Red Hot Mama All Fired Up

By Jimmy Tomlin, High Point Enterprise, N.C.

May 27–HIGH POINT — One of the most common factors contributing to osteoporosis — ignorance — is also one of the easiest to combat.

“We’ve all seen the woman with the dowager’s hump,” says Karen Giblin, founder and president of Red Hot Mamas, a national menopause education program. “A lot of women don’t think it can happen to them, but it can.”

Giblin will be in High Point Wednesday, along with nationally recognized speaker Emory Austin, for “My Time, My Story,” a program that will focus on postmenopausal osteoporosis and Reclast, a prescription treatment for the bone disease.

The program is part of High Point Regional Health System’s ongoing “Red Hot Mamas” seminar series, which focuses on women’s health. The program is free, but registration is required.

“Osteoporosis is called ?the silent disease,’ ” Giblin says during a telephone interview from her office in Roswell, Ga.

“Bone loss starts silently, and women don’t even know it’s happening. The bones gradually weaken, which makes them more fragile and more likely to break.”

According to statistics, more than 8 million women in the United States — and more than 225,000 in North Carolina alone — suffer from osteoporosis. Women are four times more likely than men to have the disease.

“The National Osteoporosis Foundation says that one in two women over the age of 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis in the remaining years of her lifetime,” Giblin says, “so it’s very important for women to know the risks and to take care of themselves.”

In addition to being a woman, other risk factors for women include older age; a family history of osteoporosis or brokenbones; being small and thin; low estrogen levels, including menopause; low intake of calcium and/or vitamin D; an inactive lifestyle; smoking; alcohol abuse; and certain medications, such as steroid medications and some anticonvulsants.

“I think it’s very important that women identify their risk factors and talk to their doctors about ways to prevent osteoporosis,” Giblin says.

Giblin recommends such preventive strategies as weight-bearing exercise, including walking and stair-climbing; taking daily supplements of calcium and vitamin D; and talking to your doctor about the necessity of bone-density testing.

For women who require treatment, Giblin says, “There are more options available to women now than ever, and women need to be aware of those treatment options.”

For more information about Red Hot Mamas, visit the Web site at www.redhotmamas. org.

jtomlin@hpe.com|888-3579

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