39M Osteoporosis
I'm not much of a writer, and a pretty private person not used to sharing any personal information. But I'm leaving this here to hopefully give back to the community and maybe someone would find this useful in some small way.
I (M) got diagnosed with osteoporosis at 39, on a routine health screening, where I accidentally selected a wrong screening option. lumbar spine -2.4, and left femoral neck, hip, forearm all around -0.7. Compared to many, this is relatively minor (I guess), but somehow I had a bad emotional reaction and felt terribly worried and helpless. Luckily I came across this sub, and silently read through the various posts, which gave me an idea of what resources to use, what others have done, and this helped mentally knowing that many have had similar experiences, and there's a way forward.
The endocrinologist didn't want to put me on meds at this age (luckily). She out me through a battery of blood tests, 24h urine test, and apparently nothing was out of normal, except for having Vit D on the lower end of normal. I was then asked to be careful not to fall, don't do impact sports, come back if I experience any back aches or fractures. See you in a year's time. Having read this forum, I asked about LIFTMOR and whether I should consider it. She had not heard of it, and said that weight bearing exercises could help although it'll be a risk. My GP had not heard of LIFTMOR either, and had a similar response. I visited a second endocrinologist, and he also had not heard of LIFTMOR, and mentioned that with scores like this, it's too risky to be doing these lifts.
I'm built small (155cm/54kg) and never had a fracture. I also hated just sitting on my hands, knowing that's a sure fire way for nothing to change. I visited a physiotherapist hoping to get some guidance on LIFTMOR, but again, not familiar with the protocol, and it was deemed too risky.
Anyway I decided that since I have not experienced a fracture before, I'd just give it a go, and play on the safe side of things - lift what I feel very comfortable with, no pushing to the limits, and only with good posture. I started with 20kg deadlifts, 10kg squats, 2kg overhead press. I only added weights when I complete 3 sets of 10, and feel like I have much more in the tank. That way, I built up to 65kg deadlifts, 25kg squats, 17kg overhead press. I did these exercises 2-3 times a week. Aimed to drink more milk, eat clean, sleep better.
After about 8 months of exercise, my scans have improved somewhat- -2.1 lumbar spine, and 0.0 for everything else. Although still in the osteoporosis range, I'm heartened that things are improving. In my heart I hope that this trend continues. I've no idea why the lumbar spine doesn't respond as well as the other parts of the body, seemed that it should be the other way round.
Anyway, what I've learnt is that doctors may mean well, but they don't know everything, and many just follow a playbook to treat this illness. Don't be too disheartened, advocate for myself, ask doctors more questions, and read up. Push myself physically, but listen to my body on what I can take, and err on the safe side. Take care nutritionally and in sleep too.
I know this is a "special" case, no specific root cause, and I luckily happened to respond to some exercise. I hope everyone is able to work through this in their own way, and hopefully see some progress too.
Sorry for the long rambles.