Everything You Need to Know About Osteoporosis

The people who are most prone to getting osteoporosis are elderly women. However, others can develop this condition, as well. If you are caring for an elderly adult, it can be beneficial to learn all you can about osteoporosis. Maybe your elderly loved one is experiencing certain symptoms that signify they might have this condition. If so, you may want to get them to the doctor for a diagnosis. Maybe your elderly loved one already has a diagnosis and you and their home health care provider will want to know how to help them.

Continue reading here to find out more about this condition and how you can help.

Defining Osteoporosis

The National Osteoporosis Foundation states that osteoporosis is a disease of the ones. It happens when one’s body doesn’t make enough bone or loses too much bone. This is a disease that causes interruptions in one’s ability to make new bone tissues. The person’s bones are weakened and brittle. This increases the person’s risk of getting a fracture even after a small injury.

Osteoporosis Risk Factors

If you are worried about your elderly loved one getting osteoporosis, it might be helpful to know more about some of the risk factors that are associated with this condition. These risk factors include the following:

• Being a female
• Smoking cigarettes
• Older age
• Using certain medications that have a side effect of bone loss
• Menopause
• Unhealthy diet

These are some of the risk factors that you should know about in regard to osteoporosis. If you think that your loved one might be at risk of developing this condition, talk to their doctor about possible ways to prevent it.

Screenings and Treatments for Osteoporosis

There are many doctors who want their older patients, usually 50 and older, to get a bone density test done. This will measure their bone mass to see if they have a diagnosis of osteoporosis. Early diagnosis of this condition could help slow down the progression of osteoporosis.

A DEXA scan can also be done to measure bone loss. If the results show that there is bone loss, the doctor might recommend that your elderly loved one make certain changes to their lifestyle.

There are also medications that your loved one’s doctor might put them on if they have osteoporosis. Since there are variety of these medications, it will be up to your loved one’s doctor to decide which medication they use to treat your loved one.

Sources:  https://www.nof.org/patients/what-is-osteoporosis/
https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/osteoporosis/overview
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5768298/
https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/bone-mass-measure

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Health Care Services in Taylors SC, please contact the caring staff at Upstate Home Care Solutions today. Call (864) 527-0455.