Brittle bones from UC meds?

Prednisone is notorious for causing loss of calcium from the bones, resulting in osteoporosis or osteopenia. Both conditions can lead to dental problems and fractures. Another skeletal side effect of Prednisone is avascular necrosis, where a bit of the head of the bone in the hip or shoulder begins to die from lack of blood supply. A very painful condition.

Your son should be taking ample supplements of calcium (1000 - 1500 mg/day) and possibly an anti-osteoporosis drug such as Fosamax.

Once off the prednisone, continuing the calcium and vitamin D intake and getting weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running, etc. will help to promote calcium deposition in the long bones. If you're concerned, a simple x-ray can be done to check his bone density.

See these are the things I NEED desperately to hear.  The only thing his GI ever says is take your pills!  Outside of the meds I have gotten what little info we have through my own research.  I should try to get my son on here so he can see this advice for himself.

Snowbunny-- that might be a good idea if your son could connect with a young member here, like Bratcat. She's a high school student with UC whose mother, Bennie, also posts from time to time. You can try starting a new post addressed to them, like "Help, Bratcat & Bennie!" They'll be more likely to see it in the headlines that way. / Old Hat

You can give your son the Viactic calcium chews.  They taste more like a chewy candy and he won't have to tolerate swallowing another pill.  My current favorite flavor is Fudge Brownie.  But caramel and chocolate a great as well.

 

This is the very reason why I chose to give up drugs/medication in the first place.

 

I could not see the point of taking a certain drug to “heal” UC but at the same time suffer from serious side-effects in the form of other disease brought on by that that drug.

 

It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul!

 

 

 

aksnowbunny said... Moonshadow: What form of UC were you diagnosed with and what was the severity?  Also you say that you have healed yourself through diet and natural methods.  What would those consist of? Hi aksnowbunny   I will find the report from my gastro and let you know the exact form he diagnosed. It’s so long since I have thought about him or it, that I can’t remember exactly what he said.   It must have been quite bad because almost immediately he put me on high doses of medication and at one stage I was taking 15 tablets per day.   By the time I had the colonoscopy in 2003 I was pretty sick. I started bleeding from the bowel in 1998 and did the rounds of doctors for years etc….before I was finally properly diagnosed in 2003.   Please have a look at my posts under the section entitled FODMAPS, as there are explanations there about my severity and diet I am following.