What is Osteoporosis?

An Overview

Osteoporosis, or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased risk of fractures of the hip, spine, and wrist. Men as well as women are affected by osteoporosis, a disease that can be prevented and treated.

Facts and Figures
Osteoporosis is a major public health threat for 44 million Americans, 68 percent of whom are women.

In the U.S. today, 10 million individuals already have osteoporosis and 34 million more have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for this disease.

One out of every two women and one in four men over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.

More than 2 million American men suffer from osteoporosis, and millions more are at risk. Each year, 80,000 men have a hip fracture and one-third of these men die within a year.

Osteoporosis can strike at any age.


Osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures annually, including 300,000 hip fractures, approximately 700,000 vertebral fractures, 250,000 wrist fractures, and more than 300,000 fractures at other sites.

Based on figures from hospitals and nursing homes, the estimated national direct expenditures for osteoporosis and related fractures total $14 billion each year.

What Is Bone?


Bone is living, growing tissue. It is made mostly of collagen, a protein that provides a soft framework, and calcium phosphate, a mineral that adds strength and hardens the framework.

This combination of collagen and calcium makes bone both flexible and strong, which in turn helps it to withstand stress. More than 99 percent of the body's calcium is contained in the bones and teeth. The remaining 1 percent is found in the blood.

Read the rest of this article and many others at http://whichvitamins.org/TheWhatisSeries.html

Editor in Chief
Peter Charalambos

WHAT IS FIBROMYALGIA

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a common and chronic disorder characterized by widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points. The word fibromyalgia comes from the Latin term for fibrous tissue (fibro) and the Greek ones for muscle (myo) and pain (algia). Tender points are specific places on the body—on the neck, shoulders, back, hips, and upper and lower extremities—where people with fibromyalgia feel pain in response to slight pressure.

Although fibromyalgia is often considered an arthritis-related condition, it is not truly a form of arthritis (a disease of the joints) because it does not cause inflammation or damage to the joints, muscles, or other tissues. Like arthritis, however, fibromyalgia can cause significant pain and fatigue, and it can interfere with a person's ability to carry on daily activities. Also like arthritis, fibromyalgia is considered a rheumatic condition.

You may wonder what exactly rheumatic means. Even physicians do not always agree on whether a disease is considered rheumatic. If you look up the word in the dictionary, you'll find it comes from the Greek word rheum, which means flux—not an explanation that gives you a better understanding. In medicine, however, the term rheumatic means a medical condition that impairs the joints and/or soft tissues and causes chronic pain.

In addition to pain and fatigue, people who have fibromyalgia may experience

• 
  
• • sleep disturbances,
• • morning stiffness,
• • headaches,
• • irritable bowel syndrome,
• • painful menstrual periods,
• • numbness or tingling of the extremities,
• • restless legs syndrome,
• • temperature sensitivity,
• • cognitive and memory problems (sometimes referred to as “fibro fog”), or
• • a variety of other symptoms.

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome rather than a disease. Unlike a disease, which is a medical condition with a specific cause or causes and recognizable signs and symptoms, a syndrome is a collection of signs, symptoms, and medical problems that tend to occur together but are not related to a specific, identifiable cause.......

Read the rest of this article and many others at http://whichvitamins.org/TheWhatisSeries.html

Editor in Chief

Peter Charalambos

Postpartum Depression (PPD)

Postpartum depression ( Post Natal to you and me) is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and behavioural changes that occur in a mother after giving birth. It is a serious condition, affecting 10% of new mothers. Symptoms range from mild to severe depression and may appear within days of delivery or gradually, perhaps up to a year later. Symptoms may last from a few weeks to a year.
Baby blues

'Baby' or maternity blues are a mild and transitory form of 'moodiness' suffered by up to 80% of postpartum women. Symptoms typically last from a few hours to several days, and include tearfulness, irritability, hypochondriasis, sleeplessness, impairment of concentration, and headache. The maternity blues are not considered a postpartum depressive disorder.

Diagnosis
The diagnostic criteria for postpartum depression (PPD) are the same as for major depression, except that to distinguish PPD from the mild, transitory baby (maternity) blues, the symptoms must be present one month postpartum. Depression can also occur during pregnancy (ante-natal depression).

There are other types of postpartum distress that do not involve depression. For example, the mother may present with postpartum anxiety and postpartum OCD (including pure-O OCD). Symptoms of post-partum OCD include recurring intrusive thoughts, obsessive thoughts, avoidance behavior, fears, anxiety, and depression.

Causes
While not all causes of PPD are known, several factors have been identified. Beck (2001) has conducted a meta-analysis of predictors of PPD. She found that the following 13 factors were significant predictors of PPD (effect size in parentheses -- larger values indicate larger effects):
Prenatal depression, i.e., during pregnancy (.44 to .46) Low self esteem (.45 to.47) Childcare stress (.45 to .46) Prenatal anxiety (.41 to .45) Life stress (.38 to .40) Low social support (.36 to .41) Poor marital relationship (.38 to .39) History of previous depression (.38 to.39) Infant temperament problems/colic (.33 to .34) Maternity blues (.25 to .31) Single parent (.21 to .35) Low socioeconomic status (.19 to .22) Unplanned/unwanted pregnancy (.14 to .17)

These factors are known to correlate with PPD. That means that, for example, high levels of prenatal depression are associated with high levels of postpartum depression, and low levels of prenatal depression are associated with low levels of postpartum depression. But this does not mean the prenatal depression causes postpartum depression -- they might both be caused by some third factor. In contrast, some factors, such as lack of social support, almost certainly cause postpartum depression. (The causal role of lack of social support in PPD is strongly suggested by several studies, including O'Hara 1985, Field et al. 1985; and Gotlib et al. 1991.)

Although profound hormonal changes after childbirth are often claimed to cause PPD, there is little evidence.........read more on Postpartum Depression 

Editor in Chief

Peter Charalambos