A loss of bone density and strength can ultimately lead to a diagnosis of osteoporosis and the potential of years ahead of morbidity that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Diagnosing osteoporosis must be taken seriously and it must be diagnosed as early as possible so that you can salvage as much bone loss as you can.

There are very high health costs associated with an inaccurate or a missed diagnosis of osteoporosis since this can lead to unnecessary bone loss and additional fractures that could have been prevented.

When you see your physician for an exam and she is trying to determine if you have osteoporosis, and if this is a positive diagnosis, she will also look to determine if you have either primary or secondary osteoporosis.

Primary osteoporosis means the osteoporosis itself is the root of the problem. Secondary osteoporosis means that there is an underlying health condition that is creating the osteoporosis. Some of the causes of secondary osteoporosis can be chronic alcohol use, diabetes, Cushing’s disease, lymphoma, multiple myeloma or even Marfan’s syndrome. Your healthcare provider must know whether you have primary or secondary osteoporosis since the treatment is different for both.

The gold standard used when diagnosing osteoporosis is the DEXA scan, which disperses very low amounts of radiation. This test takes about 10 minutes to complete and is totally painless. With the DEXA scan the bones in the hip, the spine or the wrist are examined to determine the accurate density of the bone.

Your physician will interpret the results and based on standardized findings will be able to The DEXA scan will be able to establish if you are at a higher risk than others in the norm group to sustain a bone fracture.

Current recommendations suggest that all women over the age of 65, postmenopausal women under the age of 65 who have multiple risk factors, patients who have taken a long-term course of oral corticosteroids, and patients with a hyperparathyroidism should have a DEXA scan to determine bone density and risks.

Diagnosing osteoporosis is a painless and rather simple thing for your health care practitioner to do. Particularly if you are in the risk group, see your healthcare provider for a complete history and physical exam along with any appropriate bone scans, such as the DEXA scan so that you can have a definitive diagnosis of osteoporosis or not. Your health depends on it.

We all want to live healthy and when there is something so simple that you can do about it, take action. There’s no pain involved…well, that is unless you choose to ignore your osteoporosis and then you will have to contend the rest of your life with the results of bone fractures that you possible could have avoided.

Make the call! Your health deserves it!



Thanks to Jeff Foster for contributing this article to our Osteoporosis blog:

Reversing Osteopenia

You know that eating a vegetarian diet can decrease the incidence of heart disease and certain types of cancers. You also know that it can make you leaner and healthier. But so many of the health studies are done on men? What about women and the impact of a vegetarian diet on their health as they age?

Diets that are high in protein, especially animal protein, tend to cause the body to excrete more calcium, oxalate, and uric acid. These three substances are the main components of urinary tract stones. British researchers have advised that persons with a tendency to form kidney stones should follow a vegetarian diet. The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that high animal protein intake is largely responsible for the high prevalence of kidney stones in the United States and other developed countries and recommends protein restriction for the prevention of recurrent kidney stones.

For many of the same reasons, vegetarians are at a lower risk for osteoporosis. Since animal products force calcium out of the body, eating meat can promote bone loss. In nations with mainly vegetable diets (and without dairy product consumption), osteoporosis is less common than in the U.S., even when calcium intake is also less than in the U.S. Calcium is important, but there is no need to get calcium from dairy products.

Some studies have suggested that vegetarians may be at lower risk of osteoporosis than non-vegetarians.Bone loss is considerably less in postmenopausal women who were vegetarian than those who were non-vegetarian. The non-vegetarian diet contained higher amounts of sulphur, which derived from animal protein.

Dietary sulphur increases the acidity of urine, which results in increased urinary calcium loss. Increased urinary calcium loss is related to increased calcium loss from bone tissue.Hip fractures associated with osteoporosis has been shown to be higher in countries consuming a diet high in animal protein.

We continue to consume meat, while at the same time downing calcium supplements and prescription drugs to prevent osteoporosis, that often have drastic side effects. And most experts agree that calcium supplements are inferior to calcium derived from natural food sources. Doesn’t it make more sense (and cents) to get your calcium from eating a healthier diet?

What are some good vegetarian sources of calcium? Orange juice, for one. Dry beans, such as black-eyed peas, kidney beans and black beans are another good source, as are dark leafy vegetables such as broccoli and kale. Tofu is also a good source of calcium.



Thanks to Paul Hata for contributing this article to our Osteoporosis blog:

Osteoporosis Tips