I believe it is a myth that too much protein intake causes bone loss - this summarizes the point: Gabe Mirkin, M.D.: Studies done many years ago suggested that eating a lot of protein increases calcium loss in the urine and therefore it was thought that eating protein weakens bones by taking calcium out of them. However, recent studies show that eating protein increases calcium absorption so the extra calcium in the urine comes from increased absorption, not from being take out of bones. Reports in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Volume 78, Issue 3, 2003) show that eating plenty of protein and lots of foods from plants helps to keep bones strong. Most scientists now feel that a very low-protein diet can cause osteoporosis, while a moderately high-protein diet may help to prevent it.

'Six to eight weeks,' was always my mantra to my poor mom. She kept gardening long past the time when she should have stopped, even planting a tree just before she turned 90. For her, there was no sudden moment she realized something had happened, she just started having intense back/hip pain. She did have one procedure where something was "glued" to something, but I've forgotten what the procedure was called--it was a great success. She has had many stress fractures in her back but very few in the last few years, as she sits or lies down most of the time now.

The dirt on a diagnosis of osteopenia. "This is the story of how pills for osteopenia ended up in Benghauser's medicine cabinet, and in the medicine cabinets of millions of women like her all over the United States. But more broadly, it's the story of how the definition of what constitutes a disease evolves, and the role that drug companies can play in that evolution. Osteopenia is a condition that only recently started to be thought of as a problem that required treatment. Until the early 1990s, only a handful of people had even heard the word. And to understand how osteopenia was transformed from a rarely heard word into a problem that millions of women swallow pills to treat, you need to go back to the beginning, to a place very far away from Benghauser's suburban Virginia home." "Nevertheless, 17 years later Banghauser, of Richmond, Va., a woman whose bone density is just a hair away from that of the average healthy 30-year old, is not only medicated for osteopenia but literally spends her days worried about breaking a bone. "I used to run marathons, and I would fall and trip on broken sidewalks," she told me. "And you know initially before I had this diagnosis I didn't think anything of it. But now every time I fall I get up and think, 'Oh, good, I haven't broken anything.' " "I'm much more aware of making sure I lift my feet up and I don't trip on the sidewalks, but you know, if I didn't know that I had osteopenia, maybe I wouldn't be so cautious." So how did osteopenia change from a category for public health researchers into a condition that millions of women swallow pills to treat?" NPR As for Vitamin D, no one should be taking more than 1000 IUs daily unless advised to take more by their Doctor.

I was diagnosed two years ago. I had menopause at 39, after chemo, and probably missed out on a good twenty years of estrogen. I have been taking Prolia shots. It's twice a year, no big deal, no side effects for me, and my last bone density scan showed an improvement in the hip and spine, as well as a stable wrist. I can't tolerate calcium or vitamin D supplements. They give me digestive issues, so I am just winging it. My next-door neighbor had those monthly shots for a year (can't recall the name of the drug) and had no issues. But she had her arm just snap one day, with no warning. I think that's why she had to do that. She is on Prolia now. The Prolia is quite expensive, but Medicare covers it. I have to go to a hematologist for the shot, but it's like getting a flu shot, except that it doesn't hurt afterwards at all. I asked the orthopedist who gave me my new hip about the femur fractures, and he said that he had seen it only once in 40 years of practice. Good luck!