Mild Osteopenia and staring AI?

I had a hysterectomy with ovaries removed at age 37 and was not at all compliant with my calcium supplements. I only have mild osteopenia now, 9 years later. They put me on letrozole recently so they started me on Fosamax, as well, and the doctor says he thinks it will reverse my mild osteopenia. It has the added benefit of preventing bone metastases.

I think there's a lot more to osteoporosis than hormones. There are plenty of people who would have had it pretty bad right now if they'd done what I did. Maybe it's partially hereditary.

Shortly after I started Aromasin, I had a dexascan and was found to have osteopenia. MO says I need to take Caltrate (Calcium supplement + Vitamin D) twice a day. I take my supplements, but haven't had a dexascan since, so I can't say whether they are working or not.

I am much older than you, 68, so our worries probably differ -- but none of us wants a recurrence. So I remember the words of my MO: "We really want you on this drug (anastrozole) to cut your risk, and we will deal with the side effects if they occur." Mostly they haven't -- I've actually lost 25 pounds. I went through natural menopause at 55 but the AI brought back the hot flashes and night sweats -- but you can deal with that, most women do with menopause. It definitely gets better over time. I've had no pain. But then there is the matter of osteoporosis. I had had long-standing fairly severe osteopenia (I've taken vitamin D and calcium for a couple of decades), but it was stable for years before going on the AI. Two years later, last month, I had a new DEXA scan and I'd crossed over to osteoporosis. My MO recommended an Zometa infusion once every six months, for two years, not only to dramatically reduce the risk of vertebral fracture (77 percent) and other fractures, but also because it has shown some reduction of cancer recurrence among menopausal patients. Although I had a pretty dramatic initial reaction to the infusion the first two days,as I had been warned, since then, nothing. At my age, most of the women I know have osteopenia and many, many have osteoporosis --and it certainly does not slow us down! We do lots of weight bearing exercise, learn how to move correctly (no deep twists or forward bends), practice our balance daily and get on with life. Remember that even with osteoporosis the risk of fracture increases most dramatically with age. At 50, you would have little fracture risk even if your numbers were poor. I truly never think I have brittle bones! It's something that can be managed, and well worth the survival benefits, in my opinion.