Understanding osteoporosis causes symptoms and treatment

Osteoporosis is a bone disease: Bones become thinner, they lose some of their strength and break more easily, and people with osteoporosis have a higher risk of fractures.

Bones can break even during everyday movements, such as bending over or coughing.

The most common osteoporotic fractures occur in the wrist, hip, and spine.

Osteoporosis can cause a lot of suffering, including loss of independence and possibly death, especially when the fracture involves the hip.

Hip fractures can be difficult to heal, and they can reduce a person’s ability to move around. This can lead to complications and other health problems.

Osteoporosis is more common in women than in men because of the hormonal changes that occur during menopause.

Osteoporosis is not a form of arthritis, however, it can lead to fractures, which can cause arthritis.

1. Risk Factors

You are more likely to develop osteoporosis if you:

1. Women

2. 50 years old or above

3. Postmenopause

4. Low calcium diet

5. Intestinal problems cause calcium and vitamins to be unable to be absorbed

6. Hyperthyroidism or taking too much thyroid hormone

7. Living a sedentary lifestyle

8. Very thin

9. Taking certain medications, such as prednisone

10. Are you Caucasian or Asian?

11. Smoking

12. Drinking too much

13. Family history of osteoporosis

2. Symptoms

Most people with osteoporosis do not have any symptoms. They do not know they have osteoporosis until they have a bone density test or a bone fracture.

An early sign may be a loss of height due to curvature or compression of the spine. The curvature or compression is caused by weakening of the vertebrae (spinal bones). Weakened vertebrae can develop tiny breaks, called compression fractures.

Compression fractures cause the bones of the spine to collapse vertically. When this happens, the vertebrae shorten and the shape of each individual vertebra changes from its normal rectangular shape to a more triangular shape.

Compression fractures can cause back pain or soreness. However, height loss usually causes no symptoms.

Osteoporosis does not usually cause pain unless a bone is broken.

3. Diagnosis

During a physical exam, your doctor may find that you are shorter than you thought. Or, your doctor may notice an “old lady’s hump.” This is a curve in the spine in the upper back that creates a hump.

X-rays may show that your bones are less dense than expected. This could be caused by osteoporosis, but there are other possible causes, such as insufficient vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency is common and can be easily diagnosed by your doctor with a blood test.

Your doctor may suspect osteoporosis if you have had fragility fractures or other risk factors for the disease.

A bone density test can confirm a diagnosis of osteoporosis. There are several techniques for measuring bone density.

The most accurate bone density test is DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). DEXA takes 10 to 15 minutes and is painless. It uses minimal radiation and is usually done on the spine and hips.

A newer test is ultrasound bone density of the heel, which is faster and cheaper than DEXA, but it is not widely used or accepted as an accurate screening test for osteoporosis.

Often, people who are found to have osteoporosis via heel ultrasound will eventually go on to have DEXA of the spine and hip.

Osteoporosis is a long-term (chronic) disease. But proper treatment can significantly improve bone mass. It can reduce the likelihood of fractures.

Bone mass does not usually return to normal after treatment. However, the risk of fractures may be significantly reduced after treatment.

4. Estimated duration

Osteoporosis is a long-term (chronic) disease, but proper treatment can significantly improve bone mass, which can reduce the likelihood of fractures.

Bone mass does not usually return to normal after treatment. However, the risk of fractures may be significantly reduced after treatment.

5. Prevention

You can help prevent osteoporosis by:

1. Take in enough calcium and vitamin D.

2. Eat more calcium-rich foods, such as low-fat dairy products, sardines, salmon, green leafy vegetables, and calcium-fortified foods and beverages. Your doctor may also prescribe calcium supplements.

3. You may also need to take a vitamin D supplement or a daily multivitamin.

4. Do weight-bearing exercise regularly

5. Don’t smoke

6. Avoid excessive drinking

If you are a woman who has recently entered menopause, talk to your doctor about being evaluated for osteoporosis.

6. Preventive Medicine

There are several medications that can prevent menopause-related osteoporosis. These include:

1. Estrogen replacement therapy (not routinely recommended due to the risks of this treatment)

Raloxifene (Evista) or bazedoxifene-CEE (Duavee), which combines a drug similar to raloxifene with estrogen. Raloxifene and bazedoxifene act on bones like estrogen, increasing bone density.

Alendronate (Fosamax)

Ibandronate (Boniva)

risedronate (Actonel)

Zoledronic acid (Reclast)

Estrogen slows the breakdown of bone, and the loss of estrogen during menopause can lead to bone loss. Estrogen therapy helps to counteract this process.

However, estrogen replacement therapy has fallen out of favor because of side effects, including an increased risk of heart disease and stroke in women who take it more than 10 years after menopause.

Alendronate, ibandronate, risedronate, and zoledronic acid are bisphosphonates. This family of drugs slows the breakdown of bones. They can help bones thicken.

If a bone density test shows signs of a problem, it may help you decide whether to start taking preventive medication. You should also measure your height once a year, especially if you are a woman over 40.

Too much thyroid medication may lead to osteoporosis and other medical problems. If you take thyroid medication, be monitored regularly.

If you take prednisone, work with your doctor to reduce your dose to the lowest possible level. Or, if possible, stop taking the medication.

7. Treatment

Doctors initially treat osteoporosis with:

1. Ensure that the patient consumes adequate calcium daily. If dietary sources are insufficient, prescribe calcium

2. Prescription Vitamin D

3. Weight-bearing exercise is recommended

4. Modify other risk factors

8. Treatment plan

The medications listed below are related to or used to treat this condition in some way.

Fosamax

Prolia

Alendronate

Boniva

9. Medication

For women, many drugs are available to treat osteoporosis.

These include:

1. Bisphosphonates.

These are the drugs most commonly used to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Bisphosphonates inhibit the breakdown of bone. They may even increase bone density. Most come as tablets that you take by mouth, but some can be given intravenously.

Bisphosphonates can cause side effects. These include nausea, abdominal pain, esophageal irritation, and difficulty swallowing.

A rare but serious side effect is death of the jawbone due to lack of blood supply. Bisphosphonates include:

Alendronate (Fosamax)

risedronate (Actonel)

Ibandronate (Boniva)

Pamidronate (Aredia)

Zoledronic acid (Reclast, Zometa).

Denosumab is a monoclonal antibody, which is a type of biologic therapy. It is an antibody that targets a protein involved in bone breakdown. By attacking this protein, it helps stop bone loss.

Long-term estrogen therapy is associate with many risks. These include an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, and gallstones. Estrogen replacement therapy is rarely use to prevent or treat osteoporosis.

In men, low levels of testosterone are the most common cause of osteoporosis (other than aging). Tests can reveal if testosterone levels are low. In this case, other tests will look for the cause so that treatment can be start, including testosterone therapy. Men may also be give bisphosphonates or teriparatide.

Your doctor will monitor how well your treatment is working. He or she will do this by doing bone density measurements every one to two years.

10. Treatment of fractures

If a person with osteoporosis breaks a hip, surgery may be necessary. Surgery will realign and stabilize the hip joint.

A broken wrist may heal simply by wearing a cast. Sometimes surgery may be need to restore the bones to their proper alignment.

Other treatments for fractures include pain medication and short periods of rest.

Calcitonin injections can relieve spinal pain caused by new compression fractures.

11. Prognosis

The outlook for people with osteoporosis is good, especially if the problem is detect and treat early. Bone density, even in severe osteoporosis, can generally be stabilize or improve, and the risk of fractures can be greatly reduce with treatment.

People with mild osteoporosis have a good outlook, and those who break a bone can expect their bone to heal normally, with the pain usually going away within a week or two.

In some people, osteoporosis has a clear cause. The outlook is particularly good if the cause is identify and correc.