Readers Summary
- What are the rules that govern The Osteoporosis Rx?
- Does old age cause osteoporosis?
- Are synthetic hormones as good as bioidentical hormones?
- What is the exercise Rx for osteoporosis?
- What is The Osteoporosis Rx?
Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become weak and are more likely to break. People with osteoporosis most often break bones in the hip, spine, and wrist. If you think this problem is not common, let me pick up the rock you must have been sleeping under. In the United States, more than 60 million people either already have osteoporosis or are at high risk, due to low bone mass. Many people falsely believe that fats and proteins can harm bone density because of some flawed data in childhood epilepsy data. Recently, these ideas have been overturned.
RULE 1. If one is leptin resistant, Wolff’s law is null and void, and you are at very high risk for a fractured vertebrae or hip/wrist. Tissue levels of DHA are low and your sulfated vitamin D3 from sun cycles are also altered. You should stop here and go read EMF-8 Quantum Bone for the pathophysiology of this disease. The key features are to increase your seafood intake. You should also consider spring water intake to 1-1.5 gallons of non fluoridated water a day and strict avoidance of artificial blue light frequencies and the use of pulsed EMF technology devices. This means that “normal conventional wisdom osteoporotic treatments” and exercise will not heal or strengthen a bone until the underlyig pathophysiology is repaired first. When a person has high levels of leptin, it eventually drives cortisol higher and this stimulates even more inflammatory cytokines from cells. As this occurs, LR develops all over the body. Cortisol is one of the major hormones involved in the sympathetic nervous system. When cortisol is chronically high, as I told you in the Hormone 101 blog, it’s bad news. When someone is leptin resistant, they block osteocalcin’s main function and this causes osteoporosis. This is one major reason why fat people lose their bone. It also definitely proves that Wolff’s law is null and void when you are LR. Even resistance exercise maybe harmful when this occurs. Bone only strengthens when the underlying hormonal terroir is working properly. In LR, it is seriously broken. Ketosis is protective to bone.
RULE 2. Andropause and Menopause are associated with osteoporosis, and not caused by it. In both situations the best treatment to overcome it is to change your diet to a high fat and protein diet. You would be a wise patient to avoid all bisphosphonate drugs until it’s too late. This will be hard to do, because most clinicians will push drug treatments over evolutionary medicine treatments. Remember The Seven Dwarfs of menopause: Itchy, bitchy, sleepy, sweaty, bloated, forgetful, and all dried up…and the bones are real dried up!
RULE 3. A bad diet is a common cause of osteoporosis, or osteopenia, and not menopause or andropause. Low marine based diets and Low vitamin K2, dehydration, and poor intracellular magnesium status are the major players. Vitamin K2 is a fat soluble vitamin so eating fats is a smart play. Bad hormones assays are additive to the problem. Hormones are a proxy for the amount of electrons in our mitochondria. This ties directly to a high redox potential. This is important to understand because I see 30% of patients below 35 yrs old now suffering with bad bone when I perform a spine surgery on them. I find this incidentally often at surgery, when we are inserting a screw into the bone and it feels like the screw is going in sheetrock compared to a wall stud. Once this happens, I run some tests post op and find out that they do have it. I no longer rely on bone density testing. If you go and have a formal bone density study done, often its findings make the doctor believe that you have no bone issues present. Why? Because the standard bone density tests are neither sensitive or specific enough to pick up more subtle disease. The gold standard in diagnosis occurs when a surgeon places a screw or needle into the bone at surgery or biopsy. Nothing is more accurate. It also must be remembered that osteoporosis in evolution will not affect the entire skeleton uniformly all at once. It tends to affect certain areas before others, and can give a patchy distribution over the skeleton. This also is another reason why the bone density exams are off because they represent and arithmetic average of the bones sampled, and not the true overall bone density. The most accurate place to check bone density is in the wrist, because in this area, humans rarely get weak bone or osteoarthritis that can falsely elevate the result. Yes, osteoarthritis is the most common cause of false positive testing with standard bone density testing. Just about everyone in the USA has OA over the age of fifty. Sadly, few clinicians realize this and most imaging centers and hospitals do not spend the extra money to buy the scanning equipment to get accurate bone assays. I send all my cases to my endocrinologist, who has bought the wrist module needed for accuracy for his own bone density scanner. It is that important.
RULE 4. Osteoporosis is conventionally thought of as a disease of aging. That has to stop because it is old school conventional wisdom. What is closer to the truth is the patient’s diet. The worse the patient’s diet is, the more likely osteoporosis will be present regardless of age. The younger generation has massive unrecognized osteopenia present because they have lived surrounded by processed food and have avoided seafood. I found this out the hard way in many spine surgeries over the last 15 years. This is due to the SAD, which causes high inflammation levels, low vitamin D levels (from lack of D in the diet), pregnenolone steal syndrome (reducing the formation of D3 in the body) and liberal use of sunblock and lack of outdoor activity to gain sun exposure. I wrote about this and shared it with some of my spine and orthopedic colleagues in 2007. I was ignored back then. Two weeks ago the North American Spine Society met in Chicago. An abstract was presented at this meeting by Dr. Jacob Buchowski. His paper won the Whitecloud Award during our recent IMAST meeting this year. It was also a hot topic talked about during the recent NASS meeting. The subject of his 2011 paper was finding an alarmingly high rate of low pre-operative vitamin D3 status in spine fusion patients. In his paper, he mentions that there are now 1 billion people worldwide with Vitamin D3 levels below 30 ng/mL. 27% of those with hypovitaminosis have levels below 20 ng/mL. Vitamin D problems are usually associated with Vitamin A issues as well tied to poor melanopsin signaling. Most spine surgeons are unaware of how Vitamin A and Vitamin D cycles are feedback loops of one another. These people carry excessive risks for spine surgery or any bone surgery. It affects their bones, muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, and discs. In my own practice I push sun exposure and use PBM/LLLT for those who are willing to go all in. PBM = photobiomodulation and LLLT = low level laser therapy. Most people know it as red light therapy. How to use it in bone and muscle healing is somewhat different. I teach my patients how to do it on a case by case basis. This very fact means that their prognosis is going to be suboptimal, no matter how well the surgery is done. When vitamin D3 levels are low bone regeneration is badly impaired because the DC current in bone is altered. Bad substrate bone cannot be overcome with technique, hardware, or artificial bone morphogenic proteins. It is like trying to build a house with termite infested wood. PBM and LLLT can augment healing in many cases because it increases oxygenation and ATP production.
Sadly, most surgeons and patients only find this out during the surgery because few surgeons are screening in depth for this now a very common disease. This disease is easy to pick up on pre-operative MRI’s The bigger concern I have always had is that patients who are undergoing this type of surgery get simultaneous spikes in cortisol the day of surgery (due to stress), and in the postoperative period for weeks, and this causes a massive transient pregnenolone steal syndrome. They also get pre-op and post-op antibiotics that alter their gut flora and effect the Vitamin K recycle and can cause gut dysbiosis for up to 12 months post-treatment. This further deteriorates the bone quality for surgery and recovery postoperatively. It is the perfect storm for a suboptimal outcome if you do not expect it. Moreover, recent orthopedic data on peri-operative total knee replacements have confirmed my clinical experience over the last ten years. The cortisol release is a massive risk for osteoporosis. The hormonal response to this can be tested and proved but few surgeons and physicians even consider it. In our hospital, four years ago, I convinced one of my pulmonologists, Dr. Michael Ramos, to check all of our patients Vitamin D3 levels in our ICU to test my hypothesis. During this time, he did not find one person with a normal Vitamin D level. Needless to say, this made an impact on him and caused him to become proactive. In our pharmacy at the time, we did not have Vitamin D3 on the formulary, because organized medicine never gave this situation a second thought. Dr. Ramos sent me cadres of patients with vertebral fractures because pulmonary issues (smoking) put people at tremendous risk for developing bad bone. I spoke to Dr. Ramos often about my surgical findings and my belief that any patient under a stressor has huge implications for the development of bad bone, especially if they had poor light hygiene with a poor diet.
Any diet devoid of seafood puts you at significant risk for osteopenia or osteoporosis. This includes the keto, carnivore, or paleo type diets. High carbohydrate diets, like the vegan diet, carry the HIGHEST risk for poor muscle skeletal healing in my experience. Sadly, most patients in most hospitals do just that. The food they are given is based upon the flawed USDA pyramid concept. This is reinforced by the employed nutritionists and dietitians who are trained to believe that a high carb, low-fat diet is Optimal. So patients get no real help for osteoporosis when they are in the hospital. Dr. Ramos was critical in getting vitamin D3 on our pharmacy’s formulary, but even today we do not have all the tools we need to fight this disease (sunlight, paleolithic diet options, DHEA, K2, bio-identical estrogen or progesterone creams). They do have testosterone available in injectable forms, but not in creams for ladies. I have my patients bring their medications I prescribe to the hospital to take. Most of my patients are able to leave the hospital the same day so we try to avoid this issue. Surgeries have gone from quite invasive ten years ago to today, being very minimally invasive because of the epidemiological trends I have seen occur over the last 15 years in our population. What makes bone surgery less invasive is if the surgeon uses fewer X rays during the case. Most minimally invasive surgeons actually use more Xrays, making the case more invasive for the patient from a wound healing perspective. The key to surgical success these days is not the operation, but in finding a surgeon who limits the use of Xrays and treats osteoporosis aggressively before any surgery is done. This is the best way to get to Optimal results. The key point for patients and PCP’s: Patients need abundant DHA intake from seafood, sulfated Vitamin D3 from AM sunlight and vitamin K2 from foreign cheeses or natto allowing the gut microbiome to work optimally all allowing the calcium to go where it should and not into a vessel. The Vitamin A issue needs to be addressed with night light hygiene of the skin and eyes. It can also be a problem with excessive daytime blue light exposure in some people addicted to blue light. Giving one without the other won’t work well.
RULE 5. If you have risk factors, you must have lab testing done preoperatively. In my first blog on osteoporosis, I told you all about osteocalcin and its importance in osteoporosis. This test is not done in most hospitals in the USA. Scary, is it not? There are over 1 million osteoporotic spine fractures yearly in the USA, and we are not even able to perform the best test to assess it. Moreover, the test that is used by most clinicians for fracture risk since 2008 called the FRAX test has been found to be extremely inaccurate. I have also mentioned, above that standard bone density studies are not sensitive or specific enough to be considered reliable in patients eating a SAD loaded in carbohydrates. I find the best screening study in my own clinic is a MRI, and a history and physical. It shows loss of cancellous bone and increases of fat in the vertebral bodies or of long bones. Often, I also have labs like an HS CRP and Vitamin D level, retinol binding protein, that also help confirm the diagnosis. Once these are present, I then begin to assess their real future risk with hormone assays.
In 2004, the JAMA had a double-blind study done on the effects of DHEA in humans. People on the drug lost two pounds, and those on placebo gained a pound. We know today that DHEA helps in weight loss, but what I found interesting in this study was that the women in the group lost 10 % of the abdominal fat (proved with an abdominal MRI) and men lost 7% of their abdominal fat. This is the fat that causes IL-6 (closely related to Leptin’s chemical structure) and cortisol to rise while there are abnormalities in Vitamin A too. Elevated cortisol causes osteoporosis to occur. DHEA also helps to enzymatically alter cortisol back to cortisone; this strongly inactivates cortisol production from abdominal fat and leptin resistance. This is one of the reasons I like my at-risk osteopenic patients who have already corrected their light defects to consider supplementing with sulfated DHEA before I ever touch them in surgery. My preference is to get them eating at least one seafood meal a day for 6 weeks prior to spine surgery that includes wild-caught seafood of some type from the ocean. It directly lowers cortisol levels and simultaneously increases the sex steroid hormones that protect the bone stock from further losses in the perioperative period. High cortisol levels are consistently found in most American osteopenic due to LR. This can be offset by the surgeon by restoring DHEA, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone to the upper quartile of normal adult youthful levels. Remember that these drugs are rarely on a hospital formulary. It means you need to have a doctor “reading the tea leaves” before you ever hit the operating room.
PREGNENOLONE STEAL SYNDROME ALERT = light stress or any other stressor like trauma
Progesterone has two major effects that are positive for bone. The first is that stops osteoclasts from resorbing newly laid down bone when the person is eating a high protein and fat diet that is good for bone formation. The second lesser known effect is that progesterone is thermogenic. It raises body temperature and helps us burn fat and improve our body composition by increasing our lean muscle mass to fat ratio. This lessens the chance that we become LR and IR and protects the newly laid down bone from bone resorption due to elevated cortisol. Progesterone also causes water retention which helps us absorb more AM sunlight.
Estrogen and testosterone are both anabolics for bone formation in humans. Most clinicians are fully aware of the risks of bone loss for post-menopausal women. Few still seem to be aware that andropause carries the same risks for men. Andropause and perimenopause also occur earlier chronologically when inflammation exists due to many causes. Less than 10% of men have had normal free and total testosterone levels in my clinic over the last ten years when they are tested. It is now routinely tested for in my clinic. In menopause, less than 20% of women are on bone protective hormonal replacement, because of the terribly flawed Women’s Health Initiative Study done in the early 2000′s. Today, this study is misinterpreted and it has set back osteoporosis treatment tremendously in my view. Because of this study, even fewer women are on any progesterone replacement, which blocks bone resorption. Fewer still are using testosterone creams for bone mass protection. I have never seen one pre-op osteocalcin level drawn in any osteopenic patient at risk for diagnosis or surveillance. I believe this is because it is not offered at most facilities nationally.
What is The Osteoporosis Rx Treatment
- Cortisol must be neutralized after its elevation can be found. The most common reason is LR today in the USA from a SAD loaded in carbohydrates. LR nullifies Wolff’s law. Diet modification to high fat and high protein paleolithic diet is treatment option number one in most cases. Renal osteodystrophy is one of the few cases where the protein has to be limited, but fats can be used liberally to support bone mass in this case. This is important for the H+ over deuterium effect needed for the TCA cycle. Marine-based seafood, pastured butter, cheeses from raw milk, natto (K2 source) and grass fed meats with pastured eggs, pastured pork bacon, and coconut oil is preferred. All the hormones that are anabolic for bone formation are derived from LDL cholesterol in our diet. Vegans should pay close attention to those biologic facts. PUFA’s (outside of DHA) and carbohydrates should be extremely limited during treatment, to avoid future fractures because they generate inflammatory cytokines that favor disease progression and increase clotting risks from a DVT.
- Age and weight are not completely indicative of real bone risk. Inflammation is, and it should be followed clinically to assess risk. Bone density testing is worthless unless a wrist module is added to it. I have had patients in their 20′s paralyzed from osteopenic fractures.
- Smoking carries a 100 fold risk of developing osteoporosis. It must cease for any treatment to work optimally
- Excessive alcohol drinking also elevates the risk. More than 4 oz a day is a problem. I say cut it.
- I personally avoid all conventional osteoporotic drugs because of the side effect risks. In surgical cases, I now completely avoid the use of all synthetic derived bone morphogenic proteins in older patients with osteoporosis.
- I use high dose Vitamin D3, K2, Magnesium, in doses based upon lab data or MRI’s and on the severity of the disease. This often varies after the surgery based upon how good or bad the bone appears clinically.
- Sometimes I will consider replacing some or all sex steroid hormones to the top quartile found in young adults based upon the variables in the case. Bio-identical HRT is preferred. I avoid synthetic hormones at all costs due to the risk of blood clotting. Often this is tough because many physicians are not aware of the organic chemistry of why synthetic hormones are suboptimal for the human steroid receptor. If steroids are used IV B vitamins and C vitamins often help.
- Exercise is an excellent treatment for osteoporosis. However, one must remember that if one has LR, exercise exacerbates the risk of fracture because Wolff’s law is null and void. The Exercise Rx (written below) requires Wolff’s law to be operational to work. Too often it is not. Exercise will increase growth hormone secretion which is very anabolic for bone mass accrual. Most older people have horrendous GH levels measured by IGF-1 levels. In people with IGF-1 levels below 100, I recommend the use of arginine, ornithine, turmeric, and resveratrol, because of all increase bone mass. Resveratrol increases bone morphogenic proteins directly.
- Walking is a great start for those who are debilitated. I tell my patients to park far away from the doors to facilitate walking. I encourage water aerobics because of its low impact and its good skeletal effects even when Wolff’s law is null and void. I also encourage yoga and meditation for endogenous control of cortisol. Biofeedback is also a consideration if it is in the budget.
- Strict avoidance of NSAID’s and steroids for all osteopenic or spine fusions due to bone mass losses. These medications also cause a leaky gut and gut dysbiosis and is a major cause of persistent inflammation and bone loss.
- Any stressor should be aggressively treated. I usually will double doses of D3, K2, and Mg during ICU or the preoperative times.
- In older patients, I trim back all meds that cause osteoporosis, and I advocate strongly for hormone replacement. Progesterone is critical for women and testosterone for men. Estrogen and testosterone are added often to women’s treatment plan by their PCP’s or OB/GYN’s
- I try to limit all forms of radiation exposure to all patients with osteopenia because of its effects on bone stock.
- I have all thoracic fracture patients follow up with their lung specialists because each fracture limits pulmonary functioning by 5-8% and is a major cause of disability.
- Any spine fracture should be aggressively treated surgically as soon as it is diagnosed on STIR MRI.
- I keep an open dialogue with patients and family about bone risks going forward and make sure they know what to discuss with their PCP going forward.
- An ounce of prevention really saves a point of cure with this disease. Mobility is the key to optimal recovery. We want patients moving naturally as soon as possible to stimulate bone formation after the diet is optimized.
- I do not advocate any use of supplemental calcium with this disease because I mandate a change of diet and this diet provides ample DHA, magnesium, and calcium and there is no need for supplementation. (Epi-paleo Rx )
- In severe cases, I will ask for an endocrine consult to consider Forteo and PTH if it is warranted. This is quite rare but can be a huge help in complicated spine fractures in older patients.
- I advocate sun exposure for natural sulfated Vitamin D3 production in patients with low 06/3 ratios.
Fall prevention and “The Exercise Rx”
After the diet is retooled to an Epi-paleo diet and the underlying leptin resistance is dealt with, everything should be done to prevent falls that can cause fractures. This is where exercise comes in. I am a major advocate of lifting weights for both men and women no matter their baseline condition. If the patient is wheelchair bound, they can lift dumbbells while they watch TV and wear weighted ankle and wrist bracelets. The reason is simple. This will restore bone faster than any single thing we can offer once the dietary problem is repaired. Men and women with osteoporosis need to take care not to fall down. Falls can break bones and are a major source of disability. Once mobility is limited, the death rate can begin to grow exponentially. The goal is to restore natural mobility as soon as possible in this disease.
Some reasons people fall are:
- Poor vision
- Poor balance
- Certain diseases that affect how you walk
- Some types of medicine, such as sleeping pills.
- Some tips to help prevent falls outdoors are:
- Use a cane or walker if you’re unsteady
- Avoid rubber-soled shoes so you don’t slip. Leather shoes connect you to Earth.
- Walk on grass when sidewalks are slippery. Use leather shoes to walk on grass daily
- In winter, put salt or kitty litter on icy sidewalks. Use leather shoes as much as possible.
Some ways to help prevent falls indoors are:
- Keep rooms free of clutter, especially on floors
- Use plastic or carpet runners on slippery floors
- Wear low-heeled shoes that provide good support with leather soles.
- Do not walk in socks, stockings, or slippers. Bare feet are best.
- Be sure carpets and area rugs have skid-proof backs or are tacked to the floor
- Be sure stairs are well lit with amber lights and have rails on both sides
- Put grab bars on bathroom walls near tub, shower, and toilet
- Use a rubber bath mat in the shower or tub
- Keep an amber or red flashlight next to your bed
- Use a sturdy step stool with a handrail and wide steps
- Add more amber night lights in rooms
- Have a hardwired phone close to you so that you don’t have to rush to the phone when it rings and so that you can call for help if you fall. Avoid a cordless phone or mobile phone. If you do use these make sure you use a blue blocking shield on its LED face to avoid blue light frequencies.
- Water aerobics is the best set of exercises to use in the beginning for building backbone and muscle.
- Get 20 minutes of AM sunlight on as much of your skin as possible. Try to see every AM sunrise the rest of your life outside.
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Additional Resources
- Osteoporosis Part 1
- Osteoporosis 2: The Vitamin K2 Story
- Osteoporosis 3: Related Drugs and Diseases
- EMF 8: Quantum Bone
- Hormones 101: Clinical thoughts revealed
- Vitamin D: The Sunshine of Your Life?
- Brain Gut 6: Epi-Paleo Rx
Cites
- The Spinal News Issue 21 October 2011
- The Classic: On the Inner Architecture of Bones and its Importance for Bone Growth, Clin Orthop Rel Res. 2010 Apr;468(4):1056-1065 http://www.springerlink.com/content/b6830413653484p3/
- The Classic: On the Theory of Fracture Healing, Clin Orthop Rel Res. 2010 Apr;468(4):1052-1055 http://www.springerlink.com/content/330k683v80ur0j51
- Anahad O’Connor (October 18, 2010). “The Claim: After Being Broken, Bones Can Become Even Stronger”. New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-19. “This concept — that bone adapts to pressure, or a lack of it — is known as Wolff’s law. … there is no evidence that a bone that breaks will heal to be stronger than it was before.”
- Stedman’s Medical Dictionary
- Wolff J. “The Law of Bone Remodeling”. Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer, 1986 (translation of the German 1892 edition)
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001400/
@Sandy You are correct. I remove all patients from all statins when they have osteoporosis because it blocks normal cholesterol synthesis that is required for the hormones that control bone density. Moreover, there is scant evidence that primary prevention for all elderly patients with hypercholesterolemia would save lives or reduce morbidity. There is really no good data that statins do anything for women for primary prevention over the age of 60. In men that number appears to be seventy. Therefore this is something you must discuss with your prescribing doctor. I suggest most people read my blog, What really causes heart disease before they ever agree to fill a Rx for a statin. Cholesterol does not cause heart disease. Inflammation does. There are better strategies to manage inflammation and heart disease risk in my view. I have pulled my own elderly family off all their statins in the last 5 years and all of them have shown dramatic improvements in muscle aches, mobility and in bone mass accural.
Thank you, Dr. K. As always, I'm bookmarking to reread.
what is the Rx for OA? thank you
@Cu that is easy…..the Leptin Rx. OA at its core is a LR issue.
@John If you think I have missed the mark on recommending Ca and Bisphosphonates as first line treatments I want you to read this comment made by a famous physician. "The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine." William Osler, M.D.
And just so you know the average half life for the current generation of bisphosphonate drugs is now 14 years. Are you still wondering why your mom broke her femur 4 years after she treated her osteoporotic fracture with fosamax? Again, the optimal treatment for osteoporosis is a high fat and high protein diet, loaded in pastured butter eggs, grass fed meat, offal, and coconut oil. When your mom eats this way and then she can start exercising. If she exercises too early she likely will break her other femur or develop a jaw problem because the half life of her drug she was left on for 7 years is 14 yrs. That drug will be in her osteoclasts a real long time. Think about those implications and then re read Dr Osler's quote again and see if my Rx is off.
Interesting!
I came across your blog this weekend and can't put my laptop down.
This posting is going change my practice! Diet manipulation as a powerful treatment for osteoporosis.
Questions:
1. Osteoporosis and PUFA's, important to limit significantly fish oils and olive oil? Yet these are anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory balancing the immune response in the body.
2. IGF1 levels > 100 are known to be associated with increased rates of cancer. They are associated with IR too. I'm concerned about the negative potential of this intervention.
3. Do you test for Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms?
4. Do you follow osteocalcin levels?
Great info, thanks!
@M Chris link
Questions:
1. Osteoporosis and PUFA's, important to limit significantly fish oils and olive oil?Yet these are anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory balancing the immune response in the body. Answer: It depends upon clinical context and baseline 06/3 levels. Most people with osteoporosis have horrendous 06/3 levels and dont know it because few test for it. If they have bad levels I use fish oil but I get them off olive oil and move to ghee, pastured butter, coconut oil and palm oil.
2. IGF1 levels & GH less than 100 are known to be associated with increased rates of cancer. They are associated with IR too. I'm concerned about the negative potential of this intervention. Answer, me I am not. When people have this level of disease it is a sign they are close to dead metabolically. When you realize this then you have to ask yourself as a clinician this question……would would it take to turn around the Titanic if you saw the iceberg early? Deck Music or radical changes? Deck music = Calcium and bisphosphonates and radical changes are making abrupt massive lifestyle changes that go against conventional medical advice. I feed them tons of fats and protein.
3. Do you test for Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms? Answer. No but It is easy to figure out when you test them serially over two yrs. Read my vitamin D blog and I bet you see why.
4. Do you follow osteocalcin levels? Answer Oh yes I do. I believe I am the only one in my area who does. I am a huge proponent of Vitamin K2 use for this reason. See I don't believe in just treating osteoporosis……I believe in curing it. And I have many patients in Nashville who no longer break bones when they listen to what I tell them. If they go back to a SAD they will be back. SAD = planned obsolescence for fractures.
What do you think of rebounders (mini trampolines) and the soon to be available vibration plates (Marodyne Medical) for bones?
@Alexandra Context? for an 80 yr old women with 8 vertebral fractures? Nope. For a 25 yr old recovering anorexic……yep. Context is what you get from a clinician who thinks before action.
Is your hormone replacement protocol the same for those of us who have undergone hysterectomy and oophorectomy? Thank you for all you have done and continue to do.
@susan it depends upon what your testing shows not so much your history alone.
Excellent post! Would be interested in reading a detailed post on coronary artery disease and reversal possibilities. There is much out there ranging from Ornish/Esselstyn to William Davis. Be great to hear your thoughts on it including particle sizes/amounts/mediterranean diet, etc. Thanks.
"I replace all sex steroid hormones to the top quartile found in young adults.
Bio-identical HRT are preferred.
I avoid synthetic hormones at all costs."
Nothing less, thank you.
I have a questions about transport proteins:
SHBG (testosterone, estradiol)
albumin
Transcortin (Cortisol, Progesterone, Aldosterone, 11-Deoxycorticosterone)
thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), transthyretin (T4, T3)
they can be at levels: normal, low or high
please discuss more common reasons of why low or why high, and how to get them back into good levels.
@Jan those a topics of future blogs…..
Nice! On that interview with Jimmy Moore you mentioned how you were treating a lot of these cases just with diet. Makes sense, without he building locks, the bones break apart. My grandmother has osteoporosis and the doctors were giving her drugs without much effect. Then she started eating more nutrients and got significantly better! Keep on fighting the good fight.
"Aging" is simply an excuse for poor health now. It's a farce these days when 30yr olds are claiming their neolithic diseases/poor energy is due to "old age". They need to wise up.
@Dan H……Art DeVany, Jeff Life and hopefully me will prove that is completely wrong. Optimal is possible no matter your age if you know what to do when you are 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or any age.
I've been working on the leptin reset for several weeks now, and have lost almost all the weight I need to lose, and my belly is almost completely flat now (wow)! I've had zero RA pain for almost 2 wks now. So with LS and a primal diet, could my autoimmune disease be improved/cured so I no longer need plaquenil? If the med leads to osteoporosis, I want to discontinue it before it becomes a problem. (I will consult with my rheumatologist before doing anything–I trust him and he's pretty progressive-I'll share this site and info with him also.)He's concerned that if I quit plaquenil and RA comes back, we may need bigger, badder drugs to fight with. Thanks Dr. K!
@Chris W Great news. You might want to stay tuned to my next blog because it is all about what one should consider doing after the Leptin Rx is completed and you hit all the small littel clinical targets I mentioned in the Leptin FAQ blog. I am sure you will be quite interested in it based upon your question. This is precisely how I have been living the last 5 years after I figured out how to reset a hypothalamus with the Leptin Rx rules of neuroplasticity.
Thanks for another great post! I have two questions:
1. Do you think that cracking joints – e.g., when getting up quickly from a seated position – are a symptom that indicates bone problems?
2. You mention high dose D3, K2, and Mg based on lab data and severity of disease. What are the dosing ranges for each supplement here? Obviously, this isn't something that people should do without consulting with their doctor, but I'm interested in what a dosage table for this would like. I'd like to see how dosage levels correspond to ranges of the variables for which you test.
@Eric S
1. Do you think that cracking joints – e.g., when getting up quickly from a seated position – are a symptom that indicates bone problems? No I dont. This reflects gases like Nitrogen in joints. It could mean joint problems however.
2. You mention high dose D3, K2, and Mg based on lab data and severity of disease. What are the dosing ranges for each supplement here? Obviously, this isn't something that people should do without consulting with their doctor, but I'm interested in what a dosage table for this would like. I'd like to see how dosage levels correspond to ranges of the variables for which you test. Ranges without testing D3 5000-50000 IU a day, K2 45 mcgs to 45 mgs a day, Mg 250mgs to 1600 mgs a day maybe considered based upon testing with your doctor helping you out. You can order these tests and discuss the results with the doctor or consult with one who can explain it to you and put it in proper context.
Thanks for the reply. One short follow-up:
Any quick thoughts on how to think about, or act upon, potential joint problems?
@Eric S The most common cause of joint issues in the USA is by far LR. I treat this every day in my clinic as a spine surgeon. It destroys joints and discs. I usually treat it very aggressively with diet changes and other nutraceuticals if the patient wants to try aggressive conservative therapies. I am a huge fan of Krill Oil with astaxanthin for my own patients with bad facets and disc disease. In fact I was just asked about this by Jen Sinkler who is an editor at Experience Life magazine. She quoted me about this very topic in her upcoming April issue. (experiencelife.com)
Dr. Kruse,
How much Krill Oil do you recommend?
@Paul It depends upon case but 300 mgs to 600 mgs a day is reasonable for bad joints/discs
Dr. Kruse,
Along with magnesium, vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 how much DHEA would you suggest for a 58 year old, postmenopausal woman, who just came off of bio-identical HRT? I have just begun to take 10mg daily. Should I, perhaps, start at 5mg or am I alright with the 10mg?
@Susan without testing there is no way to tell. I will say I have very few women or men on that low a dose of DHEA.
Excellent article, Dr. K.
One way for the osteoporotic to help prevent falls is to wear water shoes around the house…and outdoors if they don't mind the looks. This is because water shoes have incredibly sticky rubber that's designed to grip wet rocks.
Note that there are expensive water shoes that look like running shoes, with a big chunky heel: that's not what you want. The right kind are relatively minimal with no heel rise, and should cost $20 or less (I've seen them under $10).
JS
@JS its an excellent thought and i have used it but guess what the response was? The men were ok with it but the ladies complained that their bunions and deformed feet are bothered by these shoes! I still recommend they do it because painful feet do not come close to the pain of an osteoporotic spine fracture.
The part about falls struck a chord. So many women starting perimenopause or menopause complain of loss of balance. Not true vertigo (room looks like it's spinning) but rather a feeling of disequalibrium. This can become chronic. No cure offered other than anti-nausea drugs or vestibular rehab exercises. Some find relief with acupuncture albeit temporarily. Docs find no cause in over 90% of cases and chalk it up to "hormonal fluctions" to which the inner ear and vestibular system are allegedly exquisitely sensitve to. Our grandmother's didn't use hormone replacement and they weren't all getting dizzy mid-40s and beyond. So I am curious if decades of following a crap sleep schedule combined with the drop in hormones could be playing a role. Can leptin reset — especially getting to bed early — help restore vestibular system or is this totally off base? I'm curious because one ear doc I saw (I saw several and no answers othere than we are seeing this all the time in middle aged and older women) but this one is also a surgeon and his response was restorative sleep and cutting back on caffeine (he himself never has caffeine so he may just be a caffeine phobe) are essential for maintaining balance. He said if your sleep is not restorative, you will be dizzy. Could a person who has no issues falling and staying asleep still be missing out on truly restorative sleep because the timing is wrong — too late a bedtime? Plus too heavy a meal too late at night so the body is digesting through the night — not restorative? The mention of balance and falls above got me thinking but maybe I'm totally off-base.
@Alexandra I personally think it can. And sleep is vital to repairing all systems. If you have bad sleep you generally have an altered health history
Forgot to add, I do have a patulous eustachian tube issue on one side so that may also be the cause. Still — osteoporosis runs heavily on one side of my family and several of the women also complained of dizziness — tinnitus in some of the men and women — so maybe ear/balance connection is genetic in my case but can't help wondering about how spending half a century on a sleep schedule opposite of ideal maybe has damaged me irreparably. Even when I was a pre-teen and teen , I would stay up extremely late — midnight and way beyond — reading, doing artwork, watching tv or hanging out with my father.
Dr. Kruse,
With regard to osteocalcin – I just had this test for the first time and my result was 19 ng/mL (range is 9-38). What does this tell me about my Vitamin K2 levels? Do I want to take more K2 to see if the lab value increases, i.e. closer to the top of the range?
@Paul What kind of test was it? carboxy or uncarboxy OC? The units seem off for this test. The test for vitamin K status is uncarboxylated osteocalcin……..specifically, not just osteocalcin.
Dr. Kruse,
It was just osteocalcin. Thanks, it try again. Does osteocalcin tell me anything at all?
Dr. Kruse,
My mom was diagnosed with osteoporosis in her left hip, and osteopenia in her right hip a year or so ago (she is 55), and unfortunately started taking Fosamax in May of 2011. As of late, she's been experiencing a host of horrible symptoms ranging from extreme gas to bloating to acid reflux to chest pains. She has stopped the medication, as suggested by her doctor, but her doctor has now advised her to go for the Reclast infusion which is an IV treatment that lasts for a year. I have read so many horror stories about this stuff, and cannot let her go through with the procedure. She is currently taking 2,000 IU of Vitamin D3 along with 400 mcg of Vitamin K2. Her serum calcium levels were fine according to her latest blood work. She's been eating a paleo diet for a few months now as well (I've been making sure she eats lots of offal, liver particularly, as well as good fats from raw grass-fed butter, raw grass-fed kefir, coconut oil, ghee, grass-fed meats, and organic vegetables, etc. I'm going to make sure she does some weight-baring exercise as often as possible, 3-4x a week. Would higher dosages of D3, K2, and Mg help? Fermented cod liver oil? Please give me some suggestions. I'm absolutely terrified by the idea of this Reclast infusion; not only have I read awful things about it, but its safety hasn't been evaluated for nearly long enough that doctors even know the potential risks over time. I would really appreciate some advice for the next step she can go without turning to these drugs. I don't know what to do!
@Erica……this post says it all. I am not sure what else I can offer. I dont use reclast. She needs to completely change her life style and eat totally primal with a very low carbohydrate total. I put my bad osteoporotics on ketogenic paleolithic diets on high dose K2 and D3. The doses she is on are quite low.
What doses would you recommend?
@Erica what are her labs results?
Her D level was within "normal" range, I'm not sure of the specific number though. Possibly over 40?
@Erica you need the numbers to know what to do.
And regarding diet, should she eliminate all fruit, (decaf) coffee, dairy? She already doesn't eat any grains, and lots of good healing saturated fats from raw grass-fed butter, ghee, coconut oil, grass-fed meats, etc.
@Erica I would……if you want optimal results.
Thank you, I will let her know. Also, what numbers, other than vitamin d, do you specifically need?
Erica all the things I check are listed in the blog. it should be clear. It does not appear she has had a good work up just a conventional one……she and you need to step it up and use this blog as your measuring stick. No hand holding. You have the info to cure her now.
Thank you. Sorry for the repetitive questions, I'm just very overwhelmed and scared. I might go ahead and show this to her doctor. I will immediately implement everything you have lined up here.
@Erica do not be scared. This is a complete nutritional disease that can be reversed totally of your mother eats a strict ketogenic paleolithic diet alone…….if you add back the supplements it will help faster. This post is crystal clear that you the patient has total control You need to regain your composure and tell your mother and doctor you know precisely what to do to help your mother.
Thank you for your reassurance. I will do just that. I'm starting her on a high dose of d3 and k2, and will add in magnesium and some other supplements as well.
One last diet related question- what is your stance on grass-fed raw dairy products like yogurt, cheese (which I know is high in natural k2), etc.
@Erica……there are some in the blogosphere and on paleohacks that would tell you to avoid high Vitamin D 3 supplementation. I think this is far safer than taking the synthetic drugs your physicians have recommended to your mom. This is why I do not advocate these for my own patients. Some still opt for them from their endocrinologist or PCP's but this does not make it correct. I tend to let evolutionary principles guide me now. We are designed to make Vitamin D daily from sun and get it from food in the winter and fall. I would suggest you and your mom begin to use evolutionary medicine to guide your future healthcare choices.
@Erica……for your mom I would avoid all dairy except eggs, pastured butter and raw heavy cream.
Thank you again, so very much.
Jack, you said no NSAIDs, which means Advil, right? What then do you recommend instead for pain?
Jodi. No advil! It causes a leaky gut! I like Krill oil for pain with extra astaxathin added in. I use 4 mgs to 8 mgs a day for this.
Hi Jack,
My husband has been on low carb, medium protein, high fat diet for about a year.
He does not eat any junk "low carb food" He eats no vegetable oils but some nuts. No gluten.
Lots of coconut oil.
He just had a Dexa scan and has bad osteoporosis which is worse in the femur compared to the spine. He had this test after he had broken his tibia far too easily.
He also has arterial calcification.
He is 65 years, 6 foot tall and weighs about 75 kilos. He has a small pot belly but otherwise lean.
He has just started on 45gm of Vitamin K2 (MK-4) per day plus D3, magnesium and other supplements that you suggest.
His tests show: Australian readings.
Ferritin levels: 254 ug/L (massively improved as only 76, 4 years ago)
B12: Good (doc didn't give me copy)
Reverse T3: 695 pmo1/L (range 140-540)
CRP: 1 mg/L (range 0-10)
Testosterone: 34.9 nmo1/L (range 11.0-40.0)
Osteocalcin: 2.2 ug/L (range 3.1 – 13.7)
HDL: 2.1 mmo1/L (range 0.9 – 1.5) Keeps improving in the last few years
LDL: 3.9 mmo1/L (range 0.0- 4.0) same as above
Vitamin D: 107 pmo1/L (range 65-175)
My question is this:
Why has does he have such a high Reverse T3 and a low CRP?
From what I have read from you the CRP should be high too?
Thank you
Cassie
@Cassie…….my bet is his cortisol is the culprit.
Hi Jack,
You were right about his cortisol level.
I found a test from 3 years ago showing his salivary cortisol at 19.30 nmo1/L (range 6.00-42.00)
Could he use 7 keto DHEA instead? I think he was on DHEA a few years ago and stopped it because he felt bad. I have read some people have a problem with DHEA.
Also he was displaying definite signs of Alzheimers. He started with coconut oil & later the low carb diet and the signs have greatly diminished. Phew!
But all this fits with his Neolithic disease.
If you have any other suggestions I would be most grateful?
Thank you
Cassie
@Cassie The Osteoporosis Rx is perfect fit in my view.
@Dr. J regarding your email on your wife……..at 50 years old most women have a serious issue with the pituitary and estrogen dominance and not loss. Many have this backward because if you lose progesterone you can elevate E2 relatively too. Cortisol is raised in E2 cases too in men and women. Estrogen dominance is pro growth cycle and activates mitosis of the prolactin-secreting cells of the pituitary. This activation of PRL can causes or deepen the osteoporosis seen in either sex. I think most postmenopausal women need this prolactin angle dealt with it.
Dear Dr. Kruse,
I enjoyed your talk at the Paleo Summit! Thank you for the very informative presentation. I visited your web page and have been reading various blogs you have posted.
I wonder what your view is about the effect of Tamoxifen on bone /joint health! I was Dx with early stage of breast cancer in 2008 and had bilateral mastectomy (no nodes involved, no chemo or radiation!). After being on Tamoxifen for 3 and 1/2 years I stopped taking it a month ago against the advice of my doctor whose plan was to put me on Zoladex in addition to the tamoxifen and with time to switch me to Aromatase inhibitors. I am 55 and do not like taking Px medication yet I agreed to take Tamoxifen as I was very stressed having lost my only sister to IBS cancer who was 46!We were Dx 3 months from each other!
I am research scientist and a lecturer and have done a lot of reading and research in the past 3-4 years on all matters related to alternative medicine. I am on Paleo diet now for about 1 year, have done metabolic typing and have been doing resistance workout 4 times a week for the past 18 months. In addition I have been taking Vit D3 2000 IU, fish oil with (omega-3 1100mg/day, which has 765 EPA and 240 DHA), Vit C-as ascorbate-2 g /day, 200 mg Lipoic acid, Q10-200-300 mg/day, Zinc-30 mg/day, Enzyme digest, Probiotic-as I am constipated, B complex and Rhodiola Rosea-as I did saliva test and that indicated adrenal fatigue stage 2 border line 3.Yet the blood test done by endocrinologist -concluded that all is OK!
I had given on milk and cheese, grains, gluten but eat nuts (mostly almonds, pistachios, pine nut). Trying to eat less fruit but with limited success. I do not take coffee, alcohol and had never smoked. I was mostly vegetarian who was eating lots of fish up until about 18 months ago when I slowly changed to Paleo and follow it very strictly-do not eat rice, potatoes and other starches but have carrots.
I recall that my oncologist said that the pain I had in my neck, shoulders and back are related to the Tamoxifen. I know too that having stopped it -it would take a long while to get it out of my body. For the past two months I have been doing coffee enemas to detox-almost daily for about 1 1/2 months and now 3 times a week.
As my cancer was ER(+) and PR(+) I am avoiding all products with soya and avoid supplements and even foods that might affect my hormones especially the ER.
I wonder what is your view on the link between Tamoxifen and bone health and what advice would you provide to someone like me.
Kind regards:
Penka
@Penka I am no fan of Tamoxifen at all. Best treatment for steroid positive breast Ca is cold thermogenesis and high krill supplementation. I just posted about that today on MDA……I think it was on page 2015-2022 you can check it out on the monster thread there. You need to read the entire cold thermogenesis series I am in now……could save your life.
Wow, I really needed this information. But after reading all of your blogs many times I still have some questions specific to my conditions.
I have several conditions associated with osteoporosis. I am a 64 y.0. widow of a rural family practice physician who worked an ave. of 90 hrs/wk while I raised 6 children, one of whom is learning disabled and has Tourettes. That equals chronic stress.
Exercised vigorously as a teen and moderately thorough most of life but treatment for broken foot and subsequent plantar fascitis has curtailed exercise for last 8 years. Just starting to be able to walk for exercise again.
5'3", 138 pounds, BMI 124.4 after losing 28 pounds on homeopathic hCG in 2 rounds recently. Went straight to paleo for 2 weeks since that.
Multiple food allergies, hay fever, eosinophilic esophagitis and GERD resolved by Nissan wrap. Elimination of wheat and milk from diet has helped the other allergies. Intermittent use of Fluonase and other mild inhaled prescriptions for esophagitis and chronic sinusitis. PPI's for at least three years
SAD treated with Prozac for 18 months, 10 years ago. SAD not as severe for several years since while exercising regularly in early morning. I live in dreary Pacific Northwest.
Osteoporotic of upper and lower spine diagnosed about 2 months ago, hip OK, no wrist evaluation. Given one month dose of Evista 10 years ago without evaluation based on mother's history and that I was a thin, white , female.
One dose of Boniva about 2 mo. ago. Multiple side effects so have taken no more and found this blog looking for alternatives.
High blood pressure contolled with 5mg Novasc generic.
Possibly something else going on as I have occasional right leg weakness and unresponsiveness beginning with my fourth pregnancy which is also when my food allergies worsened. This weakness has only happened about three or four times in 30 years though.
Have been very careful to follow the nutritional recommendations of the period so have followed a basic food pyramid diet for most of my life. Have been close to obesity twice buy lost 20 pounds in a year on a low fat, high fiber diet, then lost another 20 pounds the next year on Phen-fen. Gained it back over 15 years. Recently lost 28 pounds on homeopathic hCG, 2 rounds. Followed the hCG immediately with 2 weeks of Paleo and feel really good. Have lost another pound, have more energy, better sleep and waking feeling refreshed.
body reshaping nicely.
Questions are, since it seems I am LR, possibly IR, most likely leaky gut and osteoporotic do I use the Paleo diet without nightshades and dairy plus supplimentation for the osteoporosis and at the same time implement recommendations for the leaky gut or do a leaky gut scenario for awhile followed at some time by a osteoporotic diet?
Also what is considered severe osteoporosis such that a keto diet would be recommended? And does that keto diet need to be followed indefinitely?
Do I add hormone replacement of wait to see what diet alone does?
Have not have labs done, gyn doc just wants me on Boniva and to follow up with him in two years. Haven't found a Paleo sympathetic doc in this rural area so am thinking of having my own labs done after a year or so on Paleo or do I definitely need labs now?
@Vicki You need the Leptin RX, Leaky gut Rx and the CT protocol. That is it. Marry all three.
Thank you.
Trying to marry all three now. Looks like for the marriage to be harmonious besides the basic diet and suppliments I need to use K2 instead of butter and eliminate eggs, is that correct?
Do I use MCT or coconut oil?
Dr. Kruse,
I’m not sure if you are still responding to posts on this blog but I have been following your osteoporosis prescription since you first presented it here in November 2011. I currently see an endocrinologist who specializes in metabolic bone disease and, while she has read your blogs on osteoporosis, she remains skeptical. When I first came to see her, my Vitamin D levels were almost non-existent and my PTH levels were very high. Over the past few years, the D levels have risen with supplementation to almost 90 and my PTH levels had decreased to normal. But, now even though my D levels are high and my serum calcium normal, my PTH has been creeping up over the past year. It is @80 with 60 high normal. My doctor doesn’t understand what is going on and has told me to take more calcium supplements. But I’m not sure that this is the answer. What do you think? I am currently taking 40 mg. of Carlson’s K2 daily in divided doses.
@Paul Adams…….its OK for them to be skeptical…….but the fact remains your not doing well and what is her answer? I think I would be skeptical of CW advice that has not change your situation but that is for you to decide. I reverse osteoporosis. I no longer treat it as she does.
Dr. Kruse,
I completely agree with you which is why I am follwoing your prescription. But my PTH is rising and I don’t know why or what to do about it. I take high dose Vitamin D and K, magnesium malate, am on HRT, strict ketogenic paleo diet, lots of coconut oil, etc. Of course the phenobarbital is a problem as it is the cause of the osteoporosis in the first palce but when I tried to switch to aother drugs, I had seizures – lot of seizures with injuries. Any idea what to look for?
@Paul Adams With a high PTH you have to be worried about a benign Parathyroid tumor…..hypocalcemia, kidney diseases, muscle cramps, numbness and tingling of extremities
If calcium levels are low and PTH levels high, then the parathyroid glands are responding as they should and producing appropriate amounts of PTH. Depending on the degree of hypocalcemia, a doctor may investigate a low calcium level further by measuring vitamin D, phosphorus, and magnesium levels. This is a pretty standard W/u and I have no idea why your doc is not doing it.
That’s the problem. She has done all that and my calcium, Vitamin D, phosphorus and magnesium levels are solid. Maybe it’s the phenobarbital. What a horrible drug.
@Paul Adams It very well could be the phenobarb for sure.
Do you think CT would allow me to get off phenobarbital? Sometimes when I get very cold and start to shiver, it’s led to a seizure.
@Paul Adams……very tough call. Long term phenobarbital is tough. I am not really sure but that is something you need to actively talk to with your doctor to see if they would allow you to slowly wean yourself from it.
Oh, I’ve tried several times. Even since I was diagnosed with osteoporosis 5 years ago. Weaned of the phenobarbital as I titrated to another drug (Lamictal, Keppra, Zonegran). A couple months were fine then massive seizures. The drug has really ruined me. My skeleton is rotting. I eat Keto Paleo and follow all of your advice so closely. But I think the drug has done its work.
@Paul Adams…..you might correct. But the story of Jean Calment should make you realize if you do more right you can overcome some bad things in your life. She smoked for 119 yrs of her life but did just about every other thing correctly.
Thanks. You’re a good person.
Dr. Kruse,
I recently went to my dentist and she asked if I had changed my diet since my last visit. I explained that I was eating a primarily keogenic paleo diet. She said that explained the calculus on my teeth. Now I never have calculus which is why she asked. She said a high protein, low carb diet will change the pH of the mouth.
I’m confused becuase I think I recall you saying that calculus deposits on the teeth might indicate a problem with Vitamin K deficiency. Ever since reading your Osteoporosis Rx, I have been taking 40 mg. of Carlson’s Vitamin K daily. Does this make sense?
@Paul Adams Total sense. You are curing it with your diet. Bodes well for brain too Paul! Awesome news.
But isn’t calculus on one’s teeth a sign that the body is depsoting calcium incorrectly, i.e. not in the bone but in the mouth, heart and arteries? I had no (or minimal)calculus prior to the diet change and Vitamin K supplementation. I’m confused. Sorry.
@Paul I must have read your comment wrong. I thought you said you had less calculus? If you have more, I doubt with your diet and K2 levels that is the source. Because both of those reduce the risk of getting it.
She said a high protein diet makes the body acidic, “If the body becomes acidic it will bring into action the buffering systems, one of which is the phosphate system. To make phosphate available the body will break down bone and release both calcium and phosphate. If the blood has an increased concentration of free calcium and phospate then so will the saliva. A combination of free calcium, phosphate and a pH of 6-6.5 in the saliva will encourage calculus formation.”
If this is true, it would seem to bode poorly for someone with osteoporosis.
@paul I am not buying any of that nonsense
Hi Jack!
Very interesting, but not surprising, idea to treat OA with paleo diet and vitamin D supplements. I have atlantoaxial facet OA, the result of a MVA 5 years ago. Other than that healthy, nonsmoker, etc. I had a c1-c2 fusion last April that failed, and we do not know why. I had a revision surgery in January and had screws and rods installed. I used to follow a better diet and exercise regime, but the chronic pain over the past 2 years has unleashed my sweets cravings…..so, I guess the question is: Is it safe to switch to a paleo diet at 14 weeks post-op, or is there evven a small possibility that it may inhibit fusion at all?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Monica
Monica you need the paleo diet pronto with a lot of animal protein for your bone healing and you need my CT protocol written on 2/11/2012. If you want to see some patient outcomes watch the videos at the end of my blogs CT 9 and CT 10.
Hi Dr. Kruse-
Don’t know if you’re still answering these posts. I’m 42, 5’3″, 120lb female, hip dysplasia, joint hypermobility syndrome. Facing a hip resurfacing surgery in March and have already had a DXA- came back osteopenia. Surgeon wants me on Fosamax post-op or he won’t do the surgery. Trying to improve things naturally instead:
Paleo diet with plenty of meat and good fats (80/20 non-cheat/cheat) and have for a year.
1-2 alcoholic drinks per week.
Vitamin D extremely low at 30.
Here’s my regimen:
Vit D 4,000IU daily
Vit K 50 mcg MK7, 30 mg MK4 daily
2000 mg Lypospheric Vit C daily
500mg Proline daily for collagen
2500 Lysine daily for collagen
DHA 500mg daily
Dr. Carolyn Dean’s ReMag solution 1/2 tsp at night
NO Calcium
Haven’t been eating much fish. WILL start after reading your posts.
Do you suggest anything else? I have about 2 months to ramp things up before going under the knife. Thanks!
I am no fan of resurfacing. I have a good friend younger than you who wound up getting a hip replacement because her bone was so soft that the surface of the hip was damaged. You need to consider why you have osteoporosis so bad at 42. The reason is heavily influenced by your altered light environment. Until you fix this doing any surgery on your hip should be considered. Carefully read my ubiquitination and Time series to understand why.
I am definitely trying to piece the puzzle together. All of my labs came back normal- N-telopeptide, urine calcium excretion, saliva cortisol, screen for PCOS, PTH, CRP, procalcitonin, I’m already on NatureThroid for mild hypothyroidism, but it’s not Hashi’s.
My best guesses as far as cause are Leaky Gut (I’ve had acid reflux for years) or the Joint Hypermobility Disorder. If I’m already low on collagen, there would be no matrix to catch any minerals that I am taking. I’m definitely trying to reduce my cellphone/artificial light exposure. But I am going to have the same problem with bone growth whether it is a hip resurfacing or hip replacement. I have cysts on my acetabulum, so I will need bone grafting no matter which procedure I have.
I am really baffled. I danced and did advanced gymnastics all through childhood and should’ve had bone density to spare. I’m concerned that if I wait yet another year, repeat a DXA and see if I’ve improved, then the window for resurfacing will have passed and I will be doomed to total hip replacement and subsequent revisions when I am 65 and 80 which can be very difficult.
Cara my bet is your environment is toxic with blue light and nnEMF to cause this problem.
Ok, I will definitely look into this- my cellphone (or my PC) is about 3 feet from me for most of the day. It’s not really something I considered to be a huge deal until now. Thanks for your time, Dr. Kruse!
It is a huge big deal
I am definitely trying to piece the puzzle together. All of my labs came back normal- N-telopeptide, urine calcium excretion, saliva cortisol, screen for PCOS, PTH, CRP, procalcitonin, I’m already on NatureThroid for mild hypothyroidism, but it’s not Hashi’s.
My best guesses as far as cause are Leaky Gut (I’ve had acid reflux for years) or the Joint Hypermobility Disorder. If I’m already low on collagen, there would be no matrix to catch any minerals that I am taking. I’m definitely trying to reduce my cellphone/artificial light exposure. But I am going to have the same problem with bone growth whether it is a hip resurfacing or hip replacement. I have cysts on my acetabulum, so I will need bone grafting no matter which procedure I have.
I am really baffled. I danced and did advanced gymnastics all through childhood and should’ve had bone density to spare. I’m concerned that if I wait yet another year, repeat a DXA and see if I’ve improved, then the window for resurfacing will have passed and I will be doomed to total hip replacement and subsequent revisions when I am 65 and 80 which can be very difficult.
Cara my bet is your environment is toxic with blue light and nnEMF to cause this problem.
Ok, I will definitely look into this- my cellphone (or my PC) is about 3 feet from me for most of the day. It’s not really something I considered to be a huge deal until now. Thanks for your time, Dr. Kruse!
It is a huge big deal
Dr. Kruse
Is there anything I can do to help with the arthritis and bone spurs in my neck? Is it possible to improve this condition thru an epi-paleo diet, sunlight, CT, etc…?
The reason I ask is that your other recommendations you’ve given me for other areas have been working so well I thought maybe you knew something specifically for this as well.
I basically have some crunching on the left side of my neck and X-rays show some spurring going on in C5-C7. I still have very good strength but it seems to get inflamed occasionally causing some discomfort. Basically over use from a life in combat sports.
Thanks!
Shane
sunlight to maintain your Vitamin D levels 50-60 ng/dl year round, grounding constantly, and avoiding dehydration and no using chlorine, bromine, or fluoride in products you use because they all act as a dielectric blocker in water lowering it potential as a capacitor for solar radiations.
Thanks!
I work on the 2nd floor in my building. What are the best ways to ground and protect myself from nnEMF in that environment?
Thanks,
Shane
Take your shoes off outside. Cheap and easy.For billions of years life has evolved on the earth. Only recently has man begun to wear shoes; and even more recently has man developed rubber and plastics (insulating materials) that are used to make shoes which insulate man completely from the earth. Today, a large portion of the population lives or works in high rise buildings. These circumstances put even more distance between man and the surface of the earth.
There is mounting evidence that the lack of contact with the earth’s surface is detrimental to man’s health. Recent research shows that connecting the human body to the earth’s surface during sleep normalizes circadian cortisol profiles and reduces or eliminates stress-related symptoms, including sleep dysfunction, pain, digestive distress and anxiety. Restoring the earth-connection also has a profound influence on inflammatory conditions. Studies verify that inflammation decreases and often disappears . Brain waves, muscle tension, and blood volume pulse also normalize when an individual is connected with the electrical surface potential of the earth.
Why is earthing beneficial to health? To answer this question an understanding of the electrical nature of the earth’s surface is important. Herein we present the current understanding of earth’s electrical potential, including an explanation of how it is generated and the fluctuations it is subject to. Look up Gaetan Chavalier Phd. California Institute for Human science in Encinitis California.
Dr. Kruse
Is there anything I can do to help with the arthritis and bone spurs in my neck? Is it possible to improve this condition thru an epi-paleo diet, sunlight, CT, etc…?
The reason I ask is that your other recommendations you’ve given me for other areas have been working so well I thought maybe you knew something specifically for this as well.
I basically have some crunching on the left side of my neck and X-rays show some spurring going on in C5-C7. I still have very good strength but it seems to get inflamed occasionally causing some discomfort. Basically over use from a life in combat sports.
Thanks!
Shane
sunlight to maintain your Vitamin D levels 50-60 ng/dl year round, grounding constantly, and avoiding dehydration and no using chlorine, bromine, or fluoride in products you use because they all act as a dielectric blocker in water lowering it potential as a capacitor for solar radiations.
Thanks!
I work on the 2nd floor in my building. What are the best ways to ground and protect myself from nnEMF in that environment?
Thanks,
Shane
Take your shoes off outside. Cheap and easy.For billions of years life has evolved on the earth. Only recently has man begun to wear shoes; and even more recently has man developed rubber and plastics (insulating materials) that are used to make shoes which insulate man completely from the earth. Today, a large portion of the population lives or works in high rise buildings. These circumstances put even more distance between man and the surface of the earth.
There is mounting evidence that the lack of contact with the earth’s surface is detrimental to man’s health. Recent research shows that connecting the human body to the earth’s surface during sleep normalizes circadian cortisol profiles and reduces or eliminates stress-related symptoms, including sleep dysfunction, pain, digestive distress and anxiety. Restoring the earth-connection also has a profound influence on inflammatory conditions. Studies verify that inflammation decreases and often disappears . Brain waves, muscle tension, and blood volume pulse also normalize when an individual is connected with the electrical surface potential of the earth.
Why is earthing beneficial to health? To answer this question an understanding of the electrical nature of the earth’s surface is important. Herein we present the current understanding of earth’s electrical potential, including an explanation of how it is generated and the fluctuations it is subject to. Look up Gaetan Chavalier Phd. California Institute for Human science in Encinitis California.
Dr. Kruse,
Can a herniated disc heal on its on? I’m dealing with a good amount of pain in my shoulder blade down into my hand. It is worse standing and walking. I desperately won’t to avoid getting cut on and was wondering if there is anything I can do that might help me to get they this without more drastic measures. I’m willing to deal with some pain for a while if my body can heal on its on.
Thanks!
Yes Mike
Thanks Dr. Kruse! This gives me some hope!
Can dehydration cause a disc to become herniated? The reason I ask is I can’t think of anything I did to cause this from an activity standpoint, but in an experiment ( dumb one 🙁 ) I was dehydrated for about two weeks.
Do you have any suggestions for speeding up the healing process that you can share?
Thanks!
Thanks!
yes it can and does
This may be too simple but, if the cause of the herniation was dehydration can proper hydration then heal the disc over time?
Thanks!
not quite.
Dr. Kruse,
Can a herniated disc heal on its on? I’m dealing with a good amount of pain in my shoulder blade down into my hand. It is worse standing and walking. I desperately won’t to avoid getting cut on and was wondering if there is anything I can do that might help me to get they this without more drastic measures. I’m willing to deal with some pain for a while if my body can heal on its on.
Thanks!
Yes Mike
Thanks Dr. Kruse! This gives me some hope!
Can dehydration cause a disc to become herniated? The reason I ask is I can’t think of anything I did to cause this from an activity standpoint, but in an experiment ( dumb one 🙁 ) I was dehydrated for about two weeks.
Do you have any suggestions for speeding up the healing process that you can share?
Thanks!
Thanks!
yes it can and does
This may be too simple but, if the cause of the herniation was dehydration can proper hydration then heal the disc over time?
Thanks!
not quite.
Dr. Kruse,
I came across your blog last week and I try to absorb all this information.
I don’t know if you’re still answering these posts but I try to post my questions.
I am a women living in Hungary. 3 years ago in the mid of my 40-s I was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis along with low level of D3.
It is being not treated with any prescription medicines as I avoided all bisphosphonate drugs due to side effects and contradictions although every clinicians pushed this drug treatments. I also avoided other conventional osteoporotic drugs (denosumab, stroncium) because of side effect risks.
Unfortunately your ideas are refused and not accepted by the doctors I met.
You stated that progesterone is the critical for women in HRT as progesteron blocks bone resorption But the doctors say that progesteron is not needed. Neither my progesteron nor my estrogen level or other hormone level were checked. Even more I asked to check my osteocalcin levels but they did not. Taking K2 is not important according the health professionals I met in Hungary.
1)Regarding your recommendations replacing all sex steroid hormones to the top quartile found in young adults and using bio-identical hormon replacement therapy I am wondering what are the options for bio-identical estrogen and progesteron as I do not give any answers from the doctors I met.
2) I have also done a lot of reading and research in the past 2 years on matters related to alternative medicine for osteoporosis and related to new findings in dealing with osteoporosis.
Unfortunately all your recommendations taking K2, magnesium, diet are refused or ignored in the schoolmedicine in Hungary that is why I would like ask you a favour as well.
As I am living in Hungary, in Europe I try to find a practitioner in Germany or in Austria (or maybe in Hungary) who follows your osteoporosis treatment with paleolithic diet options, high fat and high protein diet, DHEA, K2, bio-identical estrogen or progesterone creams K2, magnesium, bio-identical hormones and with the findings resulting from quantum physics
a) on grounding
b) on the fact that the bone is a semiconductor
c) on the fact that lack of copper is the cause for osteoporosis
d) on the importance of a healthy magnetic field so that the magnetic field are not altered and we are not pulling our protons and electrons apart and we are not losing electrons constantly to our environment.
As you have connections with physicians, healths professionals, researchers via conferences could you recommend me a doctor in Europe either in a German-speaking country or in Hungary who accepts your findings, treatments recommendations?
3) I am also wondering whether there is a device which were developed on the results of Becker’s experiment by using magnetism and piezoelectric current to heal osteoporosis, to held the copper in place.. The experiment showed that very small pulsed piezoelectric current signaled bone to grow. If I am not mistaken exercise (mechanical stress) causes piezoelectric current that is why exercise is important by tackling osteoporosis. Nevertheless maybe there is a device which can be used for treating osteoporosis and stimulating bone growths (osteoblast cells) and holding copper in place.
4)I would like to know as well whether there is further research on the following findings/statements/conclusions resulting from quantum physics and on the findings from Becker’s experiment and on your conclusion somewhere in the world you know about?
a) Electrical forces held the copper in place and they were subject to the Earth’s magnetic field
b) the magnetic field controls the electrical binding of apatite to collagen
C) the real cause of osteoporosis is a loss of copper in the PN junction of the semiconduction system. That means the bone loses its electromagnetic binding forces to allow the copper pegs to fall out.
Thank you for your reply and help in advance!
I would not look for doctors who trained in a paradigm devoid of quantum biology being able to help you. The data is now published and public so you need to educate yourself and help yourself. This is why this site exists now.
Dr. Kruse,
Thank you for your reply. Believe me I try to help myself and absorb all this information and educate myself. It is a bit difficult due to language barriers as well as English is not my mother language but I am trying to understand all the details in my second foreign language. In German it would be easier for me but I am glad to have this information at all in English. At least the data and the information is published! Thank to net and globalisation I can have access to these data.
I am really grateful for your site and for sharing your findings, your observations and I highly appreciate your curiosity and out-of-box thinking. I firmly believe that observation and curiosity, motivation are the cornerstone of all researches and sciences, and every science, even medicine is lost without research, without new way of thinking, without curiosity, without out-of-box thinking.
You can me also believe that I am not looking for doctors who ignore quantum biology and your insights and findings. In contrary I am intending to find somebody (let him/them be health professionals, researchers, scientists, clinicians, engineers (!)) who accepts your findings on treatment on osteoporosis. That is why I contacted you. You were also trained based on the medicine school but you were curios and changed your thoughts and treatment. So other doctors might have changed their own minds on osteoporosis treatments as well due your conclusions, blogs. You hold conferences as well for doctors from Europe so I hope you might have connections in Europe.
I believe that there must be also in Europe some persons whom you know and who knows you and who follow your treatment.
Even I educate myself I can not check my osteocalcin (K2) and hormone levels etc to check progress or alteration. Moreover I can not interprete the laboratory results as lab references vary from lab to lab.
Even I change my diet, harmonise my hormone levels, LR, find the bio-identical right hormones (there is a discussion about estrogene and progesterone) there is still the root cause of osteoporosis the loss of copper, if I am not mistaken. And all this is caused by electromagnetic field as electromagnetic field alters calcium channels and cause molecular swelling, alterations in vitamin D, and sex hormones, and cause osteoporosis depending upon body composition. That is why the effect can be different in people.
Unfortunately I have no connections with researchers or doctors, scientist on quantum biology. You might have some connections or followers in Europe as well. I can not believe that your ideas are fully unrecognised by other researchers or by other health professionals. There must be somebody somewhere in Europe who treats patients on the base of your finding, of your observations, of quantum biology who is daring to follow your and Becker’s findings who is daring to cross-think.
I hope as well that there must be a researcher who is willing to develop a device based on the quantum biology to treat osteoporosis. As cosmonauts are also affected by bone loss and you explain this so (that „the environment of the Earth’s magnetic field controls our DC current that is found in our perineural tissues of our Schwann cells. These nerve fibers run to the periosteum directly and provide our bone’s covering with its current.” ) I think that researchers at NASA or ESA or in any other private institutions also know this or at least read it.
Although you wrote in your blog https://jackkruse.com/emf-8-quantum-bone/
that „today, there are still no common therapies for osteoporosis using proper pulsed EMF’s coils to reverse it” I hope that somebody somewhere is maybe developing a device with proper pulsed EMF. He might have connected you as a doctor who has the experience and knowledge to test it on patients. By the way I have no idea what the proper vibration of EMF should/would be for treating osteoporosis in the right way.
I know there is no hand holding. But I really need somebody to consult in Europe, especially in German speaking countries.
Should you know somebody (doctors with out-of-box thinking, researchers, scientists interested in your theories and observations) who contacted you from Europe please contact me. You have my e-mail I think.
Should any other person of the other commenters, blog readers know somebody (health professionals, health practitioners, researchers, scientists ) in Europe, especially in German speaking countries who follows Dr.Kruse’s treatment , please contact me.
Keep being curios, open and find new connections with other fields of science!
There is a quantum health group on facebook in Germany. I am a member of it. Search for it.
Dr. Kruse!
Thank you very much for the information!
Dr. Kruse,
I came across your blog last week and I try to absorb all this information.
I don’t know if you’re still answering these posts but I try to post my questions.
I am a women living in Hungary. 3 years ago in the mid of my 40-s I was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis along with low level of D3.
It is being not treated with any prescription medicines as I avoided all bisphosphonate drugs due to side effects and contradictions although every clinicians pushed this drug treatments. I also avoided other conventional osteoporotic drugs (denosumab, stroncium) because of side effect risks.
Unfortunately your ideas are refused and not accepted by the doctors I met.
You stated that progesterone is the critical for women in HRT as progesteron blocks bone resorption But the doctors say that progesteron is not needed. Neither my progesteron nor my estrogen level or other hormone level were checked. Even more I asked to check my osteocalcin levels but they did not. Taking K2 is not important according the health professionals I met in Hungary.
1)Regarding your recommendations replacing all sex steroid hormones to the top quartile found in young adults and using bio-identical hormon replacement therapy I am wondering what are the options for bio-identical estrogen and progesteron as I do not give any answers from the doctors I met.
2) I have also done a lot of reading and research in the past 2 years on matters related to alternative medicine for osteoporosis and related to new findings in dealing with osteoporosis.
Unfortunately all your recommendations taking K2, magnesium, diet are refused or ignored in the schoolmedicine in Hungary that is why I would like ask you a favour as well.
As I am living in Hungary, in Europe I try to find a practitioner in Germany or in Austria (or maybe in Hungary) who follows your osteoporosis treatment with paleolithic diet options, high fat and high protein diet, DHEA, K2, bio-identical estrogen or progesterone creams K2, magnesium, bio-identical hormones and with the findings resulting from quantum physics
a) on grounding
b) on the fact that the bone is a semiconductor
c) on the fact that lack of copper is the cause for osteoporosis
d) on the importance of a healthy magnetic field so that the magnetic field are not altered and we are not pulling our protons and electrons apart and we are not losing electrons constantly to our environment.
As you have connections with physicians, healths professionals, researchers via conferences could you recommend me a doctor in Europe either in a German-speaking country or in Hungary who accepts your findings, treatments recommendations?
3) I am also wondering whether there is a device which were developed on the results of Becker’s experiment by using magnetism and piezoelectric current to heal osteoporosis, to held the copper in place.. The experiment showed that very small pulsed piezoelectric current signaled bone to grow. If I am not mistaken exercise (mechanical stress) causes piezoelectric current that is why exercise is important by tackling osteoporosis. Nevertheless maybe there is a device which can be used for treating osteoporosis and stimulating bone growths (osteoblast cells) and holding copper in place.
4)I would like to know as well whether there is further research on the following findings/statements/conclusions resulting from quantum physics and on the findings from Becker’s experiment and on your conclusion somewhere in the world you know about?
a) Electrical forces held the copper in place and they were subject to the Earth’s magnetic field
b) the magnetic field controls the electrical binding of apatite to collagen
C) the real cause of osteoporosis is a loss of copper in the PN junction of the semiconduction system. That means the bone loses its electromagnetic binding forces to allow the copper pegs to fall out.
Thank you for your reply and help in advance!
I would not look for doctors who trained in a paradigm devoid of quantum biology being able to help you. The data is now published and public so you need to educate yourself and help yourself. This is why this site exists now.
Dr. Kruse,
Thank you for your reply. Believe me I try to help myself and absorb all this information and educate myself. It is a bit difficult due to language barriers as well as English is not my mother language but I am trying to understand all the details in my second foreign language. In German it would be easier for me but I am glad to have this information at all in English. At least the data and the information is published! Thank to net and globalisation I can have access to these data.
I am really grateful for your site and for sharing your findings, your observations and I highly appreciate your curiosity and out-of-box thinking. I firmly believe that observation and curiosity, motivation are the cornerstone of all researches and sciences, and every science, even medicine is lost without research, without new way of thinking, without curiosity, without out-of-box thinking.
You can me also believe that I am not looking for doctors who ignore quantum biology and your insights and findings. In contrary I am intending to find somebody (let him/them be health professionals, researchers, scientists, clinicians, engineers (!)) who accepts your findings on treatment on osteoporosis. That is why I contacted you. You were also trained based on the medicine school but you were curios and changed your thoughts and treatment. So other doctors might have changed their own minds on osteoporosis treatments as well due your conclusions, blogs. You hold conferences as well for doctors from Europe so I hope you might have connections in Europe.
I believe that there must be also in Europe some persons whom you know and who knows you and who follow your treatment.
Even I educate myself I can not check my osteocalcin (K2) and hormone levels etc to check progress or alteration. Moreover I can not interprete the laboratory results as lab references vary from lab to lab.
Even I change my diet, harmonise my hormone levels, LR, find the bio-identical right hormones (there is a discussion about estrogene and progesterone) there is still the root cause of osteoporosis the loss of copper, if I am not mistaken. And all this is caused by electromagnetic field as electromagnetic field alters calcium channels and cause molecular swelling, alterations in vitamin D, and sex hormones, and cause osteoporosis depending upon body composition. That is why the effect can be different in people.
Unfortunately I have no connections with researchers or doctors, scientist on quantum biology. You might have some connections or followers in Europe as well. I can not believe that your ideas are fully unrecognised by other researchers or by other health professionals. There must be somebody somewhere in Europe who treats patients on the base of your finding, of your observations, of quantum biology who is daring to follow your and Becker’s findings who is daring to cross-think.
I hope as well that there must be a researcher who is willing to develop a device based on the quantum biology to treat osteoporosis. As cosmonauts are also affected by bone loss and you explain this so (that „the environment of the Earth’s magnetic field controls our DC current that is found in our perineural tissues of our Schwann cells. These nerve fibers run to the periosteum directly and provide our bone’s covering with its current.” ) I think that researchers at NASA or ESA or in any other private institutions also know this or at least read it.
Although you wrote in your blog https://jackkruse.com/emf-8-quantum-bone/
that „today, there are still no common therapies for osteoporosis using proper pulsed EMF’s coils to reverse it” I hope that somebody somewhere is maybe developing a device with proper pulsed EMF. He might have connected you as a doctor who has the experience and knowledge to test it on patients. By the way I have no idea what the proper vibration of EMF should/would be for treating osteoporosis in the right way.
I know there is no hand holding. But I really need somebody to consult in Europe, especially in German speaking countries.
Should you know somebody (doctors with out-of-box thinking, researchers, scientists interested in your theories and observations) who contacted you from Europe please contact me. You have my e-mail I think.
Should any other person of the other commenters, blog readers know somebody (health professionals, health practitioners, researchers, scientists ) in Europe, especially in German speaking countries who follows Dr.Kruse’s treatment , please contact me.
Keep being curios, open and find new connections with other fields of science!
There is a quantum health group on facebook in Germany. I am a member of it. Search for it.
Dr. Kruse!
Thank you very much for the information!
how do you obtain 40 mg of K2. It is available as a supplement at apx 200 micrograms which is 0.2 mg.You would have to take 200 pills?