If you know that osteoporosis runs in your family, you should be doing everything you possibly can to prevent it from happening to you. This includes putting off natural menopause, increasing exercise, and absorbing sunlight and calcium supplements as much as you can. If and when prevention measures are not enough and you still develop osteoporosis, your doctor can help with various osteoporosis treatments. The following are a few things your doctor can try.

Medications

​There are many medications to treat this brittle bone disease from progressing. Some of them are taken daily, but there are others that you only have to take once a week or once a month. Your doctor may start you on a medication that you have to take daily, since most health insurance companies will refuse to pay for the weekly or monthly medications until you have exhausted all of the weekly medications with no positive impact to your bone health.

Supplements

You may also have to continue taking vitamins and mineral supplements. In the case of patients with osteoporosis, their doctors want them to take minerals and vitamins that work in conjunction with the absorption of calcium and all D vitamins. These supplements help your bones absorb more of the nutrients they need, rather than automatically flushing the nutrients from the body as "extra." Your doctor may prescribe an increased amount of these vitamins and minerals just to get enough of what you need to your bones. A side effect of doing this is that you must check your blood levels for these vitamins to make sure there are no toxic levels developing.

Simulated Sunlight Therapy

​One of the biggest problems for many people is getting enough sunlight. During winter, it is very hard to get plenty of sunlight, which is necessary not only in the production of bone cells, but also in mood-stabilizing hormones. Your doctor may prescribe a special sunlight therapy lamp or box light to help you get the sun therapy you need.

Treating Breaks as They Come

​When and if you do suffer a break, your doctor will likely treat the break by surgical means. You may need steel rods and pins, and possibly steel plates as well. The good news is that these breaks encourage the body's natural healing process by producing more bone cells. The new bone cells will grow over the pins and rods, which will then reinforce the bone from inside. It will be a long, slow process, and one which will require a lot of physical therapy and weight-bearing exercises to build bone strength. However, the bones that were broken will be stronger for it on the far end.