Question

Marie is a 78 year old woman. She used to smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day, but

stopped in her early 70’s after a heart attack. Since her husband passed away 10 years

ago, she doesn’t cook and eats mostly starches, desserts and drinks black coffee. She sits

in her chair watching television for about 8-10 hrs/day and the only exercise she gets is

walking down the driveway to get her mail. She has recently been diagnosed with

osteoporosis. Explain why she was a good candidate for this disease and what type of

actions/treatments she could do/take to avoid further bone loss. Be sure to explain the

actions of medications used to treat this disease.

Answer 1

She was a good candidate for this disease as her diet was not rich in calcium and on top of it she had led a very sedentary life, as Exercising regularly reduces the rate of bone loss and conserves bone tissue

The type of actions she could do to avoid further bone loss include;

eating food rich in; proteins, Calcium and vitamin D. Controlling the body weight by keeping it neither too low or too high. Exercising especially the weight-bearing ones for helping bone loss under control or strengthening the already weak bones.

The medications that can be given in this situation include; Alendronate (Fosamax), Risedronate (Actonel), Ibandronate (Boniva), Zoledronic acid (Reclast) (MayoClinic)