Question: can any body suggest how to reduce (osteoporosis) other methods than HRT
patches?
Answer:Osteoporosis is a disease that begins in young women, with the loss of bone
mass over time, beginning at about age 20. The bone loss is slow as a woman
ages, but it rapidy accelerates during menopause, when the ovary "slows
down" and starts to produce much less estrogen. About 20 million Americans
are affected by osteoporosis, making this disease an epidemic.
1/4 of all women over 75 will suffer from a fracture of their vertebrae, and
about 250,000 women each year suffer from hip fractures! Many of these are
fatal, and many of the non-fatal fractures result in a lifetime of severe
disability. Almost all of these are preventable.
Estrogen replacement therapy can reduce the risk of fractures by 75%. There
are very few preventative medical therapies that can boast this kind of
success. The minimum dose of estrogen necessary to prevent fractures is
0.625mg of conjugated estrogen (i.e. Premarin or equivalent, such as 1mg of
Estrace). Adding calcium, excercise, flouride, or even newer drugs like
Fosamax, will help, but NOTHING has been proven to work as well as estrogen.
There *may* be other therapies that will also work to decrease the risk of
osteoporosis and fractures, but to my knowledge there has been no testing on
these. Of course, I am referring to herbal compunds. Many of the women
posting to this group inquire about herbal compounds, and while these may or
may not relieve such symptoms as vaginal dryness or hot flushes, they have
not been well studied and have never been proven to decrease the risk of heart
disease or osteoporosis, which are two absolutely proven uses of estrogen
replacement therapy.
