[ The Basics ]  [ How Bones Develop ]  
[ How Postmenopausal Osteoporosis Develops ]  
[ Signs and Symptoms ]

You can live well, day to day, with osteoporosis. But in order to do so, it's important to understand what's going on in your body. This can help you choose healthy habits that support healthy bones — and an active lifestyle in the future.

The Basics

Osteoporosis is a disease that thins your bones (it literally means "porous bones"). It is caused by a loss of minerals, especially calcium. This makes bones weaker, more brittle, and more susceptible to fractures.

Osteoporosis causes about 1.5 million broken bones in the U.S. each year, a subset of which are women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Most are to the back, hips, and wrists, but they can occur in any bone. Not only are they painful, they can be disfiguring, and they can make living an active life more difficult.

How Bones Develop

Throughout your life, your bones grow as your body grows. Old bone is removed from the skeleton and new bone is added. During your childhood and teen years, new bone is added faster than old bone is removed. The result? Your bone mass increases.

This continues through about age 30, when your bones reach what is called "peak bone mass", or maximum density and strength. After that, your body naturally begins to remove old bone faster than it makes new bone. Over time, this leads to bone loss. The rate of bone loss is greatest in the first few years after menopause, when your ovaries stop producing estrogen. After that, bone loss continues, but more slowly.

How Postmenopausal Osteoporosis Develops

After menopause, natural bone loss speeds up. But some people lose more bone than others. Some women may develop osteopenia, a forerunner to osteoporosis. If bone loss continues and bone density gets even lower, it may eventually lead to postmenopausal osteoporosis, a more severe condition.

Other factors can also increase the risk of developing postmenopausal osteoporosis:

• Lack of calcium and vitamin D, even during childhood and teen years
• Failure to reach maximum peak bone mass during developmental years
• Certain diseases, eating disorders, medicines, or medical treatments

Osteoporosis Signs and Symptoms

You can't see or feel osteoporosis weakening your bones. You may actually have symptoms you don't realize are from osteoporosis, such as a loss of height, change in posture, or severe back pain.

Unfortunately, many women don't know they have osteoporosis until they break a bone. That's why it's so important to monitor your bone density. Early diagnosis and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis can help reduce the risk of a fracture.

It is important to note that BONIVA is not indicated for all women with osteoporosis. BONIVA is a prescription medicine used to treat or prevent osteoporosis in women after menopause. BONIVA helps increase bone mass and helps reduce the chance of having a spinal fracture (break).

It is not known how long BONIVA works for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis. You should see your doctor regularly to determine if BONIVA is still right for you.