Sunday, April 05, 2009 debozoom asks

Q: can osteoporosis cause discomfort/pain? Is it only the spine or can it be the hip area?

I have pain in my lower left side near my hip. It use to come and go now its here most every day. I've had laboscopy, colonoscopy. We've ruled out liver, cancer, hystorectomy, bladder, small intestant, pankrais, and colon. Plus blood work done. 5 years ago the syatic nerver was checked as well. I'm healthy. Except for the discomfort I have. It's hard to stand or walk any lenght of time. Sitting or bending over helps give relief. My grand mother and 3 great grand mothers died from a broken hip. Maybe I've got early systoms?

I've had problems for 5 years. 4 hospitals and lots of doctors. Any thought would be greatly apreciated.

Answers (1)

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Pam Flores

4/ 5/09 8:11pm

Hi Debozoom: Gosh I'm so sorry you are having so many problems. With osteoporosis, you generally don't have any pain until you fracture a bone. It sounds like you've had many different things checked to try and figure out what's going on, but have you had any x-rays, mri's, or cat scans of the areas that are painful? From your explanation it doesn't sound like a fracture has been ruled out.

There are also other things that could cause pain that aren't associated with a broken bone or osteoporosis, and they are things like osteo arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or a hip/back problem and other joint problems. Many things can cause pain in the hip but they usually point to a fracture or some form of arthritis. Any one of the above tests could tell the Dr if you have one of these.

Osteoporosis can be in many parts of your body, like hip, spine, jaw, forearm, and leg. There are probably other areas where someone *could* have osteoporosis but these that I've mentioned are the most common.

I would ask your Dr if he/she thinks one of the above tests would shed any light on this.

I don't know if I've helped, but if you could have the Dr check some of these painful areas with the diagnostic tests (x-ray, ct scan, mri) hopefully that will tell them what's going on. Have you had a dxa scan to check for osteoporosis? If so, it still doesn't explain this unless there's a fracture somewhere.

Good luck and post back if you need to ask anything else or clarify something I missed. Hang in there!!

inpain

6/28/09 2:00pm

Well I have been searching on the web for anything in regards to low back pain in the left side. I have been taking Actonel now for the last three months and in the last week or so I have experienced low back pain. I can barely look down at my keyboard without pain in my lower left side too. Immediately suspected side effects from Actonel but why pain in the left side only? I can relieve the symptoms with Advil but I don't want to have to do this. Now that I have osteoporosis am I doomed to drugs and side effects?

Sorry about your condition.

Pam Flores

6/28/09 2:35pm

Hi inpain, sorry to hear about your pain. Actonel can cause joint/bone pain, but it seems odd to only have it in one area, like you mentioned. Have you had any recent injuries that could explain this pain on one side? I would also check to see if you've fractured anything by getting an x-ray.

Talk to your Dr. and see what he or she say's. Here's a link on another drug (Fosteum) that you could discuss with your Dr. This med doesn't have the same side effects (pain) that Actonel does, but your Dr. would have to agree to rx it if you are interested. The ingredients are: zinc, D3 and genistein (form of soy). If you've had any allergies to soy or history of cancer, you wouldn't be able to take it. See what you think and talk to your Dr. about it.

Good luck...

Pam Flores

6/29/09 7:56pm

Hi inpain, I also wanted to mention another option for treatment that you may be interested in. See this link from Phyllis--one of our member's who's having great results from a supplement called Strontium Citrate.

Many Dr.'s aren't familiar with this supplement, but hopefully that will change soon since the Univ. of Davis (California) is currently in the process of doing a clinical trial on this for possible FDA approval. We won't know the outcome of this until the end date: 8/10/2009. They began recruiting in 3/1/2009. It's only a 3 month clinical trial so I truly hope they can obtain enough info from that length of time using the supplement, and are able to get the verification they need for this type of approval.

If you think this is something you might be interested in make sure you get a good quality form of the supplement and you can contact Phyllis through the email system here to find out about a good reliable distributer, since we have to be careful with supplements sold on the Internet. Some vitamin stores carry it, but they are few a far between.

If you want to read more about the trial see the UC Davis website on it here.

Good luck, and see if your Dr. would consider either of these options (Fosteum or Strontium Citrate).

If you need any more help just post again.

Take Care...

Q: can osteoporosis cause discomfort/pain? Is it only the spine or can it be the hip area?

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