While side effects like hot flashes and night sweats can certainly make life uncomfortable before, during, and after menopause, there are other changes that are more concerning, such as bone loss.
Each year in the United States, about 1.3 million women begin their journey through menopause, a hormonal transition that can lead to bone loss. In fact, women can lose up to 20% of their bone density during and after menopause, placing them at much greater risk of osteoporosis, which affects 10 million Americans.
Because May is Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month, the team of women’s health experts at Kinwest OBGYN is placing the spotlight on bone loss due to menopause and how you can minimize this loss.
Under normal circumstances, your bones are constantly remodeling themselves — bone tissues break down but are replaced by newer, healthier, and stronger tissues. One of the ways in which your body balances the natural breakdown in your bones is with estrogen hormones, which slow this process so your body can keep up with the rebuilding.
When you pass through menopause, your ovaries shut down, which greatly reduces the amount of estrogen in your system. As a result, your bone can begin to break down more quickly, greatly outpacing your body’s ability to create more.
When this happens, your bones become more porous and lose density — the hallmarks of osteoporosis.
The obvious side effects of bone loss and osteoporosis are brittle bones that are prone to fracture. While any broken bone is cause for concern, it’s exponentially more so when you’re older and postmenopausal.
This is because bones don’t heal as well or as quickly, which can kick off a cascade of issues, such as a decline in your cardiovascular health because you’re not able to move around with a broken bone.
The effects of a fracture as you get older are not to be underestimated, and they pose serious quality of life and health concerns.
Now let’s look at this issue from a more productive angle and review ways in which you can slow or prevent bone loss and osteoporosis as you make your transition through menopause.
We can place you on hormone replacement therapy to replenish the levels of estrogen hormones in your system to prevent the breakdown of bone tissues.
There are also some lifestyle changes you can make that can go a long way toward maintaining healthy bones, such as:
If you’re already experiencing bone loss or you have osteoporosis, we can place you on medications that slow down the bone reabsorption rate in your body or that stimulate bone growth.
To figure out the best way for you to maintain healthy bones as you navigate menopause and beyond, it’s an excellent idea to sit down with a member of our team. To get that ball rolling, please contact one of our offices, which are conveniently located in Dallas and Irving, Texas, to schedule an appointment.
