The treatment for individuals who are affected with lupus can be as terrible as the disease. One of the common treatments used by physicians to control the immune disorder is steroids. Unfortunately, such medication is claimed to cause serious complications to the patients according to the report published by Salynn Boyles of WebMD Health News previously.

Boyles detailed some of the complications caused by steroids as muscle weakness, cataracts, heart problems, and bone fractures due to bone-thinning. This is why the recent published report of the Reuters Health claimed that attention to bones is very significant to women affected with lupus.

However, according to the Reuters Health report, various treatments are already being utilized to maintain the mineral density of the bone to significantly avoid the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. New researches were focused to the premenopausal women who are taking steroids to battle lupus.

Lupus, which is technically identified as systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is a serious “autoimmune” disease wherein either or both healthy and foreign tissues are confused by the immune system. “Whether due to the corticosteroid treatment, or to the disease itself, osteoporosis is being increasingly recognized in patients with SLE,” explained by Dr. Swan S. Yeap of the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, along with his colleagues in the Journal of Rheumatology.

The team of Yeaps observed changes in bone mineral density (BMD) in 98 premenopausal women affected with SLE under long-term steroid therapy for more than two years while taking calcium alone and calcium with calcitriol (the active type of Vitamin D) also known as the calcium plus, a bone strengthening medicine alendronate (Fosamax).

The researchers’ report revealed that women who are taking calcium plus alendronate were observed to have significant increases in BMD both at the hip (1.41 percent) and lumbar spine (1.41 percent) as compared to the baseline.

On the contrary, the researchers said that no vital changes were observed to happen to those women who took calcium alone including the calcium calcitriol groups; although, a 0.93 percent decrease in hip BMD were observed in the group of women who took calcium only. The medications were claimed to be well tolerated. So, the researchers conclude that those premenopausal women who are taking steroids to battle SLE can maintain or increase bone minerals by taking prophylactic therapy.

In addition, the report of Boyles also claimed that previous research recommended women who have mild to moderate lupus to have a reduction on steroids dosage and add up male hormone prasterone to their medication. This research revealed that prasterone helps in building bone in women affected with lupus are taking steroids. “This is a very exciting finding because there has never been a drug that built bone in people taking corticosteroids,” said by Roberta G. Lahita, MD and lupus researcher. “We know that this (male hormone) builds tissue and bone, but we had no idea that it could do this in lupus patients on steroids,” he added.

Lahita also said that many lupus therapies have been around for decades already. However, the major treatment advances can be on the horizon now. “Thanks to the promising biological research,” he said.