you already know and being given the drug you're already being given.

Did the hospital actually do a DEXA scan? If they did, they would have assessed you for frailty (physical and mental) at the time.

PS. The ROS site has excellent, factual information. I don't know why you think it's touchy, feely. It sounds as though yo think medical treatment and advice should be tailor made.

You haven't been given minimal advice. You've been given good advice! There isn't anything else. Your risk factor will increase as you age - and there's absolutely nothing anybody can do about that.

The letter ending said it all really. There's nothing they can do and you don't need anything else.

In them, all I was told was that I had osteoporosis and they were putting me on medication for life, thank you and good bye, you will not be hearing from us again

Either the hospital or the GP should check you, probably annually, to make sure the medication is working properly.

DH was put on medication for a different problem six months ago; the medication has not had the desired effect but trying to get a telephone appointment to discuss this with the GP who prescribed this initially is nigh on impossible.
He managed to make an appointment with a different GP in three weeks' time.

growstuff of course medical advice should be specific to the patient, the advice to a frail inactive person who has suffered several fractures and has osteoporosis should be different to that given to a fit, active, otherwise entirely healthy person with te same disease.

I did say that I thought the ROS site was very good. It is. Its tone just doesn't suit me and it is too bitty, but I made it clear that was a comment on me, not the site. I am getting information from more impersonal medical advice sites.

But as I said. I think every patient with a problem serious enough for them to be referred to a consultant or hospital department should expect to be seen at least once by a doctor or specialised nurse, who can speak to them direct, visually assess them and talk through any queries about medication, treatment or self care. They should also, in most cases, where there is a continuing condition, be seen annually by the GP, practice nurse, or similar medical worker to check for any problems, developments that might need a re-referral to a specialist or a change in medication.

Monica I can only agree with you but for some reason with Osteoporosis it doesn't seem to work that way, all the running has to be done by you. I do wonder if its a bit like the sympathy people get when they have a broken bone all plastered up and when you have something nobody can see. I have also done my own research and having had lockdown etc have had a DEXA scan recently after 3 years instead of two but I had to ask for one. No follow up whatsoever. I take calcium and Vitamin D but apparently won't be going back on the Alendronic Acid at present. I have made a note in the diary to sort that out myself.
Chats with a nutritionist won't tell you much you probably don't know and anyway the food advice changes with the wind but if you want a private consultation make sure they are properly registered etc.
It is a difficult thing to deal with and yes it is one that you are left on your own with as a GP said to me, we won't do anything unless you break another bone!!!

I wonder how people who are too ill, too old or too unfamilar with modern technology to actively find out what they can do to manage their osteoporosis for themselves do.

Presumably resign themselves to constant bone fractures until they are so disabled that they have to go into a care home.

I wonder how people who are too ill, too old or too unfamilar with modern technology to actively find out what they can do to manage their osteoporosis for themselves do.

Monica, your statement could apply to any condition. DH and I had this conversation last night after my emergency GP visit.

My DH said he was relieved that I was so knowledgeable about my many conditions and wondered how those less well informed and non IT literate coped or survived.
I had to make suggestions about what medication the trainee GP could not prescribe, due to contraindications and remind her my kidney function needed checked. I know this because I have to keep up to date to maintain some quality of life and do so online.
It is an unfair and discriminatory world indeed.

Marydoll, It is something I feel very strongly about. My daughter nearly died during the COVID shut downs, because her GP forgot to order a test, that one look at her would have made urgent and then refused to see her until scans he had ordered took place.

She saved her own life by ringing the health authority everyday asking about her scans until they got fed up with her and found a location for her to have them.

When the relevant test was done, it was panic stations with her being put on huge doses of the appropriate medication,.

I told this story to a nurse I was seeing at our local hospital. She was appalled and said, even during COVID she should have been blued and twoed to hospital for emergency treatment. The medication route, which thankfully worked, was the surgeries way of covering up their mistakes and they were lucky she didn't die. She was described as being 'critically' ill. in other words, recovery not guaranteed.

Weight lifting is excellent for strengthening bones as the muscles pull the bone and it learns to strengthen itself

Vitamin K is essential to keep calcium in bones and keep it out of soft tissues like arteries, and kidneys (no kidney stones).

I take 3000 IU of vitamin D with 75ug vitamin K everyday.

The one I take is a little spray bottle called Better You- red label. The recommended dose is three sprays per day.