Premenopausal Osteoporosis

By Hannah R. | Updated: Aug 02, 2016

Ladies
osteoporosis-premenopausal

Premenopausal osteoporosis is a common disease among women over the age of 30. Doctors say that almost all women will suffer from a certain level of osteoporosis at some stage. In America alone, the bone disease affects more than 44 million people. Symptoms are largely non-existent which means that it can be dangerous if not given the right attention. Read on to learn more about premenopausal osteoporosis causes and how you can prevent it.

What Is Premenopausal Osteoporosis?

Premenopausal osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disorder. Until the age of 30 our bones build up and break down consistently; however after this time, our bodies do not build up enough bone to make up for that which is being broken down. Bone loss usually occurs more rapidly when a woman is going through menopause, but premenopausal osteoporosis is not uncommon. Weaker bones means that breaks happen more easily and people lose the ability to maintain optimum health. Osteoporosis often shows no symptoms. Women are oftentimes only diagnosed after they fall and incur fractures or breaks in the wrist, spine, and hip.

How Our Bones Work

osteoporosis-osteoclasts

Bones are composed of two major elements: minerals, which include calcium and phosphorous, and bone cells, that consist of osteoblasts and osteoclasts.

Osteoclasts eat away our bones, while the osteoblasts help to recreate them. In order to stay strong and healthy, both the osteoclasts and the osteoblasts must work properly so that our bones can regenerate themselves.

Causes of Premenopausal Osteoporosis

There are many reasons for why a woman can develop premenopausal osteoporosis. The primary cause however, is hormonal imbalance.

Hormonal Imbalance.

This is the most common cause of pre-menopausal osteoporosis and is often caused by a lack of estrogen in the body. Estrogen is responsible for maintaining even levels of the osteoclasts. Therefore, when estrogen level drops, the body's ability to regenerate the bones becomes impaired.Other causes of osteoporosis include:

osteoporosis-smoking
  • Excessive consumption of alcohol
  • Thyroid disorder
  • Celiac disease
  • Leukemia
  • Chronic liver and kidney disease
  • Steroids
  • Smoking

These are just some of the health conditions that can put a woman at risk of premenopausal osteoporosis. However, it is important to remember that this can happen to anyone regardless of their medical history.

For this reason it is important that women stay informed about the risks of premenopausal osteoporosis and how diet, exercise, and supplements can help prevent most of the common problems.

What to Do about Premenopausal Osteoporosis

It is important to remember that preventing premenopausal osteoporosis is easier that treating it. To do so, women should attempt to balance their estrogen and calcium levels. This can easily be done by maintaining a healthy body through keeping a balanced diet, exercising, quitting smoking and lessening caffeine and alcohol consumption.

It's also vital that women consume enough calcium. A sufficient amount is considered to be:

  • 1,200 - 1,500mg daily for 11 to 24 year olds.
  • 1,000mg daily for women aged 25 and up.

This coupled with vitamin D (of which 200 IU is recommended daily) can help you fight pre-menopausal osteoporosis before it has the chance to develop.

Even though there are several ways to manage pre-menopausal osteoporosis, one of the best is to combine a healthy diet and exercise with some form of alternative medicine. Click here to learn more about the treatment for premenopausal osteoporosis that most suits you.

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