JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s called a silent disease lurking in your bones.
Thin bones are the telltale sign that you have osteoporosis, and it can be crippling if you don’t get treated.
I found out I’m a classic case: fair-skinned and light eyes. My mother also had it. But it crosses all ethnicities, and we can all do something early in life to prevent it.
MARY BAER’S STORY: News4JAX anchor opens up about her personal journey with osteoporosis
My diagnosis
I love horseback riding, but it isn’t exactly what the doctor ordered. So while I’m learning more about the sport of dressage on horseback, Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Dr. Ejigayehu Abate has been coaching me through a diagnosis of osteoporosis. She encourages me to make wise choices while allowing a little leeway for my time in the saddle.
“Osteoporosis should not define you, you should still live your life,” Abate said. “You just have to be smart about how to protect yourself.”
I’m in my second year of treatment at Mayo Clinic after experiencing multiple fractures over several years: ribs, toes, shoulder and my pelvis — all from skiing and riding frisky horses.
“Typically women in their 50s and up — fracturing toes, ribs, wrist fracture — when we see those fractures, we take them seriously because they tend to precede big fractures like pelvis, hip and back fractures — the main ones we don’t want to see,” Abate said.
Treatment & prevention
For me, Prolia, an injection every six months, is making a difference, and Abate says she can tell.
“It looks like we’ve gained, you’re still in osteoporosis, but you’re almost out of it,” Abate said. “You’ve gained about 5% in the spine, and you’ve gained about 7% in the hips.”
Along with the twice-a-year injection, walking, weight-bearing exercise, and a healthy, calcium-rich diet are critical. And every night when I get home from work, I take two pills containing calcium citrate with Vitamin D3, which helps your bones absorb calcium.
I still ride horses, but now I ride very differently than I did prior to my diagnosis. I’m much more careful, I don’t take risks like I used to, I never ride alone, and I have good conversations with my doctor on ways I can continue what I love but also protect myself.
Prevention can start early. For teens, Abate recommends:
- Calcium through diet — calcium-rich foods and about 1,000 milligrams daily
- Avoiding sodas, which depletes the bone of calcium
- Avoid excess caffeine
- Exercise
“Exercise is by far the best way to build bone than any medicines we’ve got out there,” Abate said.
She also says are several choices for medications.
“There’s a pill that you take. So we had talked about a pill Fosamax. It’s a pill that you take once a week. But it’s not the best choice for somebody who’s young and active and wants to ground bone. Then injectables tend to be better at that. Also somebody who has stomach issues, it can upset at the stomach, somebody with a faster lifestyle, you know, it’s hard to sit up bright for an hour and not to eat for an hour,” Abate said. “In those cases, we move on to the injectable form, such as what we did.”
Osteoporosis crosses all ethnicities
It’s not just light-skinned people who are susceptible.
In 2011 at age 42, Deb Maina got a physical for her birthday and a brutal awakening.
“That physical came out with a whole lot of other things,” Maina said. “I ended up diagnosed with breast cancer stage 3.”
The Jacksonville business owner and mother of two who also runs a nonprofit in her home country of Kenya underwent 10 years of cancer treatment with medication and chemotherapy.
She won the fight, but it took a toll on her bones.
“I started with osteopenia of my spine, and I also had osteoporosis of the hips,” she said. “But it started getting better because I learned how to maintain it.”
Maina is a firm believer in keeping active by lifting light weights, stretching, and walking, which is a great weight-bearing exercise that builds bone.
And for those who sit on the job, she said, “Get up and walk around — stretch your bones.”
Diet is critical, as well, like consuming foods rich in calcium and vitamin D and vitamin D supplements with citrate, which is better for absorption.
And Maina is spreading the word, especially among African Americans who she says all too often don’t talk about their health.
“When you speak about it, when you take care of yourself and talk about it and discuss with others and share your struggles, other people learn,” Maina said. “And you get a better community because of being courageous enough to come out and speak about it.”
When to start screening
Abate says age 50 to 55 is a good age to start screening for osteoporosis with a bone density screening — the tool to diagnose the disease.
“It’s a silent disease,” Abate said. “You don’t know you have it until you break something or you get screened for it.”
She says there can be many reasons behind a bone thinning diagnosis. For me, it appears to be age-related and genetic, as my mother dealt with it, as well.
At 30, that’s our optimal bone for women. After that, we maintain it until menopause and then it tapers off.