Overcoming Osteoporosis
As I journey to age 50 next year, I’ve been noticing a lot more soreness with my knees and back. Particularly when I exercise like jumping rope. It is never to early to think about how osteoporosis may impact your life.
Osteoporosis is a progressive bone thinning disorder. The condition is more prevalent in women with those going through menopause (with the loss of estrogen) particularly vulnerable. In the United States, an estimated 10 million people age 50 years and older have osteoporosis.
No one knows the exact cause of osteoporosis. Bone loss can start to occur around age 30. But depending on an individual’s risk factors, the risk of fracture due to osteoporosis doesn’t usually become significant until about age 60 and continues to increase as we get older.
What happens in osteoporosis is that your bones are like a sponge and unfortunately, the holes in the sponge get bigger, making the bones more porous. The bones undergo a process called bone remodeling when the body needs calcium it breaks down and rebuilds bone. After age 35, bone breakdown occurs much faster than bone buildup, which causes a gradual loss of bone mass. With osteoporosis, you lose bone mass at a greater rate.
The symptoms of osteoporosis include loss of height, change in posture from stooping or bending forward, shortness of breath, bone fractures, and pain in the lower back.
You may be at risk for developing osteoporosis depending on your age, if you have a family history, your ethnicity (Caucasian and Asian people are more vulnerable to this condition), if you have a particular body weight (petite and thin people are more prone to developing it), and if you suffer from other medical conditions such as blood disorders like multiple myeloma or an overactive thyroid.
Some medications may cause potential side effects such as bone damage and lead to osteoporosis such as steroids, treatments for breast cancer and medications for seizures. Other conditions such as anorexia and bulimia may contribute to eventual bone loss as well. Not to mention living a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and drinking alcohol could eventually wear and tear on your bones.
Your doctor may order a bone mineral density test to diagnose osteoporosis, particularly dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA or DXA) scans to determine how solid your bones are. Women over age 65 should have bone density exams while men over 70 should have it. Standard X-rays do not detect osteoporosis until about one-quarter of bone mass is lost.
Treatments for osteoporosis include vitamin and mineral supplements, exercise, and medications. Weight bearing exercises can be extremely helpful in managing this condition.
Different types of medication can be key to combatting osteoporosis such as hormone and hormone related therapy like estrogen, testosterone, and the selective estrogen receptor modulator raloxifene (Evista). Another hormone medication like calcitonin-salmon (Fortical and Miacalcin) may be effective.
Bisphosphonates are also helpful regarding osteoporosis because this medication stops the body from reabsorbing bone tissue. But be cautious because there are some side effects that come with this type of medication such as fever, headache, heartburn, and impaired kidney function.
Your doctor may recommend biologics like denosumab (Prolia) and anabolic agents that build bone such as romososumab-aqqg (Evenity).
Your health care provider may suggest that you boost your calcium and vitamin D intake to ward off further bone loss. For those that are concerned there are plant-based sources of calcium supplements. Speak with your physician regarding the right dosage. Too much calcium may be associated with kidney stones, calcium buildup in the blood vessels and constipation.
Some ways to prevent osteoporosis are paying attention to your diet and eating foods high in calcium like kale, broccoli, salmon with bones, figs, and drinking fortified juices.
Exercises such as walking, jogging, aerobics and weight-lifting may be beneficial in stalling osteoporosis and strengthening bones. Be careful about potential injury you can sustain in your home from clutter, loose wires and cords, or throw rugs, slippery floors from cleaning, and spills. Use grab bars if possible in the bathroom and railings on stairways.
Losing bone mass is a normal part of the aging process. However, you can curtail further damage by taking preventive measures and hopefully save your bones in the long run.
