Living without illness is every woman’s dream and while there are no lifetime guarantees, scientific research has shown that long, healthy living is a possibility and health challenges can be managed to have a full life.
Knowing about general health challenges peculiar to women is one way of managing them. One of such is osteoporosis; a preventable disease which affects a large number of women globally and can be debilitating if not well managed.
According to medical experts, behaviors that women develop in their childhood, adolescence and early adult years play a significant role in the development of the disease as the body builds up most of bone mass by age 30 when new bone stops forming and focus is on maintenance of old bone.
Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens the bones, makes it thinner and less dense than they should be and leads to broken bones easily. Most people don’t know they have osteoporosis until it causes them to break a bone commonly in the hips, wrists or spine.
Osteoporosis doesn’t have symptoms the way lots of other health conditions do. You won’t feel anything that signals you have osteoporosis like in other diseases aside sudden breaking of a bone, especially after a small fall or minor accident that should usually not hurt. But you may notice losing an inch or more of your height, changes in natural posture, lower back pain and shortness of breath.
Osteoporosis happens as you get older and your bones lose their ability to re-grow and reform themselves.
Anyone can develop osteoporosis but some groups of people are more likely to experience it. Risk factors includes being female, menopause, anyone over 50, people with a family history of osteoporosis, Small, thin-boned frame, people who smoke or use tobacco products, diet low in calcium and vitamin, medication use, particularly glucocorticoids or some anticonvulsants, sedentary lifestyle, excessive alcohol, not getting enough physical exercise and anorexia
Also, some health conditions can make you more likely to develop osteoporosis; endocrine disorders, autoimmune disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, blood disorders as well as medications like anticoagulants, diuretics, medications that treat inflammation, seizures, hormone therapy for cancer or surgical procedures like bariatric (weight loss) surgery can increase your risk of osteoporosis.
It is however never too late to keep bones strong and avoid fractures, there is a combination of treatments that slow down bone loss and strengthen existing bone tissue. They include regular exercise to strengthen bones and connecting tissues, use of vitamin and mineral supplements and use of medications which are usually given as injections.
With osteoporosis, you should expect to manage yourself for the rest of your life but you can live with it without stress if you follow a diet and exercise plan that’s healthy to maintain bones as well as overall health. Osteoporosis itself isn’t fatal and won’t change life expectancy; it can only make you more likely to experience a bone fracture. The best way to prevent bone fractures is catching osteoporosis before it can hurt you.
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