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The premise of any natural therapy is to first "do no harm" to the patient. With the advent of biochemistry and the frame of mind that we have "better living through chemistry", we are sometimes at odds today with the "do no harm" objective.
Doctors have a very difficult job, not the least of which is keeping up on all the advances made in medicine, and balancing that with knowledge of traditional "natural" healing ideas that also work. Formal academic training is excellent in the former and lacking in the latter. With the heavy influence of the pharmaceutical industry in an MD's profession, not to mention HMOs and managed care that want to dictate the parameters of their practice, a practitioner can often feel constricted in the type of care he or she wants to give.
Today medicine offers two primary answers for osteoporosis concerns: hormone replacement therapy, and specialized drugs. Both of these things can have side effects which are well documented. Many professionals in practice are finding Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT) when using a drug like Premarin, is at best a short term solution that comes with questionable long term results. Further, to balance the problems this ERT presents, drugs like Provera are made available to prescribe. This is an artificial progesterone, called a progestin.
Estrogen and progesterone are two hormones that have a balancing act with each other. These are elements natural to the body and if they are going to be replaced, should be replaced with natural or molecular equivalents. These are available to doctors but added to the thousands of other things on their list, doctors don't always know about them.
Now some may say Premarin is natural because it is estrogen that comes from a horse, but are you a horse? Horse estrogen is substantially different than human estrogen. Likewise, chemical progesterone is very different than natural progesterone which can be derived from plants and is perfectly suited to the body.
When you take unnatural substances into the body and you get side effects, this is your body telling you that something is not right, and if not corrected, over time it can hurt your health.
Regarding drugs for osteoporosis, new ones have been created to help reduce bone loss and they work in various ways. Some are selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), others are known as bisphosphonates, one is the peptide produced by the thyroid C-cells. All of them are geared to decreasing bone resorption. These drugs, including estrogen replacement therapy, have been FDA approved. In saying this you should know a little bit about what FDA approval really means.
Note on FDA approval: When the FDA approves a substance for human use, that does not mean the substance is not dangerous, or that there are not better alternatives. It just means that this particular drug, in a double blind study against a worthless placebo, showed results better than that placebo, and the patients didn't die from taking the drug or have other serious complications. The drugs being tested are not compared against other alternatives. If that were the case, many drugs would never be approved because sometimes simple natural things work better. The problem for the consumer is getting that information. If the consumer is fortunate, their doctor will keep on the lookout for these things.
Regarding your use of specific osteoporosis drugs, they may or may not be appropriate for your specific situation, but ultimately it is a question for you and your doctor to answer with his specialized knowledge and hopefully your input.
The area of medical treatment for osteoporosis is growing, and women (and men) need to know their options. The best way you can discover all of your treatment options is to do independent research.
Areas to Research
You can start by reviewing some of the links listed in our menu here, and then dig into books. The works of Dr. John Lee, MD are excellent. Check him out at the library or any bookstore. You want to be lead to things that discuss natural therapies, like natural progesterone, etc. One book, "The Estrogen Alternative", by Raquel Martin, is very good and it talks about it from the perspective of a woman that has been through it all.
Click here for a starter research list.
Natural Answers
Purely natural answers to fight osteoporosis might include...
Using natural (plant derived) progesterone (proven to increase bone mass);
Taking calcium supplements like calcium orotate (some say the best) as opposed to calcium carbonate (like in tums) which is very poorly absorbed and can lead to other complicating factors (see calcium section);
Getting your full vitamin and mineral complex everyday in a food supplement designed for assimilation. Focus for bones is often on vitamin D, vitamin C, the minerals of magnesium, zinc, silica, boron;
Staying away from homogenized cow milk which has near useless calcium for the body as well as the detrimental x-o factor (xanthine oxidase - a potent free radical that is said to damage arterial walls and lead to heart disease);
Cut down on acid forming foods, like heavy meat consumption, heavy dairy, avoid coffee, alcohol, smoking;
Eat more green foods or drink up your greens. Things like spirulina and barley green drinks help to alkalize the body and combat acid stress. Acid stress has a tendency to leech calcium from the bones as part of the bodies acid/alkaline compensatory mechanism;
Absolutely avoid carbonated soft drinks which leaches calcium right out of the bones;
Embarking on a weight bearing exercise program while you are keeping up with your supplements and healthy diet can also be beneficial.
Excellent results have been seen with these synergistic types of treatment plans. The only side effects they've been shown to have is better health.
And Let's Not Forget the ONION
Late in 1999, researchers reported that, when dried onion was fed to animals, it could reverse the same type of bone loss seen in individuals suffering from osteoporosis.
When male rats were fed 1 gram of onion powder per day for a period of only four weeks, the mineral content of their bones increased by over 17 percent, thickness increased by almost 15 percent and the mineral density increased by over 13 percent, which is higher than any pharmaceutical treatment. (This effect was greater than that available using the osteoporosis prescription drug Calcitonin.)
Even when the ovaries were removed from female rats, the addition of 30 to 1500 mg of dried onion daily prevented the bone loss that would normally have occurred due to the decrease in estrogen levels.
While similar results to those above have yet to be verified in human tests, it is obvious that the simple onion is very beneficial to health. And its effect on bone health are only the tip of the iceberg.
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More and more doctors are becoming aware of the natural alternatives that exist and are choosing to use products that give broad based positive outcomes to their patient base as opposed to cookbook prescriptions "dictated" by the profession. They are reaching outside their constrictions to explore better patient care and bottom line results.
As a patient, you hire a doctor to perform a service and to be a part of your health "team". If that doctor doesn't listen to your concerns, turns a deaf ear when a natural approach is brought up for discussion, is pompous with an attitude of superiority - then it may be time to find a new doctor.
Remember: It's your health - it's also your choice.
Knowledge is power.
Educate yourself and it becomes your power to choose wisely.
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