Hi everyone I’m suffering with aching bones and googled search and came across this:
Bone Loss Caused by Thyroid Meds and Other Drugs
Linda J. Dobberstein, Chiropractor, Board Certified in Clinical Nutrition
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Bone Loss Caused by Thyroid Meds and Other Drugs
Bone loss. It is something that individuals often don’t think about until it is diagnosed during a routine physical or a fall and broken bone bring it to the forefront. Often the thought is “I’m just getting older. I am bound to end up with osteoporosis since my mother had it.”
Every person over the age of 20 has declining bone health. More bone is lost than added from that point forward. This increases the risk of bone loss. There is another factor that influences bone health and it is seen in the fine print of prescription medication warnings. It is an elephant in the room as a risk factor for osteoporosis. It is drug-induced osteoporosis.
Thyroid Medications
Levothyroxine is the most commonly prescribed drug in our nation and it poses a hazard for bones. Prescription medications that contain thyroxine such as Levothyroxine, Synthroid, etc. or thyroid hormone replacement drugs are linked with bone loss and osteoporosis. Unfortunately, many times the consumer is unaware of this long term outcome. Too much thyroid medication or poor management of the medication can cause increased bone loss and risk for fracture. The development of osteoporosis can occur with using thyroid hormones for several years. This is a risk for most consumers who are put on Synthroid or other thyroid meds for life.
Osteoporosis induced by mismanaged medications creates a potentially serious health hazard. It is often overlooked, dismissed, or occurs from lack of knowledge. The risks apply to men and women and include the 25 year old woman with Hashimoto’s or the Baby Boomer with sluggish thyroid who uses thyroid hormone. Both often end up using the medication for the rest of their life.
Risks increase when patients ask their provider for a little more thyroid hormone medicine to give them extra energy or when physicians improperly manage the medication dose and put patients in a risky area of compromised bone health. It also occurs with standard use.
Most studies point to drug suppression of TSH or lowering TSH scores as the cause of drug induced osteoporosis. Tightly managed optimal TSH scores are 1.8 – 2.0. Considerably lower TSH scores are considered risky and lead to the adverse effect. There is considerable debate in the literature for where this cut off point occurs. Despite this debate amongst researchers, Levothyroxine induced bone loss is clearly noted in the Abbott Laboratories pharmaceutical manufacturing information.
The prestigious British Medical Journal published a case controlled study in 2011 involving over 213,000 participants over the age of 70 with 88% of the participants women. This study clearly showed that 10.4% of those taking levothyroxine experienced a fracture within 4 years of using the properly prescribed dose. Higher prescription doses resulted in higher occurrence of fractures.
An extended retrospective research study in the United Kingdom was performed with over 23,000 patients. Those who used levothyroxine showed an increase in fractures of the femur bone, the strongest bone of the body. The risk was not extensive, but still present. The unusual finding was that it occurred more in men than women. This was presumably due to the protective effects of estrogen in women. This study did not focus on other sites of fracture common with osteoporosis, including wrist or spinal compression fractures. It did not delve into how many individuals had developed bone loss - only fractures.
Another study focused on 194 women who took the thyroid hormone for more than 20 years. Women had significantly lower bone mineral density in forearm, hip, and low back than those who did not take levothyroxine. Other studies refute the association of osteoporosis and thyroid medications. The fact remains that the drug manufacturer of Synthroid clearly shows bone loss as an adverse effect.
Remember that the bone loss or osteoporosis occurs before the fracture. These studies are primarily reporting on the number of fractures induced by drugs that cause bone loss. They are not delving into the number of individuals who have osteopenia or osteoporosis because of the drug. I suspect as the population ages and given the popularity of the drug, the evidence will speak for itself.
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