LPT Medical has an excellent blog post about this topic COPD and Osteoporosis: What’s the Connection? (lptmedical.com)  It would be difficult for me to improve on Daniel Seter’s post, so I will paraphrase some of the highlights.  I encourage you to check out the complete post.

I have pretty much known that COPD was a systemic disease as Daniel points out, but this is the first time that I have seen it in print.  COPD causes a disturbance in all the systems of the body.  It follows then that a person with COPD will have several comorbidities.

Some people are more at risk of osteoporosis than others.  These groups include the elderly, the smoker, the small-boned, and the malnourished.  I have very small bones, and I belong to the Caucasian race, and I am a female, so post-menopause, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis.  I have been on calcium supplements and at least 3 different medications to encourage my osteoblasts to produce bone.  All three times they have responded well, and I was able to gain back bone mass.

Medications can also add to the problem of bone loss.  Corticosteroids which are in many inhalers and are often prescribed during an exacerbation can lead to bone loss.  I have Grave’s Disease and take thyroid medication which also contributes to bone loss by removing calcium from the body.

Smoking can lead to a higher risk for osteoporosis.  We have seen cigarette smoking leading to many of the comorbidities that we have discussed.

There are times that I get discouraged by the fatigue and the recurrent chills and fever that I experience on a weekly basis, but when I look at the whole picture, I am grateful to be doing as well as I am.