For Most, Osteoporosis Treatment Benefits Outweigh Risks “When these drugs are used appropriately, they are safe as compared with many other things that we do in medicine. They will provide a lot more benefit than the risks that they pose,” he says.
If a person's osteoporosis has not caused too much bone loss, lifestyle changes can help prevent osteoporosis bone breaks. These changes include exercise, nutrition, and stopping smoking and drinking. However, people with osteoporosis will generally need medication treatments.
If you decide not to take a drug treatment, it is likely that your bones will get weaker over time. This means your chance of breaking a bone will increase. Some people may never break any bones, while others may break several.
You may need to take additional medicines after completing hormone treatment to maintain the medicine's bone-strengthening benefits. Side effects can include dizziness, fainting and lightheadedness. It may cause blood clots or stroke. It may cause weight or mood changes.
Rates of treatment with osteoporosis, or bone loss, medicines dropped dramatically over the past decade from 15 percent to 8 percent, a new analysis of a large nationwide private insurance database found.
Osteoporosis medications improve your bone mineral density and prevent fractures. Some osteoporosis meds help you build more bone, while others slow the loss of bone.
Fear of side effects
. Around 38% of respondents had been prescribed a medicine they did not take, with 79% of these stating that fear of side effects was the reason for not taking it.
The drugs are supposed to strengthen bone and reduce fracture risk in people post-50. But for one leading cause of the bone-loss disease, a condition called hyperparathyroidism, it turns out taking those drugs could make things worse and increase the risk of fracture. Worse, in fact, than doing nothing at all.
Bisphosphonates are usually the first choice for osteoporosis treatment. These include: Alendronate (Fosamax), a weekly pill. Risedronate (Actonel), a weekly or monthly pill.
Bisphosphonates include well-known medicines such as alendronate (Fosamax), risedronate (Actonel) and ibandronate (Boniva). Using bisphosphonates first "had the most favorable balance between benefits, harms, patient values and preferences, and cost among the drug classes that were evaluated," the ACP explained.
Does osteoporosis affect life expectancy? Osteoporosis is not a terminal illness and does not directly influence life expectancy. However, having a fracture can affect it. For example, a 2021 study found that older adults living in a care facility who experienced a hip fracture had a 25% death rate after 3 months.
For both men and women at increased risk of fracture, the most widely prescribed osteoporosis medications are bisphosphonates. Examples include: Alendronate (Binosto, Fosamax) Ibandronate (Boniva)
For instance, a person who has had broken multiple bones, has very different challenges than a person who has not experienced multiple fractures. Many people can live well with osteoporosis and avoid breaking bones in the first place.
Although some people with osteoporosis may need medication, natural treatments may help a person slow the progression of the condition. Possible natural treatments include dietary changes, increasing vitamin D and calcium levels, exercising, and limiting or stopping smoking and alcohol consumption.
Until recently, most research on osteoporosis treatment focused on people under the age of 80 years. However, newer research points to the benefits of osteoporosis treatment in older individuals. No research suggests there is any age at which it is beneficial to discontinue treatment.
Prolia, with the generic name Denosumab, is a type of monoclonal antibody, which stops the natural breakdown of bones. Prolia is injected two times per year. It should only be used if other treatment methods have failed or by post-menopausal women who have severe osteoporosis.
There is no cure for osteoporosis. However, there are ways people can lower their risk of getting it. Treatment can also slow or stop the loss of bone density, reducing the chance of fractures.
In clinical trials of females* who'd gone through menopause, 10.8% of females taking Prolia had a skin side effect. In comparison, only 8.2% of females taking a placebo had the same. (A placebo is a treatment with no active drug.) Clinical trials also showed that 2.5% of the females taking Prolia reported a rash.
Bone fractures, particularly in the spine or hip, are the most serious complications of osteoporosis. Hip fractures often are caused by a fall and can result in disability and even an increased risk of death within the first year after the injury. In some cases, spinal fractures can occur even if you haven't fallen.
Glucocorticoids are the drugs causing osteoporotic fractures most frequently, but osteoporosis with fractures is observed also in women treated with aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer, in men receiving anti-androgen therapy for prostate cancer, in postmenopausal women treated with high doses of thyroxine, and in ...
Bisphosphonates are not recommended for people with severe kidney disease or low blood calcium. People with certain problems of the esophagus may not be able to take the oral tablets.
The FDA Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs voted unanimously that the benefits of denosumab treatment likely outweigh the risks for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.