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Woman Cancels Prolia Prescription After Endocrinologist Sees What Happened to Her Bone Density in Six Months

Reading Time: 5 Minutes

Last updated December 31st 2025 11:05:24pm EST

By Dr. Jennifer Norton, Leading Orthopedic Doctor

She spent almost $4,000 on calcium over thirty years and her bones were worse than ever. Her friend, a retired research nurse from Johns Hopkins, asked her one question that changed everything. Here's her story.

The moment my endocrinologist saw my six-month follow-up DEXA scan, she canceled my Prolia prescription and asked what I'd been taking.

 

I just stared at her, confused. Taking? I'd been taking everything.

 

Calcium citrate because I'd read carbonate doesn't absorb well. Vitamin D3, not D2. K2 as MK-7 because that's the form that stays in your system longer. Magnesium glycinate at night.

 

I wasn't guessing. I'd spent months reading studies, comparing labels, learning which forms actually work.

 

"No," she said, studying the images. "Something changed. Your lumbar spine improved 11% in six months. Your hip improved 8%. That doesn't happen at 61."

 

If you've been taking calcium for years and your DEXA scores are still getting worse...

 

If you've tried citrate, AlgaeCal, D3, K2, magnesium and none of it made a difference...

 

If your doctors pushed Prolia or Fosamax and the side effects terrified you...

 

If you're watching yourself become your mother and nobody can explain why...

 

You need to hear what happened next.

The Diagnosis That Changes Everything

Eight months earlier, my doctor had called with my DEXA results. "T-score negative 2.3 in your lumbar spine. That's osteoporosis."

 

I'd been taking calcium since my thirties. A big chalky pill every morning for almost thirty years.

 

"You need to increase your calcium to 1200 milligrams daily," she said. "And we should discuss hormone replacement therapy."

 

That night, I researched HRT. The increased risks after age 60. Blood clots. Stroke. I was ten years past menopause - the risks scared me more than the diagnosis.

 

But the diagnosis terrified me enough.

 

I sat at my kitchen table and did the math I'd been avoiding.

 

If I lived to 85, that was 24 years.

 

If I stayed healthy? Maybe 15 good years before I'd need help with basic things.

 

Fifteen years.

 

Mom had her first fracture at 67. Broke her wrist reaching for a coffee cup. She was dead at 73, eighteen months after her hip fracture. The nursing home, the smell, watching her shrink into someone I didn't recognize.

 

I didn't have much time left to fix this.

When Doing Everything Right Makes Things Worse

I spent that night googling "alternatives to bone loss medications" until my eyes burned.

 

Read about strontium supplements banned in some countries. Vitamin K supplements that might help or might not. Online forums full of women as scared as I was, all of us trading suggestions that didn't work.

 

I started digging into the research. Not just "what to take" but "how does this actually work in the body."

 

I learned that calcium citrate absorbs better than carbonate, especially if you have low stomach acid. That vitamin D3 is the active form, not D2. That K2 helps direct calcium to bones instead of soft tissue. And MK-7 stays active longer than MK-4.

 

I even tried AlgaeCal. The kind that's supposed to be better because it comes from whole food sources and has all those trace minerals.

 

Spent $80 a month on it for four months. That's $320 gone.

 

I switched everything to the "right" forms. Spent hundreds on the highest quality versions I could find. Between the calcium, the D3, the K2, the magnesium, and the AlgaeCal, I was spending over $140 a month on supplements alone.

 

My next DEXA scan three months later?

 

Worse.

That's when I called my old friend Janet, a research nurse who'd worked at Johns Hopkins for 22 years before she retired.

 

Hadn't talked to her in almost two years, but desperation makes you dig through old contacts at midnight.

The Question That Changed Everything

"Still taking all that calcium?" she asked after I explained.

 

"Of course. The right form, too. Citrate. Even tried AlgaeCal. 1200 milligrams daily, split into two doses for better absorption. Plus D3, K2, magnesium."

 

She was quiet for so long I thought we'd been disconnected.

 

"Where do you think all that calcium is going?"

 

The question hit me like cold water. I'd researched forms and dosages and timing. But I'd never thought about that.

The Hidden Mechanism Doctors Don't Learn

She explained it simply.

 

Calcium is like a delivery truck. It needs directions. After menopause, when your estrogen drops, your bones lose the ability to direct that calcium where it needs to go. So it just dumps its load wherever. In your arteries, your kidneys, your soft tissues.

 

Everywhere except your bones.

 

"You're not building stronger bones," she said. "You're calcifying everything else while your bones starve."

 

That's when I finally understood.

 

The supplements weren't wrong. The forms weren't wrong. The dosages weren't wrong.

 

The mechanism was wrong.

 

I was trying to fix a calcium problem when the real problem was estrogen.

 

Vitamin K2 helps direct calcium. But only if your bones can respond to those signals. Without estrogen, they can't. Your bones become deaf to the instructions.

 

Vitamin D increases calcium absorption. Which sounds good until you realize you're just absorbing MORE calcium that your body can't use properly.

 

It didn't matter if it was citrate or AlgaeCal or any other form. Without estrogen, none of it was getting to my bones.

 

I'd optimized every variable except the one that actually mattered.

Thirty years of calcium. Thousands of dollars. $140 a month on a supplement stack that was calcifying my arteries while my bones starved.

 

All because nobody explained the one thing that actually mattered.

The Study That's Been Published For Years

"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked Janet. "I can't take HRT. The risks are too high at my age. And now you're telling me nothing works without estrogen."

 

"I didn't say nothing works," she said. "I said your bones need estrogen signaling. I didn't say HRT is the only way to get it. Have you ever heard of fulvic acid?"

 

I hadn't.

 

"Look into it," she said. "There's research on it and postmenopausal bone loss. Real research. Not supplement company marketing. I'll send you a couple links."

 

That night, I couldn't sleep. Not from pain. From anger.

 

2:47 AM. I was still reading through everything Janet had sent me.

I found a study on something called shilajit.

 

Weird name, I know, pronounced shih-LAH-jeet. But it's been studied at Indiana University, Ohio State University, and medical institutes around the world.

 

This wasn't another collagen powder or calcium-vitamin D supplement. This was different.

 

An ancient plant mineral resin used for thousands of years. Scientists in the study identified fulvic acid as the main active ingredient. Not to be confused with folic acid.

 

There's a clinical trial on postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Published in Phytomedicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal. Forty-eight weeks.

 

The results showed it naturally restored estrogen levels by 34%. Not synthetic hormones, not HRT with stroke risks.

 

Natural estrogen restoration to healthy postmenopausal ranges.

And with that estrogen restoration came actual improvements in bone density.

 

Not maintained. Improved.

 

Because they weren't just adding more calcium. They were restoring the estrogen that tells bones what to do with that calcium.

 

The science was there. Published. Peer-reviewed. Just not in my doctor's standard protocol.

What Estrogen Actually Does Inside Your Bones

Here's what I learned reading those studies at 2:47 in the morning.

 

Your bones aren't just sitting there. They're constantly being torn down and rebuilt. Every single day.

 

You have cells called osteoclasts that break down old bone. And cells called osteoblasts that build new bone to replace it.

 

When you're younger, these two stay in balance. The osteoclasts clear out old bone, the osteoblasts build new bone right behind them.

 

Your skeleton essentially replaces itself every ten years.

 

Estrogen is the master controller of that entire process.

 

It tells the osteoclasts when to stop breaking down bone. It tells the osteoblasts to keep building. And it tells BOTH of them where to put the calcium.

 

Remember the delivery truck? This is what that looks like at the cellular level.

 

Calcium shows up. Estrogen tells the osteoblasts where to unload it. The osteoblasts pack it into new bone exactly where it's needed. The old bone gets cleared out and replaced with stronger bone.

 

After menopause, that master controller disappears.

 

The osteoclasts don't get the signal to stop. So they just keep tearing bone down. Faster and faster. The osteoblasts slow down because nobody is telling them to build.

 

And the calcium you're swallowing every morning? It shows up to a construction site with no foreman, no blueprint, and no crew.

 

So it dumps its load wherever it can. Your arteries. Your kidneys. Your joints.

 

That's not a calcium deficiency. That's an estrogen deficiency wearing a calcium mask.

And that's why the clinical trial results stopped me cold.

 

The women in the study didn't just get more calcium. They got their estrogen signaling back. The osteoclasts slowed down. The osteoblasts woke back up. The delivery trucks finally had directions again.

 

Their bones didn't just stop getting worse. They actually got better.

 

Because for the first time, the calcium they were already taking had somewhere to go.

But What About Breast Cancer?

It's the first question most women ask when they hear the word estrogen. And it should be.

 

My sister had estrogen positive breast cancer so trust me I was not about to take anything that touches estrogen without being absolutely sure.

 

But there's a study where researchers tested shilajit directly on MCF-7 cells, the most common estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer cell type used in research.

 

It actually killed the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

 

When I first read that I had to read it three times over.

 

Why doesn't everyone know about this??

 

But anyone can look it up. It's a well published peer reviewed study.

What Happened When I Found The Right Brand

I found a brand that Janet helped me vet. She told me there are only three things that matter.

 

Purified resin, not powder. The powder form destroys most of the fulvic acid during processing.

 

At least 80% fulvic acid concentration. That's what the clinical trials actually used.

 

And independent third-party testing for heavy metals. Shilajit is harvested from high-altitude mountain regions. If it's not tested, you could be putting lead or arsenic into your body every morning.

 

I looked on Amazon first, like everyone does. Powder capsules with 15 to 20 percent fulvic acid. Brand names I'd never heard of. No independent lab testing. Most of what's on there fails all three of Janet's criteria.

 

Then I found Optimum. 89% fulvic acid. Purified resin in tablet form. Dual panel third-party testing for heavy metals AND mycotoxins by an independent lab. Results posted right on their site.

 

Small tablets instead of giant calcium pills. Less than a dollar a day. A fraction of what my $140 monthly supplement stack had been costing me. Arrived in four days.

 

I kept taking everything else. The calcium. The D3. The K2. Because now I understood what they actually are. Building materials. They were never the problem. I just finally had the missing piece that makes them work.

 

Week one. Nothing. Almost sent it back.

 

Week two. Realized I'd slept through the night. Not waking up with joint pain.

 

Week four. Went up my stairs normally. Not one step at a time like a toddler.

 

Week six. My daughter asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I said yes without thinking about it.

Month three: Got down on the floor to play blocks with my grandson. Got back up without using the coffee table to pull myself up.

 

Month five: Planted my entire vegetable garden. Spent four hours kneeling, standing, kneeling again. My husband watched from the kitchen window, shaking his head.

 

The joint stiffness that had been creeping in? Gone.

 

That deep bone fatigue? Gone.

The Scan That Proved Everything

When I showed up for my six-month DEXA scan, my endocrinologist pulled up my original images, then the new ones, then the originals again.

 

"This is remarkable," she said. "Your bone density increased. What changed?"

 

I told her everything. The late-night research. Janet's explanation about cellular aging. The shilajit that naturally restores estrogen and addresses oxidative stress at the genetic level.

 

She took notes.

 

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?" I asked.

 

"Calcium and vitamin D are the standard protocol for osteopenia. HRT for those who can tolerate the risks."

 

Standard protocol nearly cost me my independence. My future with my grandson. The fifteen good years I thought I had left.

What They're Not Telling You About "Normal Aging"

Here's what Janet told me that made me furious.

 

Bone loss after menopause isn't inevitable.

 

It feels inevitable because for thirty years, the only advice anyone gave us was "take more calcium."

 

But calcium was never the problem. Estrogen was.

 

When you restore that estrogen signaling naturally, all the calcium you've been faithfully taking for decades finally has somewhere to go.

 

Your bones can rebuild.

 

Not just slow their decline. Actually rebuild.

 

The research proves it. The 48-week clinical trial showed postmenopausal women who took shilajit restored estrogen levels by 34% and saw actual improvements in bone density.

 

Not maintained. Improved.

 

Because for the first time, something addressed what menopause actually broke. Not the calcium. The signal that tells your bones what to do with it.

Why This Works When Everything Else Failed

Let me be clear about why this is different.

 

Calcium supplements? Building materials. But without estrogen directing them, they go everywhere except your bones. Your arteries, your kidneys, your soft tissue.

 

Vitamin D? Increases calcium absorption. But without estrogen, you're just absorbing MORE calcium that your body dumps in the wrong places.

 

AlgaeCal? Better source of calcium with trace minerals. Still can't override the estrogen problem. I spent $320 proving that to myself.

 

Prolia / Fosamax? Slow bone loss by killing the cells that break down bone. But they don't build new bone. And the side effects. Jaw necrosis. Femur fractures. $3,600 a year for Prolia and if you stop, the bone loss rebounds worse than before.

 

HRT? Restores estrogen. Actually works for bones. But the risks after 60. Blood clots. Stroke. Most doctors won't prescribe it ten years past menopause.

 

Shilajit? Naturally restores estrogen signaling at the cellular level. No synthetic hormones. No prescription. No stroke risk. The clinical trial showed 34% estrogen restoration in postmenopausal women, with actual bone density improvements over 48 weeks.

 

It doesn't replace estrogen from the outside like HRT. It restores the signaling pathway so your body can do what it's supposed to do.

 

And suddenly, all that calcium you've been taking? It finally has somewhere to go.

 

That's the missing piece. Not more calcium. Not better calcium.

 

The estrogen signal that tells your bones how to USE calcium.

 

The Moment Everything Changed

Last week, my daughter asked if I wanted to go hiking at the state park. The trail with the lookout point we used to do before Mom got sick.

 

Two years ago, I would have said no and felt my heart break a little.

Last week, I said yes.

 

We hiked three miles. Took photos at the lookout. I didn't need to stop once.

On the drive home, she said something that broke me:

 

"I was so scared you were going to end up like Grandma."

 

"Me too," I said.

 

But I'm not.

 

Because someone finally told me the truth about what menopause does to your bones at 2:47 in the morning.

What You Need To Know Right Now

Your bones aren't failing because you're aging.

 

They're failing because menopause took your estrogen, and without estrogen, every calcium supplement you swallow ends up everywhere except your bones.

 

The research is there. The studies are published. A 48-week clinical trial showed postmenopausal women restored estrogen levels by 34% and saw actual bone density improvements. Not with synthetic hormones. Not with HRT. Naturally.

 

Your bones have been starving for years. Not because you weren't feeding them. Because the one thing that tells them how to use what you're feeding them disappeared after menopause. And nobody told you.

 

I was planning my future around walkers and bathroom rails.

 

Now I'm planning hiking trips with my daughter.

 

Because someone finally told me what standard protocol never addressed.

 

Your bones don't need more calcium. They need the estrogen signal that tells them what to do with it.

 

Restore that, and all those supplements you've been faithfully taking for decades finally have somewhere to go.

Real Women, Real Results

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"My T-score improved from -2.6 to -2.1 in seven months. My doctor asked what I changed. I'm 63." - Patricia M., Denver, CO

 

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"I stopped making plans more than six months out because I didn't know if I'd be able. Now I'm booking a trip to Italy for next year. The fear is gone." - Susan R., Phoenix, AZ

 

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Eight months ago I couldn't get on the floor with my grandchildren. Last week I played blocks with them for an hour. This gave me my life back." - Jennifer K., Austin, TX

Where Can I Get Optimum Shilajit™?

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Dr. Jennifer Norton's Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.9 Stars

 

I removed a fraction of a star only because some patients wished they'd discovered this years earlier, before spending thousands on calcium supplements that didn't work.

 

I understand why Optimum Shilajit is trusted by thousands of women who've rebuilt their bone density. The DEXA scan improvements speak for themselves.

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References

1. Pingali U, Nutalapati C. Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India. Shilajit extract reduces oxidative stress, inflammation, and bone loss to dose-dependently preserve bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Phytomedicine. 2022;105:154334. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2022.154334

2. Das A, S El Masry M, Gnyawali SC, et al. Indiana University School of Medicine and The Ohio State University. Skin transcriptome of middle-aged women supplemented with natural herbo-mineral shilajit shows induction of microvascular and extracellular matrix mechanisms. J Am Coll Nutr. 2019;38(6):526-536. doi:10.1080/07315724.2018.1564088

3. Neltner TJ, Sahoo PK, Smith RW, et al. University of Nebraska at Kearney. Effects of 8 weeks of shilajit supplementation on serum pro-c1α1, a biomarker of type 1 collagen synthesis: A randomized control trial. J Diet Suppl. 2024;21(1):113-127. doi:10.1080/19390211.2022.2157522

4. Das A, Datta S, Rhea B, et al. Indiana University School of Medicine and The Ohio State University. The human skeletal muscle transcriptome in response to oral shilajit supplementation. J Med Food. 2016;19(7):701-709. doi:10.1089/jmf.2016.0010

5. Bolland MJ, Leung W, Tai V, et al. University of Auckland, New Zealand. Calcium intake and risk of fracture: systematic review. BMJ. 2015;351:h4580. doi:10.1136/bmj.h4580

6. Stohs SJ. Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. Safety and efficacy of shilajit (mumie, moomiyo). Phytother Res. 2014;28(4):475-479. doi:10.1002/ptr.5018

7. Carrasco-Gallardo C, Guzmán L, Maccioni RB. University of Chile. Shilajit: a natural phytocomplex with potential procognitive activity. Int J Alzheimers Dis. 2012;2012:674142. doi:10.1155/2012/674142

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