First BMD in 8 years

[Mindy777]

I got a BMD and have been considering echolyte in the year ahead to inform my numbers with more information. I wonder what some of your concerns for me might be as I debate medication or no medication.

I am an active 68 year old woman. I walked 920 miles in 8 weeks in a wellness competition. I am not fast, but I work hard. That meant walking 15-17 miles a day for those 8 weeks.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 50 which I had all my life but never was easy to diagnose. I never had unusual digestive symptoms but I had skin and brain symptoms as I sort it out looking back. Being GF has been a positive help in my life. I eat a plant based diet, taking perfect aminos to supplement so I get good quality easy to absorb essential amino acids. I take zinc, B12, and omega 3. I do not drink any alchohol. Eat sugar not more than 1 time a week if that and enjoy it.

From age 60 to 68, my bone density in hips went from T score -1.3 to -2.6, Hips from 3.0 to 3.2.

Z scores are from -.1 to -.5 for spine, -1.6 to -1.8 for hips.

As these were the post menopausal years for me, and bigger drops are "normal" I wonder. How might my bone quality be an important part of this decision. My family has a 3 generation of multiple myeloma (and bone increasing medications are a high risk for me). My celiac disease probably meant I never developed the FULL bone density of the model healthy person ever.

My NTX test in 2019 was lowest end of normal which sounds good for low bone turnover. I have never had spinal fracture, and only had 1 terrible bone fx when i was low 30's where my foot bones ankle had terrible fracture. That was a hint about celiac disease, but no one thought so then. Diagnosed 18 years later.

Might you share your story without medications? How can i be most caring to my unusual body?

[Met00]

I was diagnosed at age 58 with t-scores of -2.3 hip and -3.2 spine. I took medication for a year, but have taken nothing pharmaceutical since, as it caused too many side effects. I've focussed on exercise, a healthy diet and supplements, particularly since my second DEXA scan, which, nearly 4 years after the first, gave scores of -2.5 hip and -3.6 spine. 15 months after that, I had a REMS (echolight) scan, which gave scores of -2.6 for both hip and spine. I trust REMS far more than DEXA, because it's more fully automated and therefore less open to error. I've had two further REMS scans and seen my hip score stay more or less the same, while my spine score has improved significantly, although at my last REMS my hip strength was poorer. I've been taking a low dose of strontium citrate, which I'm fairly sure has been responsible for the huge improvement in my spine score (good spine strength too), so am now upping my exercise, especially strength training, in the hope of improving my hip scores too. I don't have your health issues, just IBS (under fairly good control for the past few years), which probably contributed to low blood vitamin D and consequential bone loss. Once I knew about this, I took a high dose D supplement for a year or two, but once I got my IBS under better control my blood D level shot up, so I now only take about 2000iu daily, for a blood level of about 40ng/ml (100nmol/litre).

[Mindy777 in reply to Met00]

where did you get a REMS test? far from home? Did you get a fragility score? Is that changing with your good habits?

[Met00 in reply to Mindy777]

I live in England, where we're lucky to have a REMS facility that holds clinics around the country, with, even easier for me, their base not far from where I live. I've had 3 REMS scans, and only the first one didn't have the fragility score (the software was produced after they bought their first machine, but they subsequently upgraded). The fragility score gives an indication of bone strength, which improved between scans for my spine but worsened for my hip. As I explained, I think the improvement in my spine may have been largely due to taking a low dose strontium citrate supplement, which has more effect on the spine than the hips. I hadn't been consistent with exercise and had had a poor year or more with it, for a variety of reasons. I'm hoping the weight training I'm now doing will improve things again! Dr Birch, the orthopaedic consultant who runs the clinics, explained that bone strength reduces quite rapidly if you stop exercising, but improves again when you take it up again - he'd seen a change in one of his patients, who he's monitoring for a study, in just a few months.