But you don't look sick! - part 3

Another silent killer disease is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in women as “a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass (20-year-old healthy female average) as measured by DXA (Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry)”. Or in simple words, it is a disorder in which loss of bone strength leads to fragility fractures. Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called postmenopausal osteoporosis, but may also develop in elderly men. A seemingly irksome but still manageable disorder you may say. Very surprisingly, more women die from complications of osteoporosis than from breast cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancer combined. And more men die from complications of osteoporosis than from prostate cancer. For example, 20-per-cent of women and 34 per cent of men will die within a year of breaking their hip from osteoporosis. The biggest misconception is that osteoporosis is a disease of old age which is not true: it can strike at any age just as heart disease or diabetes can, although it is more common in the older people and it's not just a women's disease. One of the most important points to be considered during treatment is specifically who to treat, and when to treat them. The trick is to start treatment for those at risk early enough to prevent the first fracture, but not unnecessarily early. This is not always possible though because many people are still reluctant to accept that they may be affected by the disease too early in their lives. Since the disease can also be inherited, those who believe that they are at risk should have bone density tests done regularly. Osteoarthritis is completely different from osteoporosis. In layman’s language, it is a disease of the joints where the cartilage wears down. As this happens, the 2 bones associated with it rub together. On the contrary, osteoporosis is the disease of the bone itself where the bone gradually loses its strength over the years. The calcium is gradually washed out of the bones, and the bone loses its density. The only known way to distinguish between the 2 disorders is that there are no symptoms associated with this disease but osteoarthritis is accompanied by intense pain. Therefore, it is called a silent killer. Usually, a person may not even realize he/she has the disease until they fall and break a bone or in severe cases, even by simple acts such as coughing. One of the only visible signs of osteoporosis is a rounded back or a hump caused by a number of broken bones in the vertebral column. The shape is due to the breakage in a wedge shape. The bones collapse more in the front than the back, because most of body weight is concentrated ventrally. The worst part of the disease is that bone fractures follow one another which causes a loss of height due to decreased space in the patient’s abdomen. This results in reduction of room for their vital organs such as heart and lungs. Thus the disease progressively erodes all the organs in one’s body finally resulting in death. The treatment includes regular exercise to strengthen the bones, calcium supplements and vitamin D, avoiding caffeinated drinks etc. The medications used are bisphosphanates (e.g. Fosamax, Actonel), Calcitonin(the natural hormone), estrogen supplements etc.

Citation: Wikipedia,http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=d7fa5abd-40e6-4563-9b35-336998171256&k=48372&p=1