DO YOU REALLY HAVE OSTEOPOROSIS?

Before you begin any drug regimen for osteoporosis, make sure you actually have the condition. "We have 64 other illnesses that can cause osteoporosis," says Dr. Suhail Khoury, of the Khoury Institute in Sarasota. Among them are hypothyroidism, liver disease and multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the blood. It can even be induced by anti-seizure drugs, cortisone and heparin, a popular blood thinner. Says Khoury, "If you miss [a proper diagnosis], you may be missing someone with cancer."

DID YOU KNOW?

The span of your arms should be the same as your height. If it's larger, you've already lost height and may be developing osteoporosis. Get a bone density test to make sure. And here's a good reason to defy society's obsession with thinness: Khoury says that overweight people suffer less from osteoporosis, because the extra weight they carry increases their bone mass. "A big risk factor is a body weight of less than 127 pounds for women," he says.