I spent the most part of two years in bed when I got PN. The only other potential cause of my osteoporosis that I can identify is the 10 years that I was on 40mg/day of Nexium.

I have never supplemented with calcium because I thought men were not supposed to take it.

I am 44, now with PN and severe osteoporosis. What do I do?

Have you had your vit D level tested? Low D leads to poor absorption of any calcium in the diet.

People with RSD....they typically get osteoporosis with this.
But also steroids can trigger it when they are used to treat inflammatory problems. If your severe pain has resulted from RSD which is not diagnosed properly, this can be a factor.

Low levels of certain nutrients may also cause it.... low B12, Low magnesium and recently K2 and of course low calcium all play roles in bone building. If you drink milk, eat cheeses, and green veggies, you are getting calcium there too. The vitamin K is made by bacteria in the bowel, and your long term use of Cipro may have killed them off, unfortunately. So you may be low in Vit K and not know it.

I'd get your testosterone tested too. Testosterone is the bone building hormone for men.

Certainly your long term Nexium use did not help any either.

Thank you Mrs. D.

I've never heard of RSD, I will look into that. I've never taken any steroids, testosterone is being checked now. Five years ago, my T level was at the top but I suppose that could have changed by now and perhaps PN (or RSD) has had an effect on it if that is a possibility. D level is also being checked. That will be interesting since I have been taking it daily without fail ever since a low reading about five years ago.

I do take magnesium and B-12 supplements religiously but not K2 nor do I think I get any in my diet.

Men are always told to avoid calcium supplementation but I am learning now that is not the rule every man should follow.

Don't count on dairy products to build strong bones. This is fraud perpetrated on the American people for over a century by dairy groups and the federal govt. The countries with the highest dairy consumption also have the highest levels of osteoporosis, and the U.S. is one of the highest in both categories. While correlation does not imply causation, in the least our high dairy consumption is not protecting us. Look into it.
Ron

Milk is just one of many sources of calcium.

I can't drink bovine milk

many orange juices today have added calcium.

As do soy and almond "milks." Many of them advertise 50% more calcium than dairy milk. Of course you can also get it from fruits and vegetables. Where do you think adult cows get calcium? Maybe many of the factory-farmed cows are supplemented these days, I don't know, but grass-fed cows get their calcium from grass.
Ron

Yes, totally. Question all those assumptions we've been fed about milk.

The US and the Netherlands have the highest consumption of milk in the world and the US has the highest rate of osteoporosis in the world.

Most Chinese are milk intolerant and most of China, Asia, Africa do not drink milk beyond breast milk and they all have the strongest bones in the world.

Is the human animal, which has been around for millions of years, really required to drink the milk of a domesticated cow meant for a calf to have strong bones?

In fact, lots of milk, red meat, white refined grains, sugar all may actually suck / leech calcium from your bones into the digestive system to digest these.

Moreover, is the human animal, which has been around for millions of years, really required to take a calcium pill (which has only be around the last century) to have strong bones?

The body has a complicated, delicate chemistry balance. Shooting up calcium alone with a pill, affects other chemical values. Studies are starting to show that many of the women who got on the kick to sell calcium supplements in the past couple of decades are now developing heart problems.

How does the human animal naturally have strong bones and why don't we have them? Why do Chinese, Asia, Africa have next to no osteoporsis?

They are out in the sun (natural vitamin D) putting lots of natural strain on their limbs (natural regular exercise) eating lots of basic simple whole foods (such as simple greens) that have the whole range of balanced chemicals needed.

As a side note - ground black sesame seeds also have lots of natural calcium, along with other compounds. The Japanese eat lots of this and have very little osteoporosis.

The Chinese also have next to no breast cancer and people are starting to think our explosion is due to added hormones in the milk we drink.


Natalie

I am 95% vegan, do not drink any animal milk, very low sugar, only whole grains and seeds. I juice every day: spinach, kale, beets, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, Brazil nuts, Chia seeds, blueberries, apples, coconut water and mint.

So, no meat, no milk and no white or processed foods and I have always been strong and healthy (pre-PN). As far as I know, the two contributing factors for my osteoporosis are Nexium for 10 years which is known to leech calcium (didn't know it at the time though) and about two years of inactivity since my PN diagnosis. It really took me down and I am inactive a lot of the time. I do weight bearing exercises when possible but certainly not every day and some days all I can do is stretch and that can be very painful.

I agree with a lot of what you said about bovine milk and osteoporosis. I don't like it anyway so it is very easy to avoid.