Are Osteoporosis Mediciations All They Are Cracked Up To Be?

28 million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, both men and women. The idea of having fragile bones and the likelihood of bone fracture can be a scary thought for many of us. We all want to age gracefully and maintain optimum health. In recent years, pharmaceuticals promising optimal and safe treatment for osteoporosis have been gaining popularity. We all have seen the television commercials with healthy, vibrant women doting on the benefits of biphosphonate drugs such as Fosamax and Boniva, but are these drugs all they are cracked up to be? The best thing we can do as patients is to be well informed.

I want everyone to think about this for a minute: your bones are designed to last a lifetime without drugs. Bone is, after all, a living, dynamic organ that constantly remodels itself through a process of resorption of old bone and laying down of new bone. And it’s completely normal to lose some bone around midlife. But that doesn’t mean you’re destined to get fractures. It’s your bone quality, not just bone density, that’s the issue here—and taking biphosphonate drugs puts your bone quality at risk.

The biphosphonates work by preventing bone resorption and loss. Inhibiting bone resorption secondarily inhibits the formation of new bone—and old bone is denser than new bone. It’s also more brittle than normal bone. So dense and hard, in fact, that it may be more difficult for this denser bone to maintain an adequate blood supply to ensure bone healing. Research on animals indicates that biphosphonates inhibit the normal repair of tiny fractures and porous bone (microdamage)—which eventually results in accumulation of microdamage and loss of bone strength. Worse yet, the biphosphonates are also associated with a very troublesome side effect known as osteonecrosis of the jaw—a side effect in which the jaw bone literally rots. Not only is this disfiguring, it’s very difficult to adequately treat. The biphosphonates have also been associated with the need for root canals and other dental problems. In fact, 60 percent of the cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw occur following dental surgery—probably secondary to the inability of this altered bone to heal itself.

So what can one do in the face of osteoporosis? First, look at your diet. If you are not getting at least 150o mg of calcium from your diet, consider supplementing the remainder with Calcium Citrate (the most absorbable form) Also, make sure if you are supplementing Calcium that you take an equal amount of Magnesium (Calcium will not get absorbed properly without Magnesium) You need to take these two in a 1:1 ratio.

Next, make sure you are taking a good Vitamin D supplement of 1000-2000 IU/day. Vitamin D deficiency is very common and you may need a higher dose, so consider asking you physician to test your levels.

Exercise, especially weight bearing cannot be overlooked, as well as simply living a healthy lifestyle free of alcohol and smoking.

These are some of the many safe and natural alternative treatments that respect the wisdom of the body.