What do steroids do to bones?
Steroid drugs unfortunately can cause osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease which results in the destruction of bones causing them to become weak and much more likely to fracture. Without protection within the first six months of steroid therapy a person can lose 10 percent to 20 percent of bone mass. As many as one in four of these people may eventually suffer a fracture as a result. Unlike osteoporosis associated with aging, steroid-induced osteoporosis can occur at any age, even in children. For many years it was thought that only high (>20mgs a day) doses of steroids were a problem, more recent studies have shown that chronic use of low oral doses — as little as 7.5 milligrams a day — can cause significant though gradual bone loss. Steroids reduce the amount of calcium the body absorbs from food and increase calcium loss through the kidneys. These actions result in a tendency for the level of calcium in the blood to fall. To prevent this happening the body responds by producing
