My Damaged Wrist Was a Pink Flag that I Was Dropping Bone Mass

As informed to Erica Rimlinger

My son, who had come residence from faculty for the vacations, loaded up the automobile and headed again to highschool together with his dad. I stayed at residence to scrub up after the whirlwind go to. “Whirlwind” may simply describe the mess within the rest room. As I cleaned, I thought of how I didn’t miss this a part of having a teenage son at residence, and whereas I wasn’t paying consideration, I slipped and fell, touchdown laborious on my wrist and breaking it.

At the moment in my life, I had a number of osteoporosis danger components. I used to be a middle-aged girl experiencing my first-ever fracture. Regardless that I’m a doctor, the likelihood that I had a fragility fracture — a fracture ensuing from bone loss — didn’t enter my thoughts. In any case, who wouldn’t fracture their wrist in the event that they fell on a marble rest room ground?

Acadia Nationwide Park, Mount Need, 2025

After my fall within the rest room, I went to the hospital the place I labored and was handled. Later, a bone density check, referred to as a DEXA scan, revealed that I had low bone density, however I didn’t see this as alarming. I believed I used to be doing my greatest with weight-bearing exercises and a food regimen excessive in calcium and vitamin D.

It was seven years earlier than I had one other DEXA scan. This time, it was a routine check ordered by my gynecologist as a result of I used to be postmenopausal. The scan confirmed that my low bone density had progressed to osteopenia, which is bone loss that hasn’t but reached the extent of osteoporosis. My gynecologist and I each minimized the importance of those outcomes, believing an antiresorptive remedy that might decelerate the lack of bone could be enough. On the route of my gynecologist, I began the medicine along with my calcium and vitamin D dietary supplements. Later, I realized these measures weren’t serving to as a lot as they need to. At my subsequent appointment, my DEXA scan confirmed my bone loss had progressed to osteoporosis. My gynecologist and I made a decision it was time to hunt recommendation from a specialist who had expertise and depth of data in treating bone circumstances.

The endocrinologist I noticed ordered some lab work that confirmed excessive ranges of calcium in my urine, and I realized that the measures I had believed had been serving to, like taking calcium dietary supplements, had had little impact. My kidneys had been spilling the calcium into my urine, leaving little for my bones to soak up. I used to be prescribed a brand new drugs to assist my kidneys maintain on to the calcium that’s important to constructing and sustaining bone.

The endocrinologist defined that calcium is sweet for sustaining bone well being, however after bone loss has begun, solely a bone-building remedy will help with the loss. On the specialist’s route, I began taking injections of a brand new remedy in early 2022. Now sure I used to be heading in the right direction with my bone well being, I felt assured sufficient to begin planning longer bike adventures.

Greymouth, New Zealand, 2024

My osteoporosis is being managed successfully with bone-building and bone-maintaining medicines. I’ve adjusted my remedy to deal with my calcium ranges, and I really feel sturdy and assured to bike wherever I’d like. The truth is, final fall, I biked by means of New Zealand.

I’m 16 years previous my wrist fracture and my bones are getting stronger — not weaker — with every passing yr. I’m grateful they’re sturdy sufficient to take me everywhere in the world.

This academic useful resource was created with assist from Amgen and UCB.

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