Anyone here been diagnosed with osteoporosis?

Hi, I feel your pain. I am 55 but have also been diagnosed with osteoporosis. I am not a fast runner but have completed numerous 5Ks and one half marathon, no injuries or symptoms but a dexascan showed very scary numbers. I also ride horses so I'm engaging in somewhat risky behaviors.

I see your post is a little old, have you sought out a specialist? From what I have read, low weight weightlifting and low impact activities could gently build density. Of course boniva and other bone strengthening meds would be indicated I'd think.

I'm intending to balance my running with low intensity gym workouts and lifting, conservatively.

More than anything, and I'm no expert, would be to listen to your body.

Let me know what you have learned!

Make sure you are getting plenty of sodium (low sodium leaches calcium from bones).

Also get on a low carb/high fat diet to get your hormones into balance. Whole saturated fats from grass-fed animal sources along with copious non-starchy vegetables. Hyperinsulemia wreaks havoc throughout the hormonal system.

I was first diagnosed with Osteopenia in my 20s in all three areas (femur, spine, hip), and then got it upped to Osteporosis in my spine a few years ago (I'm 43). I didn't start running until my mid-30s - a decade after I first was diagnosed with Osteopenia.

Post-osteoporosis DX, I managed to get my spine back down to Osteopenia with a) large doses of vitamin D (4000 IUD a day) and b) being really careful about avoiding gluten and lactose (I'm intolerant of both, and when I consume either my GI tract gets inflamed and I don't absorb the nutrients I need - I'm pretty sure this does not apply to you)

I would strongly suggest getting your vitamin D checked, and talking with your doctor about supplementation. (note: I am NOT recommending that you just start supplementing without discussing with a medical pro first).

I'd be very wary of Boniva, Fossamax, and similar drugs. My understanding is that they work by slowing bone turnover. Which is great for little old ladies who are shedding bone mass and not replacing it - it slows their bone loss. However, younger people like you and I are constantly replacing older bone with new bone, as a response to the stress we place on our bones. And that's a good thing. And I'm very fearful about interfering with that process.

There's not the same depth of literature and studies for use of the bone density meds in younger women as there is in post-menopausal women. And that worries me, because pre-menopausal and post-menopausal are two completely different populations for purposes of this discussion.

I'm also not sure that bone density is the best metric of bone health. Bones can be dense, but brittle.

FWIW (and at the risk of jinxing myself), I have had two broken bones in my life - one was a broken wrist from a fall as a kid; the other was a broken 2nd metatarsal - it snapped while running (I made the mistake trying to train through a posterior tib injury on my other foot - this was a compensation injury). Interestingly - the bone density in my feet is supposedly excellent.

I've trained for and run 7 marathons over the past 5 years. In the past few years, I've generally hovered around 55-60 MPW when training; in the past I've run weeks of 80+ MPW, even up to 90+. I've yet to have any fractures in the areas noted as trouble spots on my dexa scan. (Again, fingers crossed). My injuries (excepting the one broken metatarsal) have always been soft tissue - plantar fascititis, high hamstring tendonitis, etc.

I hope this information is of some help to you.

I’m a 50 year old very active woman, triathlete, and recently diagnosed with osteopenia. I suffered a stress fracture (fifth metatarsal) while training and my doctor ordered a dexa scan - the results show osteopenia. My orthopedic doctor advises me to stop running even after my toe is healed. He cites the Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/.../osteoporosis/art-20044989 and https://ageless-nutrition.com/staying-active-with-osteoporosis/ He also questioned if I was eating enough, insinuating that I was starving myself for better race results, that I might be anorexic. I don't think he understands what an athlete is supposed to look like or what a healthy body composition is. I'm at 11% body fat according to my Tanita scale .

JillA wrote:

I’m a 50 year old very active woman, triathlete, and recently diagnosed with osteopenia. I suffered a stress fracture (fifth metatarsal) while training and my doctor ordered a dexa scan - the results show osteopenia. My orthopedic doctor advises me to stop running even after my toe is healed. He cites the Mayo Clinic

https://www.mayoclinic.org/.../osteoporosis/art-20044989

and

https://ageless-nutrition.com/staying-active-with-osteoporosis/

He also questioned if I was eating enough, insinuating that I was starving myself for better race results, that I might be anorexic. I don't think he understands what an athlete is supposed to look like or what a healthy body composition is. I'm at 11% body fat according to my Tanita scale .

11% for a woman is extremely low despite the fact you’re an athlete. Especially for an older woman.

When I first started xc my freshman year in high school. I lost my period for over a year and was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I did not realize the extent until I had 3 stress fractures along my shins and horrible shin splints. After taking off a few months and eating healthy (and more food), I got my period back. Being a runner you have to eat more or you will simply drown in injuries. You need to make sure you have a balanced diet and are eating the most whole foods you can find. Don’t eat a lot of processed junk, so basically stay to the primenter of the grocery store.

darkwave wrote:

I'd be very wary of Boniva, Fossamax, and similar drugs. My understanding is that they work by slowing bone turnover. Which is great for little old ladies who are shedding bone mass and not replacing it - it slows their bone loss. However, younger people like you and I are constantly replacing older bone with new bone, as a response to the stress we place on our bones. And that's a good thing. And I'm very fearful about interfering with that process.

I totally agree with this. I was diagnosed with osteopenia at age 50 and after doing a lot of reading on the mode of action of the bisphosphonates (like Boniva, Fosamax, etc), I concluded that an active person would be nuts to use those drugs. I'm older than you and the OP but still extremely active and I think your conclusions apply just as well to me. I made sure to get enough calcium and vitamin D and went on a very low dose of progestin/estrogen, despite having none of the menopausal symptoms for which that treatment is generally prescribed. My most recent DEXA scan was much better.

Yes. And at 22, you can still reverse it. I was diagnosed with osteopenia when I was 18. A DXA at age 30 showed completely normal bone density. Women continue to build bone until about 30. I agree that bisphosponates are NOT a good solution (make bones brittle), but look into Forteo. Very few, if any, insurance cover It (and if not, it's $5k a month), but REALLY promising results. It acts on your parathyroid to decrease bone remodeling time. Many stress fracture prone elite athletes have been put on it to speed stress fx healing or prevent them.