Hi: According to your scores your femoral neck is the only area with osteoporosis and the other areas are osteopenic. How long did you take the Actonel? Did you have a situation where it bothered your stomach and you stopped it shortly after starting it or did you take it for some time before you stopped? I wouldn't worry too much about your score, but I would also suggest doing something to prevent it from getting worse. The reason I ask, is if the Actonel was taken for years, and you didn't get any improvment, then I can see why they would suggest Forteo. Only you can decide if you want to go the natural route, and not take Forteo. The only thing I will mention is that a lot of people taking Forteo have had good results with it; some have side effects, but the majority don't. Forteo actually produces new bone, where Actonel, Fosamax etc are bisphosphonates that slow bone loss.
Below is an excellent explanation on T and Z scores and also on many aspects of osteopenia and osteoporosis. The link takes you to the WHO scores, but I really recommend reading the whole series, from the University of WA because it explains so many things in easy to follow language; scroll to the top of the page after reading the scores explanation and go through the bulleted list. It will take a while to read it all, but it's worth it. Remember that osteopenia means bone loss, which just about all of us have, and we all need to slow it down, and osteoporosis is a bone disease that is treatable.
[url]http://courses.washington.***/bonephys/opbmd.html#WHO[/url]
If you want some more info on Forteo you can read the testing below, and there's plenty of info on the natural route which I'm sure you can find. I'm taking Forteo with no side effects, and so far it's helping me. I took Actonel for a little over a year and it didn't help me any, plus I had too many stomach and bone pain problems. Forteo is man made Parathyroid hormone which is a replicate of the hormone our Parathyroid gland makes to regulate the calcium and phosphate production in our systems which in turn regulates bone metabolism. Also read PikaB's fantastic gains from taking forteo which is at the thread below, plus other posters good info.
[url]http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=474686[/url]
Forteo link studies below:
[url]http://pi.lilly.com/us/forteo-pi.pdf[/url]
Good Luck and if you need any more help just ask
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