Osteoporosis is a painful and debilitating condition. When you hear of an elderly person who fell and broke her hip, it might be that her hip broke first, and then she fell. Those two narrow necks of the femurs have to support the body’s entire weight. If the bones are thinning, this joint can become so fragile that it literally crumbles. It is very painful, very serious, and often a life-threatening event. Before that, this person would very likely have been in a great deal of back pain, might have endured stress fractures and shrinking of the back bone, as well as significant loss of bone in the jaws.
Estrogen Doesn’t Replenish Bone Loss.
There is a persistent rumor running through medical circles that estrogen replacement therapy prevents osteoporosis. Unfortunately this bit of misinformation has been promoted by the pharmaceutical people on the basis of short-term laboratory testing. The results of short term testing shows that estrogen does slow down the bone loss that occurs after menopause. People without extra estrogen support lose bone density more quickly at first.
However, after about five or six years, both those who have not had estrogen support and those who have had estrogen support, will test precisely the same degree of bone density loss. Estrogen is not capable of restoring bone density once it has been lost, pharmaceutical/medical rumors to the contrary. Check with Dr. John Lee’s book, Menopause: What your Doctor may not tell you.
At menopause most women are too high in estrogen in proportion to their progesterone, and this is called “estrogen dominant.” Adding more estrogen exacerbates the difficulty that unopposed estrogen already may be causing, like weight gain, fluid retention, foggy thinking, forgetfulness, depression and fatigue, increased blood clotting, excessively heavy periods, low thyroid, and many other symptoms commonly associated with the year or two before the completion of menopause. It is usually more specifically about a progesterone shortage than about the general process of menopause itself.
Additional estrogen, when there is a shortage, does help to relieve hot flashes, but we have found that this is often more about adrenal insufficiency. Often we find that additional adrenal support is more helpful than additional estrogen.
Progesterone Can Replenish Depleted Bones at Any Age
The secret of bone density protection, here, is that progesterone invites calcitonin to be released from the thyroid gland. Calcitonin picks up excess calcium, and delivers it to the bones in the areas where depletion has started to take place. In this way, progesterone will restore bone density—at any age—if it ever becomes depleted. Women in their eighties are just as responsive to this process as younger women, and can repair their bones beautifully.
If bone tends to be too dense, the body-consciousness may hold the belief that this is required. Check past lives if there was a time when bones were at risk, or if light bones were thought to be a sign of weakness. In one case, our client wanted to give her dead twin the bones that the twin would have needed to be physical. We helped her to change that belief, and gradually her bones resumed their normal density.
Some post-menopausal bone density loss occurs for all women, after they stop ovulating. The egg-sac folds up, after the egg leaves the ovary, and releases a substantial rush of progesterone. This is the protection that the bones depend upon.
During and after menopause most women do very well with the addition of extra progesterone, and we suggest that it not be artificially pharmaceuticalized, as medhydroxyprogestin, or as a combination of Premarin and Provera. Real progesterone can be taken in the natural form, precisely as your body makes it, in an over the counter cream that is readily available. Bio-identical hormones can also be compounded by some pharmacies, if you prefer to have it as a capsule that your doctor can prescribe for you. We have tested various brands of the cream, (this is called “transdermal delivery”) and you can find the right cream for you, when you go to the health store and check out the different brands with your pendulum.
Replenishing bone loss starts with the absorption of calcium, magnesium, silica, and trace elements. Calcium has to be accompanied by plenty of magnesium, or it won’t be utilized. It will either cling to the soft tissues or be discarded. Magnesium is critical to the process of calcium utilization, and magnesium requires B-1 in order to function, so this is the context that calcium needs.
On-going alcohol depletes B-1, so magnesium may be at risk when regular consumption of wine or other alcohol sources are consumed. In that case one must replenish regularly with magnesium and B-1, and some molybdenum as well, and this will protect the hormones as well as the bone density. Calcium is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine, in the presence of both vitamin D and parathyroid hormone. When circulating blood-calcium reaches a high enough level, in the presence of progesterone,calcitonin from the thyroid gland comes out, searching for calcium.
Calcitonin picks up the extra calcium from the blood and carries it to the delivery cell, the osteoblast. The osteoblast then drops it into a thin layer on the bone surface called the fibrocartilage matrix. In the fibrocartilage matrix there are receptor sites that attract calcium, so that the matrix draws in the calcium, and with the help of Vitamin K, places it accurately into the bone structures wherever it is needed.
As soon as the calcium level in the blood becomes slightly depleted by the action of the calcitonin, parathyroid hormone is released from four little parathyroid glands that lie behind the thyroid. Parathyroid hormone is released into the blood with the intention of increasing the blood-calcium. To do this, it retrieves calcium from the bone by activating a little cellular structure, (equal and opposite to the osteoblast,) called the osteoclast. Upon the signal from the parathyroid hormone, the osteoclast lifts calcium out of the bone and invites it back into the blood.
This is a system of balance and refreshment, remodeling the bone to meet the changing needs of the body. These needs are modified in terms of weight-bearing exercise, sedentary time, and bed-rest. Ideally, calcitonin matches the parathyroid hormone precisely, in order to maintain and refresh the bone structures.
If there is more parathyroid hormone than calcitonin, the bones will go into osteoporosis. Cola drinks with high phosphoric acid will also create that depleting effect, as calcium is captured by the phosphate and discarded, and more needs to be drawn from the bones to compensate. On the other hand, if there is more calcitonin than parathyroid hormone, the bones will become excessively dense. Balance is what your body wants to achieve.
Protection in the Face of Stress or Steroid Medication
Given our usual high stress load, the high toxic load in the food and water, and relatively low exercise requirements in the industrial countries, sometimes the expected action of progesterone is diminished. Stress hormones like cortisol can prevent progesterone from doing its work. If cortisol is running high, we suggest taking extra biotin, a B-vitamin that will allow the progesterone to be effective even in face of fairly high adrenal stress.
Steroid medication can have the same effect as one’s natural stress-related steroids, but usually the meds are more concentrated, and they not only diminish progesterone, but also block the synthesis of proline, an amino acid we ordinarily make ourselves. Proline is needed for maintaining healthy cartilage and connective tissue. In this case the body needs biotin, and it also needs to be supported by additional proline, an essential component in the construction of collagen. Steroid meds are famous for one major disastrous side-effect, which is osteoporosis. It happens by inadvertently shorting out the proline. When you take both biotin and proline, that is not likely to happen. Neither biotin nor proline will block the effectiveness of the steroid meds, but they will eliminate the hazard that puts the bones at risk.
The reason for taking extra proline is that steroids prevent the synthesis of proline, but not the utilization. Taking it allows the body to receive it, and then it can be used to maintain the collagen fiber that protects bone density. The shortage comes about if a person has been on steroids for a while without replenishing it. Short-term steroids are not a hazard, this is quite helpful when needed, so don’t be afraid of it unless you are taking on-going dosages. And even then, no need to be afraid of it, you can take proline, it is readily available. Best case would be to resolve the reason for needing steroids, and then gradually letting go of the meds.
Given an adequate diet, most non-industrial cultures tend to maintain their post-menopausal bones quite well without additional progesterone. But, since we aren’t about to go out and join those hard-working folks in the fields, or walk the miles they walk, or share their physically strenuous lives, we need to figure out another way to protect our bones. There are other options.
We can take natural progesterone. Or, we can dance! Or enjoy weight-bearing sports. We had a client in her mid sixties, seventies now probably, bones perfect, never took progesterone, and she does folk dancing regularly. Her bones are being protected by the action of the piezo-electric spark that is released with the flexing of the bones in the hopping, jumping, and dancing she loves to do. It’s a joy to watch her do it, she’s flexible, skillful, and strong. The peizo-electric spark laces calcium into the bones very efficiently. Not sure what relationship that little spark has to progesterone or calcitonin, but we can ask. Interesting that the piezo-electric spark is the exact same frequency as the energy field of a quartz crystal.
When Calcium Deposits are Incorrect
Sometimes the signals for correct calcium placement become confused. Then it is deposited in the wrong places, perhaps putting little nuggets among the tendon fibers, or building up spurs on the existing bone. This typically happens in the presence of fluoride, as fluoride disrupts the collagen-fiber signals.
Another source of calcium misplacement comes about when there is a shortage of tyrosine. The nightshade vegetables use up extra tyrosine in their processing, so that in a mild shortage they deplete the tyrosine significantly more. Because of this, the nightshades, (potato, tomato, pepper, kale, and egg plant,) have been singled out as contributing culprits when a person has osteoarthritis. We have found that the cruciferous vegetables can also have this effect, (broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, caulifower, etc.) These vegetables are wonderfully nutritious and form the basis for a healthy diet that is protective from many illnesses associated with a shortage of green vegetables. If the body makes plenty of tyrosine, this effect is not a hazard, and all these delicious vegetables are available. I’m so tempted to start suggesting recipes, I’ll just give one: lightly steam the veggies, fry up some shitake mushrooms, garlic, and red onions in butter, and toss with toasted breadcrumbs and Himalyan salt. Can it get better than that? Not easily.
Tyrosine is synthesized from phenylalanine. Folic that has been converted to tetrahydrofolic, and B-6 that has been phosphorylate to pyridoxal-5-phosphate, are both required to make the necessary enzymes for the hydroxylation of phenylalanine. If you can hydoxylate phenylalanine, you have tyrosine. Activating this process would help to prevent the painful calcium deposits of osteoarthritis, which does often accompany osteoporosis.
As an aside, in addition to that, a tyrosine shortage seriously compromises the thyroxine synthesis. Many times we have seen clients with the diagnosis of low thyroid, often diagnosed as an auto-immune disease, can just mean that the body is really asking for more tyrosine. Sometimes all it takes is the conversion and phosphorylation of two little ordinary B-vitamins.
To remove spurs that have already formed, the client is likely to select a wonderful little fibrolytic supplement we can offer from our bone and cartilage test kit tray, one that will work in harmony with the body’s biofield by releasing incorrectly placed collagen fibers. If the fibers that support the calcium are withdrawn, the misplaced calcium drifts away and is absorbed into the blood. We are not in a position to identify this product here, but all clients who work with us and need this are welcome to it.
When Progesterone Does Not Give the Protection Expected
If you have been taking natural progesterone and your bone density has not improved within a few months, check for high adrenal output. On-going high cortisol prevents the ability of progesterone to recruit calcitonin. As we mentioned above, in that case, along with attempting to reduce the stress level, reach for the biotin. This should protect the progesterone so that even if the stress level can’t really be changed, the bones will still be protected.
The way to protect bone density is to be sure that your cholesterol is high enough to create the progesterone needed for the release of calcitonin. In this way, progesterone will not only maintain but will restore bone density—at any age—if it ever becomes depleted.
Big hazard to keep in mind: if a woman is on birth control pills and she takes progesterone cream, she could get pregnant within a couple of weeks. If she needs progesterone, there are two ways to do this: have her stop the birth control pill, and use the progest cream until she has made the necessary corrections. Then she can stop the cream. After a time, she can resume the pill again. Test carefully to be sure this sequence will be OK, not to put her at risk for an unwanted pregnancy. Might suggest other methods of birth control during that transition.
A safer aproach would be to engage her own cholesterol in a way that would increase her progesterone internally. This would not run the risk of pregnancy, but would support her ability to maintain her hormone balance on her own. First check her cholesterol for errors, make the corrections as needed, and then trace the synthesis of it and make corrections on any enzymes that are not functioning optimally. If the level is still too low, have her ask her liver to please make enough cholesterol for her needs, giving it permission to create both the “good” kind and the “good” kind. Then trace the cholesterol cascade, making sure that the enzymes are available to synthesize pregnenolone, and from there to progesterone, androstenadione, testosterone, and the estrogens. Then she will have full support within her own body to create and maintain this complex process, without depending upon any outside supplementation.
If the client wants to be pregnant or is already pregnant, to handle the pregnancy well she needs to have strong bones, and she particularly needs to have abundant progesterone. Many miscarriages occur due to a shortage of progesterone. Low cholesterol, which causes low progesterone, is not “good” in spite of the rumors we keep hearing. The total needs to run about 185 to 210, assuming these are accurate molecules. This used to be “normal” a few years ago, but the pharmaceutically oriented information has lowered the allowed limit in recent years, in order to promote statin drugs. Bodies being very much the same now as they were then, 185 to 210 is still quite healthy.
Cholesterol can be a hazard to the arteries, they are right about that, but only when it is oxidized and gathers at the site of damage due to homocysteine or free radicals. Low levels as well as high levels of cholesterol can both be oxidized. It’s not really about how much is there, but what it’s doing. A good array of antioxidents will protect it from oxididation. Releasing wheat and soy allergies, and taking folic and B-12, will protect against high homocysteine. Not to worry!
Bone Density Seriously Threatened by Chloramine
Another big hazard in the tap water, in many communities, is chloramine. No information about this has come up officially, but over the past few years we have found in hundreds of cases that there is a consistent and very disturbing effect that chloramine has upon the body, particularly relating to bone density.
Chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, has the effect of either capturing or deleting the trace mineral manganese. The shortage of manganese that occurs is certainly not total, but is sufficient to partially disempower the urea cycle, which requires manganese in order to go from ornithine to citrulline.
When citrulline is diminished, vitamin D cannot access its target tissues—it is deactivated as it comes in as a supplement, and also be deactivated as it is being synthesized from cholesterol in the liver. Another reason to keep up your cholesterol level is to make Vitamin D. You really don’t “get” it from sunshine. The sunshine is required to activate what you have already synthesized in your liver and put forth in the oil on your skin. A shortage of citrulline, or some indirect process that this shortage creates, prevents the hydroxylation of Vitamin D at position #25. The result is that Vitamin D is not accurate, and therefore not sufficiently available. Then calcium will not be sufficiently available either.
When dietary calcium cannot be absorbed well, the parathyroid will still continuously draw calcium from the bones, attempting to replenish the blood calcium. In spite of the parathyroid action, over time the calcium will become less and less available, until there is a chronic condition of very low blood calcium. This causes tremors, restless muscles, self-doubt, anxiety, and irritability, and eventually physical bone pain.
Taking additional progesterone cream in an attempt to replenish depleted bones, at that point, won’t do any good. Calcitonin might certainly come forth, but it wouldn’t find any reserves of blood calcium to draw from, so it wouldn’t be able to make repairs. For a client in this condition we would suggest manganese. This will allow the citrulline to be synthesized, so that Vitamin D can be processed accurately. We might suggest extra citrulline, and large amounts of Vitamin D. In a few weeks when the calcium comes back, we would either suggest taking progesterone cream, or we would balance the cholesterol cascade, to invite sustaining amounts of calcium to be delivered to the bones.
Drugs that are sometimes given for osteoporosis eventually create a calcium depletion. In this case, rather than being diminished as the result of a shortage of vitamin D, the calcium uptake is diminished by a shortage of parathyroid hormone. Calcium, even when accompanied by enough magnesium, cannot access the blood unless both vitamin D and parathyroid hormone are present at the intestinal lining. If one or the other is missing, calcium won’t be able to find its way in.
The way some of these osteo drugs work is that they inhibit the release of parathyroid hormone, with the intention of tipping the blood-calcium balance in favor of calcitonin. This immediately adds more calcium to the bone, and improves the bone density, not by the normal process of exchange and repair, but by preventing resorption. It works very well at first, it’s a short-term fantastic success! Long term, as the blood calcium becomes increasingly deficient, calcitonin can’t recruit it any more. The bones are static, unable to maintain the active exchange required for healthy refreshment and maintenance. The bone quality deteriorates until it becomes fragile, and then the bones are likely to fracture easily.
Added to the fluoride effect, which also causes bone fragility, the chloramine effect reduces calcium absorption by preventing the action of Vitamin D. A very serious problem may come up for these people in their later years. It will not be easy for physicians to figure out what to do for them, at that point. A different approach may be an option.
As you can guess, we will not advise the client to stop the drug. We will say “Yes, continue the drug, and your biotin can protect you from the side-effects.” There are supplements that can encourage the parathyroids, the drug residue can be detoxified, and a good cal/mag would be helpful.
Oxytocin is Compromised by Chloramine
A corollary hazard is that a manganese shortage compromises the synthesis of oxytocin. This is the hormone that kindles nurturing impulses, and is required for the strong uterine contractions during childbirth. Women giving birth who have an oxytocin shortage are likely to have difficulty mounting the strength required to expel the baby easily, and would probably have to resort to painful Ptocin to complete their birthing process. They could also have difficulty producing the breast milk they want to give their baby, as oxytocin is what allows the milk to be released.
A different hazard of an oxytocin shortage comes up for men. Oxytocin is required by the prostate—in fact it synthesizs oxytocin itself—and a shortage puts the prostate biofield at risk, by contributing to swelling. Our suggestion is to switch to water that is not contaminated by chloramine. Zinc, iodine, manganese and vitamin C are required for the synthesis of oxytocin, so if one or two of these are depleted, replenishing the missing ingredients will very likely help the prostate to resume its normal size.
When you have a client who says she doesn’t feel what she would like to feel for her child, it is very disturbing, the bonding is not being engaged, and the baby must also be very uneasy. Remember that oxytocin encourages bonding and supportive feelings. Ask about the required minerals, and ask about chloramine, knowing that chloramine may be the culprit that is interfering with the natural depth of that connection, and that can be changed.
To make a comment, write to meridianlink@earthlink.net with Conference Circle in the subject line.
None of the statements in this commentary have been reviewed or approved by the FDA nor by any recognized scientific forum for evaluation, and none of the statements in this commentary are intended to diagnose, or offer treatment for any disease. If you have a health problem, see your doctor.