Topic: OsteoporosisDiagnosis
Osteoporosis is often called the "silent" disease, because bone loss occurs without symptoms.
People often don't know they have the disease until a bone breaks, frequently in a minor fall that
wouldn't normally cause a fracture.
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Osteoporosis : Treatment
There are a number of good treatments for primary osteoporosis, most of them medications.
Two new medications, alendronate and calcitonin (in nose spray form), have been approved by the FDA
(Food and Drug Administration). They provide people who have osteoporosis with a variety of choices
for treatment. For people with secondary osteoporosis, treatment may focus on curing the underlying
disease.
For most women who've gone through menopause, the best treatment for osteoporosis is hormone replacement
therapy (HRT), also called estrogen replacement therapy. Many women participate in HRT when they
undergo menopause, to alleviate symptoms such as hot flashes, but hormones have other important
roles as well.
Some women, however, do not want to
take hormones, because some studies show they are linked to an
increased risk of breast cancer or uterine cancer.
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