Osteopenia - 32 year old sportsman

[ognimod]

Hi!

I am a 32 year old, pretty active male regarding sports.

I broke my tibia an fibula last year skateboarding....

Now I just broke my tibia again, same leg, while paddleboarding in the ocean.

I had a densiotometry exam and it turns out I have osteopenia. How can that be????

I am pretty healthy, never had bad eating habits, I am not an alcohol abuser, I dont smoke, I rarely drink pop drinks, etc.

How come can I have osteopenia????

And if I have it due to some sort of hormone inbalance in my body causing my bones te progressively be depleted,  if that imbalance were to be corrected, could I ever regain the lost bone density or Im screwed for life???

I am very nervous and feeling down because of this.

Please let me know whats the real deal on this subject so I know how to overcome this.

Thanks

Domingo

[Michael L Gross, MD]

I suggest an endocrine workup as soon as possible. Depending on the root cause. most of the bone loss may be reversible.  Certainly further loss may be avoided. While there are other possible metabolic causes of osteopenia in your age group, definitely start with an endocrine evaluation

[ognimod]

Hello Doctor,

I had a bunch of tests done.

My calcium levels in the blood are OK. All my hormones fuctions are OK, save for the parathyroid which looked a little below normal levels, but then on a second test it was in the normal range, but on the lower range of the spectrum. He said since it was testing OK now he wouldnt want to mess with that, jut leave it alone and retest in 3 months from now.

All other levels are OK. My kidney function is OK, my liver is OK. I had a BUNCH of tests done by my endicrineologosit and every thing looks fine.

HOWEVER, calcium in my urine is high....like 450 instead of the upper normal range which is like 200. Thats more than double than the max allowed.

Then I also have very foamy urine, I was afraid I had proteinuria, but the tests show no excess albumin in my urine. It looks normal. Also I had some tests done and my kidneys seem to be healthy and normal, still I have very foamy urine. So what can be wrong here as well?

The doctor suggested I only take increased Vitamin D and retest all hormones in 3 months.

I am not very happy with his diagnosis, he told me my osteopenia can be caused from too much down time and sedentary life from all my fractures and health epoisodes in the last 2 or 3 years. However when I ask him about the excess calcium in my urine, he didnt really have something to tell me. He is as confused as I am.  

He doesnt know why I have osteopenia since my blood calcium levels are OK, however I am disposing more than double of the max allowed calcium in my urine. He could not give me a good answer to this.

I want to stop the osteopenia and reverse it if possible. I am very heavy into sports and not being able to perform any longer would certainly end my sports career.

Where should I keep looking for an answer?

[ognimod]

Dr.

I did undergo asthma treatment from age 26 to age 29 aproximately and took some corticosteroids to treat it. Mainly Seretide and Vannair. But it was not constant....I probably took these about 5 or 6 times in all that time span when I had an alleric asthma outbreak until it went away. Now its gone for good.

Also, I had some trauma that took my upper teeth and that caused me to loose 40 pounds in a time span of 3 months. That was just about a little over a year ago. 3 months right after that I had my first tibial fracture....1 year later I have had the knee fracture.

Would you say these could be the causes? Or its not enought to have caused osteopenia on their own?

I have an apointment with the endocrinologist and I know he wil have the last word after all the exams, but I think these are 2 important subjetcts to bring up.....right?

Thanks

D

[ognimod]

Thanks Doctor.

Thats the same thing my local Traumatologist suggested.

He also suggested we retest again.

Im going to see an endocrinologist ASAP.

I will post whatever we find out later on so you can comment on it, I would appreciate your further opinions.

Thanks a lot, I feel much relieved with your feedback.

Thanks again doctor.