Alternative Treatments for Osteoporosis

Whilst lifestyle changes and alternative medicines are recommended, those in desperate need may also be advised to consider alternative treatments for menopausal osteoporosis. These include drugs and surgery which are riskier and generally a last resort in treating the bone disorder found due to a hormonal imbalance in a woman’s body due to menopause.

It is recommended that you take a three step process and if lifestyle changes and alternative medicines cannot help then it may be time to look into drugs and surgery as alternative treatments for osteoporosis. Read on to discover the full story.

Drugs and surgery for osteoporosis

Drugs often have side effects when used as alternative treatments for osteoporosis so the first rule is always ask your doctor. Generally, they have positive short-term effects but are attributed to long-term problems and side effects. These include:

• Bisphosphonates – Similar to estrogen, this group of drugs preserves bone mass and reduces the risk of fractures. Examples include alendronate (Fosamax), ibandronate (Boniva), risedronate (Actonel) and zoledronic acid (Reclast). Side effects, however, include nausea, abdominal pain, inflamed esophagus and ulcers.

• Raloxifene – Known as Evista this has beneficial effects on bone density in postmenopausal women and comes without some of the risks of estrogen, such as uterine and breast cancer. However, hot flashes are a common feature of using this drug and there can be an increased risk of blood clots.

Alongside these there is Calcitonin which is a hormone produced by your thyroid to reduce bone resorption and slow bone loss and also Teriparatide (Forteo) which is a powerful drug used to stimulate new bone growth although long term effects are not yet known.

Another alternative treatment for osteoporosis is surgery and this can help to supply pain relief in the short term before the rest is sorted with medications but this is major surgery and with this comes risks from infection to paralysis.

• Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty – these relieve the pain from spinal compression fractures by injecting bone cement through a needle into the crush spinal bones.

• Hemiarthroplasty – this is for hip surgery where you will either have screws, a replacement of the surgeon may remove the femoral head and neck and replace them with metal instrumentation (hemiarthroplasty).

Also a popular treatment was hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which used to be prescribed to every woman before the risks and side effects of using HRT were known. Although there are aggresive and intrusive treatments to deal with osteoporosis, there are also less intrusive but effective alternatives treatments such lifestyle changes and alternative medicines. Click the following link to read more about alternative treatments for osteoporosis.

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