Osteoporosis - Treatment

Treatment depends on the form of osteoporosis a patient has. If a patient has secondary osteoporosis, treatment is aimed at curing the disease that has caused osteoporosis. In the case of primary osteoporosis, medications are used to adjust the balance between bone resorption and bone formation. Treatment may also be necessary for bone fractures resulting from osteoporosis. The most common treatment for such fractures is surgery.

Drugs

For women who have gone through menopause, the first line of treatment may be hormone replacement therapy (HRT). In hormone replacement therapy, a woman is given the estrogen that her body no longer produces on its own. The estrogen can be given orally (by mouth) or by injection. Many women choose HRT for other reasons as well. It helps ease the symptoms of menopause. It can also protect against heart disease, the number-one killer of women in the United States. HRT does have some harmful side effects, however. For example, it may increase a woman's risk for breast cancer (see breast cancer entry).

Other medications can be used to treat osteoporosis. These medications reduce the rate of bone resorption and/or increase the rate of bone formation. The two most common drugs used for these purposes are alendronate and calcitonin. These drugs may be given by injection or in the form of nose sprays.

Surgery

In advanced stages of osteoporosis, major fractures are common. In such cases, surgery may be required to repair the fracture. One of the most common procedures is hip replacement surgery. Hip replacement surgery is used to repair a broken hip. The original hip is removed and replaced with an artificial metal and/or plastic hip. Hip replacement surgery is usually quite successful. Patients can often return

to a relatively normal life. However, the surgery carries some serious risks. The death rate following such surgery may be 5 percent to 20 percent greater than for others of the same age group who have not had surgery.

Alternative Treatment

The primary approach for most alternative practitioners is the same as it is in traditional medicine. The goal is to make sure that individuals receive the nutrients they need to build strong bones in their daily diet. This means a diet rich in calcium and protein, including foods such as dairy products, dark-green leafy vegetables, sardines, salmon, and almonds. Nutritional supplements such as vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium may also be recommended.

Herbalists and Chinese medicine practitioners believe that certain herbs can slow the rate of bone loss. Among the products they recommend are horsetail, oat straw, alfalfa, licorice, marsh mallow, yellow dock, and Asian ginseng. Homeopathic practitioners recommend minerals such as Calcarea carbonica or silica. A substitute for HRT is to obtain hormones from natural sources, such as soybeans and wild yams.