Osteoporosis is a decrease in bone mass that causes bones to become unstable, and it is a disease that causes bones to break even as a result of a simple fall.
It is more common especially in women and after menopause. This is due to the decrease in female hormones after menopause.
What are the symptoms of osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis may initially cause no symptoms. However, when the disease progresses, bone fractures occur. The most commonly broken bones are the spine, hip, hand and ankle bones. Spinal fractures cause back and lower back pain, shortening in height, and even hunching. However, spinal fractures may not always cause pain. For this reason, there may be patients who have a spinal fracture and live their lives unaware of anything.
Diagnosis:
Osteoporosis is primarily recognized by proper history and physical examination. This history includes questions about osteoporosis, some associated medical conditions in you, and whether you or other relatives have a history of fractures. After a series of physical examinations and tests to evaluate your history and detect possible fractures and findings, the physician will ask you to take a measurement called “Bone Densitometry” to determine your bone mineral density and X-ray films for fracture detection, if any. Bone densitometry, like X-rays, is a painless procedure. During the densitometry procedure, the mineral density of your bones is determined by using x-rays or sound waves. A value called T score is obtained by comparing the determined value with the values of healthy young adults, and the condition of the measured bones compared to the healthy bone measurement is determined.
Bone densitometry test should only be performed if the risk factors of the person are taken into consideration and the measurement results will help in making a treatment decision. Bone densitometry may be unnecessary if you are already on hormone replacement therapy for menopause. However, a bone densitometry to be performed before the treatment decision is made can provide helpful information by determining your personal risk situation in the treatment decision. In addition, bone densitometry measurements to be made at 18-24 month intervals during the years you are under treatment will be useful to monitor your response to treatment.
How is osteoporosis treated?
There is a group of drugs used in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. However, although these drugs help bone regenerate to some extent, they do not “cure” osteoporosis. Therefore, patients under drug therapy must comply with other measures for bone health. Drugs used in treatment include different drug groups such as calcium, vitamin D, bisphosphonates, hormone treatments and calcitonins. These drugs are used by the physician in accordance with the patient’s condition.
