Will taking calcium + vitamin D supplements combat the bone loss associated with depo-provera?

If you already have osteopenia at 18 then you need to see your physician, and possibly an endocrinologist.

It couldn’t hurt. I’d think you should be taking calcium and vitamin D already, if you have brittle bones. It’s a good idea for women in general; I take it daily too. But also, I’d talk to a doctor about your bone health before starting the new medication.

I have suffered osteopaenia/osteoporosis since an early age (though not as young as you). Mine is a result of pernicious anemia, meaning my body can’t absorb vitimin B12 through normal digestion. I am not familiar with depo-provera, so I cannot address your question directly, but your doctor surely can. Your bone loss can be treated, and there may be other side effects of your drug usage that need to be addressed as well. My guess is that the calcium and D supplements alone won’t do much. In fact, excess calcium can be quite harmful. Bottom line, you need to get a doctor to address your bone loss.

At your age, you need about 1,000 mg of calcium a day and 400 – 1,000 units of vitamin D. To get the calcium you need through food alone, that would be 2–3 dairy servings a day (preferably low fat) with 8oz of milk, 8oz yogurt or about 1.5 ounces of cheese equal to one serving. A lot of us are vitamin D deficient – there’s a blood test that can check. You also need to be getting plenty of weight bearing exercise to help build strong bones.

Most fmaily planning experts feel that the bone density concerns raised over depo provera use are excessive and inflated. A reliable website to get good information about this would be managingcontraception.com. If you don’t find a specific answer about your concerns, ask a question of the site manager, Dr Hatcher, one of the original authors of Contraceptive Technology.