Osteoporosis And Exercise

Preventing And Reversing Osteoporosis Through Exercise

Tag: calcium

How Much Calcium Per Day For Osteoporosis

http://osteoporosisandexercise.com/As a child, you may have been told to drink up your milk to make strong bones. But now you are grown, it’s quite possible you’re more likely to swallow a calcium supplement than drink milk to protect your bones. If you are trying to find out how much calcium for osteoporosis you need, you are probably concerned about losing calcium. While it is true that calcium helps strengthen our bones and keep them healthy, too much can be harmful.
It’s important to get enough calcium especially for women as they are more likely to develop osteoporosis than men (weak fragile bones that are prone to fracture) 8 million of 10 million Americans with osteoporosis are women. But taking too much calcium as a supplement is not useful for building bones – it can’t be used by the body. The amount of calcium you need in your diet is determined by your gender, age, family history, amount of exercise, and the amount of fat in your body. The amount of calcium you need varies according to age. You should consult your doctor about your calcium needs and follow their advice.

Many people don’t realize that they may have an osteoporosis condition until they break a bone. They may then struggle with the diagnosis of having osteoporosis. You can often reduce your risk of fracture by increasing the amount of calcium that you take in each day. The easiest way to do this is to eat a healthful diet that includes foods rich in vitamins D and K. Vitamins D and K are essential to building strong bones as well as maintaining healthy blood vessels. If you eat foods like milk, cheese, dark green, leafy vegetables, yogurt, tuna, salmon and other oily fish regularly, you are well on your way to meeting your daily calcium and vitamin needs.

By following a good exercise program and a healthy diet, you will soon be back to your old self and able to enjoy a healthy, active life.The body needs calcium for good health and not just for strong bones and teeth. Calcium is a mineral and is found naturally in some foods while it is added to other foods (like bread). It can also be found as a food supplement.

Your body mass index, or BMI, can have an impact on your ability to absorb calcium. If you are extremely obese, you are likely to need more calcium to compensate for your extra body mass. For this reason, it is probably a good idea for people who are very overweight to lose some weight as well as attempting to treat any kind of bone loss.

Almost all of the calcium in your body is stored in your bones and teeth. The rest of it is needed to keep the body functioning normally. Calcium helps blood vessels and muscles expand and contract and helps glands secrete hormones, among other things. But taking too much in supplement form may not help your bones or teeth and may have adverse effects. Supplements are not processed in the same way as food. Calcium taken as part of your diet is safe, whereas calcium in supplement form may have unwanted side effects.

Taking calcium supplements may increase the risk of heart problems, kidney stones and gastrointestinal problems. Calcium eaten as part of your diet is taken in small amounts throughout the whole day and is part of other foods, which help you absorb it. Almost everyone can get enough calcium in their diet if they try.

For women between 19 and 50, they should get about 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day, whereas women over 50 should get 1,200 milligrams per day. Exercise also protects your bones, especially weight training, walking and jogging. On balance it seems to be better to get enough calcium through your diet, rather than through supplements.

Hyperparathyroidism And Osteoporosis

Hyperparathyroidism

The four tiny parathyroid glands are situated in your neck, behind the thyroid gland. They make parathyroid hormone, which helps to keep a steady level of calcium in your body. Calcium is important, not only for your bones and teeth but also for muscles and nerves. Hyperparathyroidism means you have too much (hyper) parathyroid hormone in your bloodstream. This is probably because one or more of the parathyroid glands is too active.

There are two kinds of hyperparathyroidism. Primary hyperparathyroidism happens because one of the parathyroid glands gets bigger and produces more hormone. This extra amount of hormone means there is extra calcium in the bloodstream. This can cause a number of problems, including confusion and kidney stones. Primary hyperparathyroidism is usually treated by surgery to remove the enlarged gland.

The other kind of hyperparathyroidism is called secondary. It happens because some other problem reduces the level of calcium in the body, so the parathyroid glands step up production of the hormone to put more calcium in the bloodstream. They get this calcium from the bones, weakening them.

Hyperparathyroidism is a “silent” disease because it is often diagnosed before symptoms appear.

The word is a mouthful — hyperparathyroidism — but it stands for a series of symptoms that can make life uncomfortable. It can be frightening as well, especially when the body seems to be changing on its own and where the person experiencing the transformations might be wondering if they will ever have their body and mind back.

Symptoms are fairly general but uncomfortable. They include nausea, constipation, abdominal pain, and even kidney stones. Excess calcium in the bloodstream can also cause mental confusion, leading to a diagnosis of dementia, although this is entirely treatable. Surgery is one course of treatment, but medication therapy and monitoring start out the process. Treatment aims to stop calcium being released from the bones, preventing osteoporosis and relieving the uncomfortable symptoms that arise from too much blood calcium. Kidney stones are a possible side effect because the release of calcium from the bones leads to an increase of phosphate which is got rid of by the kidneys. (Bones are made of calcium phosphate.)

Calcium is a mineral (think “chalk”) that affects body functions such as bone formation, the release of hormones and even muscle, brain, and nervous system functioning. The parathyroid hormone influences calcium absorption, release from the body, and its release into the system from the bones.

The Types Of Hyperparathyroidism
One of two types of hyperparathyroidism could be the culprit for putting too much calcium into the blood stream. In the primary variety, the parathyroid glands enlarge to overproduce parathyroid hormone to cause hypercalcemia (too much calcium). Surgeons can go in and remove one or more of the four glands to force regulation of the hormone after checking whether one or more of these glands is over active.

In secondary hyperparathyroidism, the gland appears to under-produce calcium and then increase its production too much. This is secondary to an underlying disease that does not originate in the parathyroid gland.

Therapy
Medication therapy inhibits the loss of calcium from the bones, and may include the use of Vitamin D which is good for bone health. Other medications may work to thwart high calcium levels.

Management And Monitoring
Once the elevated calcium levels are noted, medication is usually prescribed, along with a strong suggestion to increase physical activity, and monitoring of disease progression. Bone density tests, creatinine, and calcium levels will be monitored.

Surgery for Hyperparathyroidism
Surgery is the best option for high calcium levels that continue despite lifestyle changes. Surgery is also indicated if kidney stones are present, or where bone fractures and osteoporosis occur.

In this case, it is key to find a surgeon who is adept at reaching the tiny glands in the neck without harming the vocal chords, the airway, or any main arteries or veins. So if the problem is only a small one, your doctor may advise waiting to see whether medication is sufficient to keep the matter in check.

There are two forms of surgery. The traditional one requires a large incision. It takes longer to heal from this, and can cause hoarseness of the voice. The other is called mini parathyroid surgery. This is minimally invasive but requires a surgeon with a great deal of specialized experience. Its plus side is that it saves the patient from potential harm by targeting the parathyroid location, without cutting open the entire neck and recovery is much quicker.

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