Is There a Cure for Osteoporosis?
- In the past, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was considered the best way to ward off osteoporosis, which can occur at any time but more so after the onset of menopause. However, HRT has been linked with breast cancer so physicians are trying new approaches. According to the Mayo Clinic, most of the problems associated with HRT concerned oral types of hormones that were taken alone or in combination with progestin. Other methods are now available including creams, a vaginal ring and patches. When a woman's hormones take a nosedive during menopause, her bones can become brittle and frail, resulting in fractures. Hormones provide many services, including maintaining strong and healthy bones. When there is a hormonal deficiency post-menopause that is when osteoporosis can become a real problem, especially for a woman, although men can be targeted as well.
- Women have lower bone density than men to start with. Women live longer than men. These two factors combined explain why women are afflicted with osteoporosis more so than men. In addition, the drastic drop in estrogen during menopause can accelerate bone loss. If you are a small woman, you are more at risk for developing this condition than a bigger woman. Men who have minimal levels of testosterone are also at risk. To ward off osteoporosis, men and women need to eat healthily their entire lives, getting enough calcium and Vitamin D into their systems to keep their bones strong. Smoking and drinking increase your chances of having brittle bones later on in life. Do weight-bearing exercise (lift small hand weights) to safeguard the health of your bones. These steps can be taken long before you become menopausal and should be continued long after menopause. Men should engage in the same safeguards. Prevention is a lot easier than trying to undo the damage that you have done over the years, albeit not intentionally, to your bones.
- Take a look at yourself, your habits, the medicines that you are taking. If you have taken steroids for a long period of time, you are setting yourself up for osteoporosis. If you have or have had an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia, you are at higher risk for developing this condition than someone who hasn't had eating problems. Address these issues now, before it is too late. The link between tobacco use and osteoporosis is uncertain, but the medical community believes there is one. If there is a history of osteoporosis in your family, your chances of developing porous bones increases tangentially, which means you should start that much earlier and work that much harder to keep your bones healthy. Medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism, which is an overactive thyroid, can, according to the Mayo Clinic, result in bone loss. If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) and are taking synthetic thyroid and are getting too much, this can have the same result. Get this squared away with your physician. Discuss your concerns about preventing osteoporosis.
- There appears to be a link between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), antidepressants and bone loss, although more research is required regarding this potential link. If you are taking an antidepressant, discuss this with your doctor and see what she recommends.
- Include soy in your diet because the estrogens found in soy help maintain bone density. As much as you might like to be a couch potato, try to work some physical exercise in every day. Design a workout regime that includes weight-bearing exercises (lifting weights) with strength training, which can include stair climbing, walking, running, jogging, jumping rope. Doing this will strength your bones and safeguard you against osteoporosis, according to Nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus.
- There are medications available, according to the Mayo Clinic, that can retard bone loss. A group of drugs in the bisphosphonate category preserves bone mass, slows bone breakdown and may actually increase bone density in your hip and spine. This type of drug is particularly beneficial for someone who has been on steroids for a long time either due to treatment for arthritis or asthma or for those who have steroid-induced osteoporosis as a result of using steroids for body-building purposes. Another anti-osteoporosis drug involves a once-yearly application, given intravenously, to women, and it is called Reclast (zoledronic acid). Other drugs that are being used to treat and/or ward off osteoporosis include Raloxifene (Evista); Calcitonin, which is a hormone that is produced by our thyroid gland and which slows down bone loss. This hormone is given via a nasal spray. It is not as potent as the bisphosphonates so it is used on people who are sensitive to other drugs; Teriparatide (Forteo) is a powerful drug, given once a day, via an injection, to men who are battling osteoporosis; the synthetic hormone Tamoxifen is given to women who have breast cancer. Oddly, this drug blocks estrogen's effects on breast tissue, but it has the opposite effect on the other cells, which includes the bone cells. Tamoxifen reportedly lowers the risk of bone fractures in women over the age of 50. Boniva is another drug that is being used to prevent osteoporosis or keep it from advancing if you already have this condition.
- A relatively new physical therapy approach is being used to help a woman have better balance and posture, reducing the likelihood that she will fall and sustain a fracture, as well as alleviate back pain. A device called a spinal weighted kypho-orthosis (WKO), a harness with a weight attached, is used along with certain exercises that strengthen and extend the back. The patient wears the harness and does the exercises twice a day and this seems to help.