What Increases the Chance of Getting Osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones. People with the disease have bones that are weak and prone to breaking. Your mother or your grandmother may have had osteoporosis to the degree that an inadvertent sneeze could potentially crack a vertebra. Osteoporosis affects all the bones in the body, but breaks are more common in the hip, wrist, and vertebrae.
At Women’s Health Medical Group, for many of our patients menopause is the time to looking for signs of osteoporosis. There are other factors that can increase your chances of developing weak bones. Many of these are out of your control, but others can make a real difference in limiting your risk.
Factors that you can’t control
- Being female
- Aging
- Menopause
- Having a small, thin body under 127 pounds
- Having a family history of osteoporosis
- Being white or Asian
- Having a disorder that increases your risk, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type1 diabetes, premature menopause, and anorexia nervosa
- Long-term use of certain medications, including:
- Glucocorticoids (medicines to treat arthritis, asthma, lupus, and others)
- Some anti-seizure medications
- Gonadotropin (treats endometriosis)
- Antacids with aluminum
- Some cancer treatments
- Too much replacement thyroid hormone
Factors you can control
- Not getting enough exercise
- Smoking
- Drinking too much alcohol
- A diet low in dairy products and other sources of calcium and vitamin D
At Women’s Health Medical Group, we have various screening tools to predict if you have or are heading into osteoporosis. Don’t simply assume that you’re not going to develop it. Give us a call at 817-346-5336 and let’s check your bone density and start treatment for osteoporosis, if necessary.
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