PMR, PREDNISONE, CALCIUM, OSTEOPOROSIS

[Sadie1024]

I have PMR and Osteoporosis. If I get 1500 mg of calcium from food daily would I need to take any supplements? My doctor said to take 1500 mg of calcium daily. I also take 13mg of prednisone daily. I have been on prednisone for 16 months.

[SheffieldJane]

Most people do take a supplement. Prednisalone, I think, interferes with the absorption of Calcium into the bones. Having said that I took Adcal for 2 years of my 3 year PMR duration (so far) and found that it was causing quite bad bladder irritation. My GP was happy to take me off it and just prescribe vit D. I have a fairly Calcium rich diet too.

[Soraya_PMR]

Add in vitamin K2 to aid absorption and prunes. Yup, prunes are proven to help your bones. 3-5 a day depending on..... you know 😉

[Sadie1024 in reply to Soraya_PMR]

I take K2 and Vit D.

[Linny3]

I take a probiotic because the gut is everything when it comes to absorption. I don't know what the pred. is doing to my intestinal trac so I try to protect it.

[Sadie1024 in reply to Linny3]

Thank you, I will look at that.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

With your diet you maybe don't need the full amount of supplement, half may be plenty. 1500mg is the RDA for our age group when healthy, we aren't healthy and we are also on medication that interferes with calcium metabolism.

The idea of the extra calcium is so there is plenty available for the body to absorb - pred makes you lose calcium through your urine, the extra helps reduce the risk of loss of bone density. Equally important though is your vit D status - has that been checked? It must be kept high enough - and I find that without a supplement mine falls to very low levels despite me being outside a lot in the north of Italy where theoretically we are able to make vit D from sunlight all year round.

[Sadie1024 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you. If I consumed 1500 in food would 500 in supplements cause a problem of calcafication of my blood vains?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Sadie1024]

Unlikely - if you are worried about the report that said calcium supplements cause calcification the work was done with regard to young healthy women NOT taking vit D as well. We do not come under that heading I fear! It is important to have an adequate vit D level and vit K2 intake too - HeronNS is the expert on that here.