Monday, July 05, 2010
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Recently, we heard about Gwyneth Paltrows' diagnosis of osteopenia; this news put another spotlight on the benefits of early detection for osteoporosis and osteopenia.
According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (N...
Dear Pam,
Many thanks for this important advice.I suppose osteopenia being a silent disease is rarely detected and people are rarely impelled to you their bones to doctors unless there are aches and pains in the knees and joints. If osteopenia has any symptoms then please let us know -- which may lead us to go to orthopedists and get tests done. People in India without exception have this philosophy that they should go to a doctor only when there are symptoms -- otherwise everything is all right with them. It would be very hard to convince people to get expensive DEXA scans done here -- unless some aches and pains came to them. So please tell us what symptoms must people look for-- if there are any symptoms!!
Thank you again for this very important post which is of great importance to the people of the world!
Yours,
Priya
Hi Priya, welcome back... You're correct that there really aren't too many symptoms that would lead one to believe they have osteoporosis, which is why they call it a silent disease. That said, there are some red flags that might lead one to further testing to see if they have some form of bone loss.
Here's a few red flags:
1. Lost height, more than .5 to 1 inch in a year.
2. Low vitamin D levels
3. Primary/Secondary causes for osteoporosis
4. Medication causes for osteoporosis
5. Fragility fracture (frax from a standing height or less) A healthy person w/o bone loss should be able to fall and not fracture in this instance.
This is not a complete list, but you can read through the above to see if you have any of these, which migh lead you to a diagnosis of bone loss.
I hope this helps...Thanks for joining us again, and notice that the list/links provided above are not complete listings for "all" secondary and medication causes for osteoporosis, but further listing can be found within the articles links. If you have any of these disorders or take any of the medications for long-term use, you should be tested with a dxa.
Take Care,
Pam