Article On Osteoporosis
What Is Osteoporosis?

This article on osteoporosis answers the question:  What Is Osteoporosis?

This page is an entry point to everything you need to know about why you lose bone density and how to prevent and reverse it.  The mechanism is simple:  You don’t have enough of the right nutrition in your body and so your bones get weakened. 

What may be surprising to you is that it’s not calcium that you’re lacking.

Without the right nutrition, that body can’t utilize the calcium you do have, and the body pulls calcium that it needs to function from your bones, leaving you with less density.

What Is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a decrease in bone density that leads to fragile bone structures.

Despite the medical industry’s claims, osteoporosis is not a disease.  In reality, it is easily reversible, and is just one predictable outcome of nutritional imbalance.

Presuming that you don’t have some real medical issue that is causing the density loss, you don’t need to panic or be concerned if you’ve been diagnosed with low bone density. You just need to give your body what it needs so it can return to normal.

Here are some osteoporosis statistics:

• About 24 million Americans are affected
  
• 15-20 million of those are women over 45
• Causes approx. 1.2 million fractures
• By 'extreme' old age, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men will suffer an osteoporosis-related hip fracture
• One third of women over 65 will have vertebral fracture
• is the cause of 90% of all fractures in those over 65
  
• $13.8 billion is spent annually for medical treatment
• It is estimated that 200 million people worldwide have osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a serious health issue in the world and the US.  It causes a great deal of pain, suffering, earlier than necessary death, etc.

And, it is easily, cheaply, and entirely reversible.  Unfortunately, doctors just prescribe drugs that don't fix the problem (and often make it worse).

What Causes Osteoporosis?

Osteoarthritis is caused by a variety of things.

Not aging (like your doctors will tell you)

Not lack of calcium intake (like your doctors will tell you).  Well, that does cause it but mostly nobody in the Western World is at risk of that, so YOUR osteoporosis isn't caused by lack of calcium intake.

But there are medications that cause reduction in bone density.

Lack of the correct type of exercise causes osteoporpsis.

Lack of correct and adequate nutrional intake absolutely does cause osteoarthritis.

And remember, regardless of the cause (short of some bone damaging medications), osteoporosis is reversible.

See:  Causes of Osteoporosis

----- Quick Video On Osteoporosis -----

Article On Osteoporosis
Signs And Symptoms

For the most part, Osteoporosis doesn't have symptoms like most things do.

Unless you get early screening done, or it gets noticed if you get an xray for some other reason, the usual first sign of osteoporosis is a fractured or broken bone.

So you're 'fine', and then your hip breaks and you fall down, or you get pain from something else fracturing.

Back pain can be a symptom....of a fractured vertebrae.

Wrist pain, hip pain, etc can be symptoms of fractures of weakened bones.

Symptoms in advanced states of osteoporosis (no fractures yet):

• loss of height
• dull unidentifiable back and/or neck pain

The important thing to note here is that you often don't have symptoms of osteoporosis, you don't even know you have decreasing bone density, until suddenly something fractures or breaks.

It's WAY easier to prevent osteoporisis in the first place, or to regain bone density, than it is to deal with the pain and problem of bone suddenly breaking. Any good article on osteoporosis should make that arguement.

About 25% of hip fracture results in fatality, 50% are then unable to walk unassisted, and another 25% are confined to long term care institutions.  Keeping your bones strong is cheap and easy.  Letting them get so brittle they fracture/break is painful and very problematic.

See:  Signs and Symptoms Of Osteoporosis

Article On Osteoporosis
Medications That Cause Osteoporosis

There are various pharmaceutical industry drugs created, sold, and prescribed for osteoporosis.

Worldwide, in 2013, the osteoporosis drug market pulled in $8.4 BILLION.  And has been predicted to grow 1.2%/year through 2020.

Of course they come with dubious benefit and significant and potentiall damaging side effects.

Randomly picking one of them, Fosamax, common side effects include:

• gas, bloating, stomach pain
• constipation
• heartburn
• diarrhea, nausea, vomiting
• joint pain or swelling, swelling hands or feet, eye pain, back pain
• dizziness, headache, weakness.

The drug classification Bisphosphonate, includes drugs such as:

• Boniva
• Actonel
• Fosamax
• Reclast

Aside from the usual bad (and funny to watch on the commercials) side effects, the FD warned in 2008 that bisphosphonates were also linked to debilitatin bone, muscle, and joint pain.

In 2009, Fosamax was linked to Esophageal cancer.

Court cases began to be filed in 2004 against Merck (the Monsanto of the pharmaceutical industry) as research began to prove that Fosamax causes jaw bone death, or more technically, osteonecrosis of the jaw.

More lawsuits began to arrive with complaints of femur fracturs, 'dead jaw syndrome', and esophagus problems (cancer and esophageal ulcers).

Bisphosphonates, aside form all their other side effects, do seem to increase bone density, but they also make bones brittle.

Not even out of the frying pain AND into the fire.

$8.4 billion in sales and the costs of drug development, sales, and defending litigation, for something that has such an easy, natural solution.

Such a shame.

Even more of a shame...a 2015 meta-analysis published by the British Medical Journal, looked at 33 studies and indicates that bisphosphonates are ineffective at preventing fractures.

Calcium homeostasis depends upon the interplay of intestinal calcium absorbtion, renal excretion, and skeletal uptake of calcium.

Various drugs can affect that balance in a variety of ways.

See:  Medications That Cause Osteoporosis

See:  http://www.side-effects-site.com/osteoporosis-drugs.html

Article On Osteoporosis
Exercises

Osteoporosis exercise is anything weight bearing or weight resistance.

Go to the gym and lift weights.

Buy weights for your home, and lift them/move them around.

Do pushups and lunges and squats.

Even walking as little as 3 times per week has been shown to help reduce the progression of osteoporosis.  Walking is load bearing.

The main thing, of course, is nutrition.  No amount of exercise will fix osteoporsis without that.

But the nutrition AND exercise, bone density will increase, the body will be healthier, will move better, will feel better, etc.

There's no good reason to lose height as you age.

There's no good reason to have weak bones as you age.

There's no good reason to have weak muscles as you age.  Obviously we have a finite time span, but 80 year olds that exercise can be strong and mobile (compared to their peers that don't/haven't been exercising).

See:  Exercises To Prevent Osteoporosis

What Is Osteoporosis and
Vitamin D

Osteoporosis isn't caused by lack of calcium intake.  Every article on osteoporosis SHOULD say that, but 99% don't.

The US has the highest (last I looked) incidence of osteoporosis AND the highest calcium supplementation.

But that hasn't solved the problem. And for some reason doctors continue to prescribe EVEN MORE calcium supplementation.

Osteoporosis is caused by lack of magnesium and Vitamin D.  Both are required by the body to utilize calcium.

It doesn't matter how much extra calcium you're swallowing if you don't have enough Magnesium or Vitamin D.

And, pretty much we're ALL low on Vitamin D.  Which is a problem, because Vitamin D (really it's a hormone) is responsible for:

• immune system function
• nerve system function
• brain function
• hormone function
• absorption of calcium

There are a lot of reasons why your vitamin D is low.

And there is NO good reason why your Vitamin D level shouldn't be where it should be.  Vitamin D is cheap and easy.

See:  Vitamin D Osteoporosis

Article On Osteoporosis
How To Reverse Osteoporosis

So, how do you reverse osteoporosis?

With pharmaceutical drugs?  Nope.

With nutrition supplementation (and some weight bearing exercise never hurt anybody)?  Yes.

And stop the sugar.  See:  Sugar and Osteoporosis

You have to know the answer to the question "What Is Osteoporosis?"  The answer is the 'fix'.

Essentially, you need to get enough Magnesium and Vitamin D (and other necessary vitamins and minerals) so your body can use the Calcium you're already taking in and then put the extra back into your bones.

Regaining density can take some time, but whether it's fast or slow it's WAY better to be going in the 'stronger bone' direction than the 'weaker bone'.

Get your bones strong, and then keep them strong.

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