ESTROGEN AND YOUR BONES PART 2

ESTROGEN AND YOUR BONES PART 2

Dr Steven R. Goldstein is a leading Menopause Specialist in NYC who has helped his patients cope with the symptoms of menopause. This is a second part to the original article regarding “Estrogen and your Bones”. To recap – Menopause is a stage of life in women where the body stops producing estrogen (a female hormone). The tissues in a woman’s body, over 300 of them, rely on estrogen. Cholesterol levels, the brain, the heart, the bones and so on are all affected by estrogen. We also touched on bone health, that bone is living tissue, constantly having cells broken down and replaced. Calcium is vital to the body and bone, and estrogen plays a key part in the absorption of calcium and in keeping calcium levels normal. Thus, any deficiency in estrogen negatively impacts bone health.

Which is why many women who are menopausal struggle with bone health, osteoporosis and osteopenia (wasting away of muscle). The bone disease of osteoporosis (weak or thin bones), or its precursor of low bone mass known as osteopenia, can lead to spine, wrist, and hip fracture in later years resulting from bones continually losing density and strength.

Consider the following. The National Institutes of Health says roughly 4 in 10 white women age 50 or older in the United States will experience a hip, spine, or wrist fracture sometime during the remainder of their lives.

More than 1.5 million bone fractures currently occur each year in US women.

In terms of hip fractures, the rate for women is two to three times higher than that for men.

One out of every six women will suffer a hip fracture in her lifetime, a risk equal to the combined risks of developing breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.

Twenty percent of postmenopausal women who experience hip fractures die within one year of the injury, and fifty percent of those who survive will never walk independently again.

Two hundred thousand women will experience a wrist fracture each year.

Dr Steven R. Goldstein, a Menopause Specialist in NYC , is a Certified Menopause Practitioner with the North American Menopause Society and a past President of the International Menopause Society as well as a past President of the North American Menopause society. In private practice for over 25 years in New York City, Dr Goldstein has successfully helped thousands of women cope with the symptoms of menopause, osteoporosis and osteopenia.

He also serves as the Co-Directory of Bone Densitometry and Body Composition at NYU Langone Medical Center and is an Osteoporosis Specialist in NYC where he combines his knowledge of menopause and bone density to help patients.

If you are a woman in menopause or post-menopausal and have been told that you have osteoporosis, osteopenia or just concerned about menopause and bone health, then a consultation with Dr Goldstein may be appropriate.