Perimenopause and Osteoporosis

You CAN Keep Your Bones Strong

According to the Women's Health Initiative, "Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones become fragile and more likely to break, especially in the hip, spine, and wrist. Loss of height, rounding posture, and tooth loss are also linked to osteoporosis. Nearly half of all women now age 50 will someday have a broken bone due to osteoporosis.

"In their 30s and 40s, with hormone levels decreasing and shifting, women start losing the cardiac and bone protection provided by estrogen and progesterone. Female bone mass peaks at age 35. After that, there is a 1% attrition per year, which can increase to up to 3% per year after menopause."

During perimenopause a woman should ensure she is getting at least 1000 mg of calcium daily.Perimenopause is exactly the time you need to become most vigilant about keeping your bones strong and healthy. Exercise, not smoking, and a food plan with good nutrition and lots of calcium, will help significantly.

In women over 50, over half will have an osteoporosis-related fracture at some point
Unless you get tested, you may have osteoporosis and not even know it—there are no visible signs or symptoms until bones weaken to the point that any sudden fall or bump causes a fracture

Note: Testing for osteoporosis is performed with a simple and painless x-ray type test called a DEXA-scan.

Some of the risk factors are:

• Cigarette smoking
  
• Reaching menopause before age 45
  
• Family history of osteoporosis
  
• Years of use of certain medicines, especially corticosteroids
  
• Inactive lifestyle
  

How to help yourself

• Eat foods rich in calcium
  
• Do weight-bearing exercise
  
• Limit alcohol consumption
  
• Don't smoke
  

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) is studying whether taking calcium and vitamin D supplements reduces the number of hip and other bone fractures in postmenopausal women.

Get a DEXA-Scan

Losing height or having a bone break easily is often the first sign of osteoporosis. But it doesn’t need to be. Bone density is a term that describes how solid your bones are. Ordinary x-rays do not show bone loss until a large amount of bone mass is gone. The best way to measure bone density is by a DEXA-scan (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry). Ask your doctor about this test.

The DEXA-scan tells what your risk for a fracture is. It could show that you have normal bone density. Or, it could show that you have osteopenia or even osteoporosis.

Tips for Prevention

Other Resources