Future fracture risk?

• By windblown
• Posted September 4, 2008 at 10:51 pm

Hi Englishrose: Love your screen name and welcome... It sounds as if you've done some reading and found the answer to your question. No, not all people with osteoporosis fracture, some do and some don't. There are so many variables that can contribute to fractures aside from low bmd.

Have you tried the FRAX calculator provided by the World Health Org? That will give you a better idea what the stats are on your possibility for fracture given any secondary causes, genetics, lifestyle choices, exercise, previous frax etc.

I can't figure out why a Dr would tell you that you would definitely fracture even though your score is considered low for your age. Have you been checked for secondary causes of osteo? Do you have any mineral/vit metabolism probs? All these things, as well as many other disorders, can contribute to acquiring osteo, but even so many people with osteo still don't fracture. People who have osteopenia/osteoporosis can fracture, just like anyone else, without it, but this dx is not the only cause of fractures, it can certainly increase your risk, but it's only a piece to a larger puzzle, which you can do something about.

Talk to all the wonderful members here and you'll see that many have not fractured, even with low scores, and some have; whether you fracture or not is not written in stone as your Dr seems to imply. The NOF has a great page on all the info you could use for tx, supplements (very important) exercise (the safe kind) referred to as body mechanics and the stats on this.

Usually one doesn't experience pain until they fracture so having a dx of osteo doesn't mean you automatically have pain. You could have other things that would cause pain, like arthritis, degenerative spinal probs, but I wouldn't worry about the degenerative changes unless you have a history of spinal injury or joint probs.

I think you'll find it interesting how many here that have low bmd haven't fractured and of course some have. You have to look at the whole picture here, and not just consider your osteo dx.

I've had frax's but the first was caused from an car accident, and not osteo. The subsequent ones could have been osteo related, but I don't know that for sure. I went through early non surgical meno so having a lack of estrogen to help my bones may have played a role in me getting it. I also have a family history of osteo, plus hypercalcemia which is another contributing factor for bone loss.

I was dx at about 30, with a bone biopsy, but I'm now 54, and my t-scores are NORMAL. I took Forteo for 2 years after taking Acetonel, which didn't help much, so you can treat this-it's not a cure but it is treatable.

Hang in there, and if you think you might like to have a more informed Dr you might want to consider that. Since you live in England I don't know if your Nat Health Plan will let you change to another Dr. but know that this isn't hopeless- I'm a good example of that. I still have chronic pain, but like I said other things besides osteo caused that.

www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX/

Good luck with your tx and I hope you can learn a lot from all of us going through this together. Try not to panic as I know when you first hear this it is frightening, but you will get through it, if you do the necessary things to treat this disorder. Read all you can, since information is TRUE power

To get to the NOF home page just click on the icon at the top of the page that say's National Osteo Foundation. I'm sure you'll hear from many others with even more expert knowledge than I, since we have a great mixture of patients, professionals in the field, and many resources to guide you on your path. Sorry for the unbelievable length of this post, I get carried away when I hear misleading info from Dr.'s :(

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• By kiaugh
• Posted September 5, 2008 at 3:52 pm

English Rose,
I am 55, surgical menopause at 28 & @4 years ago I started fracturing. 3 major, 3 stress fractures, all large bone (leg plus an elbow), low-impact fractures. I say all of this because I understand your fear & downright terror. The last 9 months I have finally gotten my "head" around living with Osteo.
So read on this osteo website, follow links if you want to, and ask us questions.
Take good care of yourself physicaly and thoughtfully.
Be responsible and cautious in treatment and testing decisions, there is no need to rush.
But most importantly - always, always know in your heart that if you do fracture "It Is Not Your Fault, your failure, your mistake"! Don't let anyone tell you anything different.
Believe me, there is nothing like a series of casts, crutches, braces, etc. to make most people experts & they have a lot to say; rarely is it anything that helps.
So holler if you need a mental / emotional boost . I'm the one with the fracture boot ....
Kiaugh

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• By englishrose
• Posted September 7, 2008 at 8:32 am

Thanks for the replies and the link to the FRAX site, which was very reassuring! I also contacted the UK national osteo helpline which confirmed my understanding.

Phew :-)

I'm pretty staggered by the careless (lack of) info I was given... I think pure misunderstanding of the facts on the part of fairly junior medical staff, but still... and will definitely change my consultant! I have private health insurance so have a degree of freedom in who I see, and have been given the names of a couple of rheumatologists who should be able to help.

Thanks again, this site has been very helpful and I will be back!

Cheers,

Rachel

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• By Franceline
• Posted September 10, 2008 at 10:27 am

The potential for fractures is certainly there with osteoporosis, I think you also need to be careful and have luck; I don't think it is very helpful to think too much about it.

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