bone pain

[ewusia28]

Can bones ache especially at night with high doses of steroid inhalers? Thank you in advance for your answers.

[Poobah]

Steroids can affect bone health, affecting bone density. However, we're all different and what one patient can tolerate, another may experience side effects.

You can request a bone density test from your doctor and then discuss treatment if the test results show a thinning of your bones.

Any persistent ache or pain should be addressed in order to rule out a decline in bone health. Joint pain can be put down to arthritis or wear & tear, but aches in the bone itself does warrant investigation.

We also need to be mindful that living in the northern hemisphere, we don't enjoy good sun exposure 365 days a year and so our VitD levels can be low, especially in winter. Our bones need a good source of vitD in order to absorb the calcium need to build new bone.

[ccccc]

I agree with Poobah, I was diagnosed with osteopenia last year which I put down to using steroid inhalers and tablets for many years. It's reckoned 1 in 3 people have osteopenia and it can be benign, but if you use steroids it may be worth treating long-term. My joints were starting to ache. If you ask your doctor for a DEXA scan this will pick up any bone thinning. Sometimes you can try medication such as alendronic acid, which I now take, which has stopped the aching, or Vitamin D tablets (I take one with added calcium and Vitamin K). I feel much better than I did. Many respiratory doctors don't pick up on bone density problems as side-effects of steroids.