It's not clear why people with osteoporosis may experience fatigue, but it could be because your body is lacking in vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to both poor bone health and make you feel tired. Another connection may be between certain medications taken for osteoporosis.
Tiredness/fatigue, sleeping problems and breathlessness were other physical problems affecting the people we talked with. People commented that pain and tiredness often went together because pain made it hard to sleep, or even rest.
Symptoms of Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is called a “silent” disease” because there are typically no symptoms until a bone is broken. Symptoms of vertebral (spine) fracture include severe back pain, loss of height, or spine malformations such as a stooped or hunched posture (kyphosis).
But once your bones have been weakened by osteoporosis, you might have signs and symptoms that include: Back pain, caused by a fractured or collapsed vertebra. Loss of height over time. A stooped posture.
In addition to managing your osteoporosis, it's important to avoid activities that may cause a fracture. Such activities include movements that involve twisting your spine, like swinging a golf club, or bending forward from the waist, like sit ups and toe touches.
Osteoporosis is a disease that causes weak, thinning bones. This leaves the bones at greater risk of breaking. The bones most often affected are the hips, spine, and wrists. Women are 4 times more likely to get osteoporosis than men because of a decrease in estrogen after menopause.
For women, the figure was 26.4 years for those beginning treatment at 50 and 13.5 years for those beginning treatment at 75.
Eating foods that have a lot of salt (sodium) causes your body to lose calcium and can lead to bone loss. Try to limit the amount of processed foods, canned foods and salt added to the foods you eat each day. To learn if a food is high in sodium, look at the Nutrition Facts label.
When should you call the doctor about osteoporosis? If you have risk factors and are concerned about osteoporosis, ask your healthcare provider about being screened, even if you are not as old as 65 (for women) or 70 (for men). Osteoporosis can be serious. Fractures can alter or threaten your life.
While some bone is lost each year, the rate of bone loss increases dramatically in the 5 to 10 years after menopause. Then, for several years, the breakdown of bone occurs at a much greater pace than the building of new bone. This is the process that eventually causes osteoporosis.
Both arthritis and osteoporosis can cause pain around the joints and bones.
Severe (established) osteoporosis is defined as having a bone density that is more than 2.5 SD below the young adult mean with one or more past fractures due to osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis itself isn't painful. But when the condition is severe, it can lead to fractures and other painful problems. It's important to have a long-term treatment plan. The pain is usually more severe than the aches many people feel as they get older.
You can prevent bone loss with regular exercise, such as walking. If you have osteoporosis or fragile bones, regular brisk walking can help to keep your bones strong and reduce the risk of a fracture in the future.
Osteoporosis is more common in women. It affects almost 20% (1 in 5) of women aged 50 and over and almost 5% (1 in 20) of men aged 50 and over. Many people with osteoporosis do not know they have it until they break a bone.
Osteoporosis is not reversible, but medication, a nutrient-dense diet, and weight bearing exercise can help prevent further bone loss and rebuild bones. Osteoporosis weaken bones so that they are more likely to break.
If you already have osteoporosis, keep in mind that vitamin D and calcium alone are not enough to treat the disease. You'll need to take them along with other medications your doctor prescribes.
Bone-strengthening program
Examples include walking, climbing stairs, playing tennis, and dancing. Higher-impact activities strengthen bone more than lower-impact exercises, but only do what your fitness level allows. Muscle-strengthening exercises use weights or your body's own resistance to work against gravity.
Bisphosphonates are usually the first choice for osteoporosis treatment. These include: Alendronate (Fosamax), a weekly pill. Risedronate (Actonel), a weekly or monthly pill.
The largest study to date published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2008 found that elderly women who ate chocolate more than one time each day had thinner bones (less bone density) than women who ate chocolate less than once per week.
Although some research suggests that caffeine interferes with calcium absorption, it is unclear whether and how it affects bone health. At present, there is not enough evidence to conclude that consuming caffeine — in any quantity — contributes to osteoporosis.