Myth 1 Treating osteoporosis with estrogen can lead to cancer
At one time, it was reported that treating osteoporosis with estrogen had certain risks and could lead to cancer in women. The medical community has now reached a consensus that patients with osteoporosis who also have menopausal symptoms can be reasonably treated with estrogen replacement therapy under the guidance of a doctor, and that the uterus, breast and ovaries should be checked once every six months for any lesions. The principle of estrogen use is low-dose, short-term, with the main purpose of improving menopausal symptoms, and regular follow-up during the treatment process. If the osteoporotic patient has no menopausal symptoms, then estrogen supplementation is not recommended.
Myth 2: Drinking bone broth can prevent osteoporosis
There is an old Chinese saying: what you eat is what you get. Many osteoporosis patients believe that calcium is preferred to bone broth, to refute this view, someone did a test: 5 kg of pork bones plus 5 kg of water, simmered in the pressure cooker for 10 hours, the result of a bowl of bone broth in the calcium content of only 10 mg. The calcium content in the same bowl of milk reached more than 200 mg, much higher than a bowl of bone broth. In addition, for the elderly, bone broth has a lot of fat dissolved in the bone, which can cause other health problems when consumed regularly. The important thing in the treatment of osteoporosis is to learn to get the necessary calcium from the diet. It is important to pay attention to a varied diet, eat less fatty and fatty foods, focus on the intake of foods rich in calcium, insist on drinking milk, and not consume too much protein and caffeine.
Myth 3: Osteoporosis is a phenomenon unique to the elderly and has nothing to do with young people
Modern medical research proves that, regardless of men and women, if the bones grow healthily, the strongest period of bones is 20-40 years old, that is to say, the period of bones reached the highest bone mass and the best quality, whether the bones can reach the best state, with genetics and environmental factors and so on. And once you pass the age of 40, the rate of bone loss exceeds the rate of formation, bone mass begins to decline, bone quality gradually becomes brittle, and the likelihood of osteoporosis or osteoporotic fractures increases as you get progressively older. Therefore, half of women over the age of 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture during their lifetimes. Then, osteoporosis is not the exclusive preserve of the elderly, if they neglect exercise in their younger years, often picky or dieting, unbalanced diet structure, resulting in low dietary calcium intake, thin body, and not rejecting bad hobbies, so that the ideal peak bone quantity and quality are not reached, it will give osteoporosis, an old age disease, a chance to invade young people, especially young women. Therefore, the prevention of osteoporosis should be started early, so that “the slogan of obtaining the ideal peak bone mass in the young period to enjoy a lifetime becomes a reality.
Myth four osteoporosis patients to bed rest
In fact, when exercising, the blood circulation of the whole body and bones can be significantly restored, and the contraction and expansion of muscles have a stimulating effect on bones, which can promote bone formation and reduce bone loss, which will slow down the progress of osteoporosis. Therefore, it is best for people with osteoporosis to choose exercise options that are within their reach outdoors, such as jogging, walking, etc.
Myth 5: The more calcium you take to prevent osteoporosis, the better
Calcium is a key substance to keep your bones strong, but it is not the only thing you need. The principle and purpose of preventing and treating osteoporosis is to increase the content of bone matrix and bone minerals in the bones, prevent the decomposition of bone, promote its synthesis, and relieve or reduce the pain and discomfort caused by osteoporosis. For the loss of bone calcium in people with osteoporosis, patients can choose calcium preparations that are less irritating to the gastrointestinal tract, and under the guidance of a doctor, choose the right dose according to different ages to make up for the lost calcium, but it is never better to take as much as possible. It is best to take calcium once a night before going to bed to offset the low blood calcium at night and to prevent the overproduction of parathyroid hormone stimulated by low blood calcium, which causes accelerated bone breakdown and bone resorption process. The prevention of osteoporosis is even better if vitamin D is taken along with calcium supplements. In addition to this, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, balanced diet, proper nutrition, moderate exercise and frequent sun exposure are equally important and cannot be replaced by medication.
Myth 6: Blindly believe in advertising
Nowadays, in many cities, stores selling calcium products are specially equipped with instruments for testing bone density in order to promote their products, and they advertise free tests. So many people rush to measure for convenience, the result is that almost everyone is calcium deficient, and the elderly are all osteoporosis. Obviously, this is not the right approach. In fact, most of these places place a single photon bone density tester, this test is not accurate, can only measure the human arm ulna and radius, and the main danger of osteoporosis is the lumbar spine and hip. Moreover, many places testers are not informal medical personnel.
Some advertisements say that the more expensive calcium supplements are sold, the higher the calcium content, the higher the absorption rate and the better the results. Some calcium supplements claim good deposition and fast absorption, some claim small particles, and even launched atomic calcium and nano calcium, making people feel that the finer the calcium, the easier it is to absorb. In fact, the body’s absorption of calcium utilization and calcium products have nothing to do with the size of the particles, and depends on whether it has biological activity.
Myth 7 osteoporosis is a degenerative disease, can not be prevented
I have often heard people say that osteoporosis is a disease of the elderly, the result of the aging of the body, all people have it, so we can only leave it to fate. It is true that the occurrence of osteoporosis is related to age, and the older you are, the higher the incidence, but it is not true that everyone is in danger. Generally speaking, people who pay attention to diet and calcium supplementation from a young age and adhere to exercise and maintain the right weight are less likely to suffer from osteoporosis, or will delay the onset of osteoporosis to the maximum extent possible, even if the patient appears, the symptoms are also lighter and the development of a slower pace.
Myth eight once osteoporosis occurs, it is impossible to increase bone density, but only to delay its loss
The objective basis for the diagnosis of osteoporosis is the decrease in bone density, so is it impossible to increase bone density after it has decreased? According to what we have seen clinically, a considerable number of patients showed an increase in bone density after a year of reasonable treatment, indicating that the treatment is not just delaying the loss of bone mass, but making the loss of bone mass stop, and at the same time can improve the quality of bone, which is the cure.
Myth 9: It is too late to treat osteoporosis in the elderly
Many elderly people think that osteoporosis cannot be reversed and that treatment is no longer effective in old age, so they give up treatment, which is a great pity. Some elderly patients, when osteoporosis has developed to a very serious time, also do not go to the hospital for consultation and treatment, affecting the quality of life, more delayed the timing of treatment, most importantly, there may be fatal.
Osteoporosis is caused by the decline of hormone levels in the body after old age and the declining function of various organs, which leads to active osteoclasts, bone resorption exceeding bone formation, and continuous loss of bone mass. Choosing a reasonable treatment, based on calcium and active vitamin D supplementation, giving calcitonin, bisphosphonates or estrogen receptor modulators and other drugs, can not only delay the loss of bone mass, but also prevent the occurrence of fractures. It can be said that regular treatment can be effective at any time. For those patients who already have symptoms such as back pain, treatment can significantly relieve the symptoms and maximize the quality of life; especially for some patients who have already had spinal compression fractures or fractures in other areas, it is more important to seek medical attention, and there are many medications that can effectively control the pain while preventing the reoccurrence of fractures. Of course, from a treatment standpoint, the earlier the treatment, the better the results. Therefore, once an elderly person is diagnosed with osteoporosis, he or she should receive regular treatment.
Myth 10: Relying on self-perception to detect osteoporosis
Many elderly people think that if they feel good and their bones do not hurt, they will not suffer from osteoporosis, but in fact, most patients with osteoporosis do not have abnormal sensations or do not feel obvious at the beginning. Discovering osteoporosis should not rely on self-perception, blindly delaying the time and not waiting until you find yourself with back pain or fractures before going to the clinic. For premenopausal women (around 45 years old) and men around 50 years old, regular bone density examinations at a hospital with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, regardless of symptoms, will help to understand the changes in your bone density. In addition, it is important to remind you that osteoporosis is not always primary, but can be caused by other diseases, such as hyperparathyroidism, malignant tumors, blood disorders, etc. These diseases are often insidious and not easily detected, but the consequences are serious and should not be taken lightly, and you should go to a regular hospital early to get a clear diagnosis, so that you can win the best treatment and It is important to consult a regular hospital as early as possible to get a clear diagnosis, so that the best treatment can be obtained.