Went to bed one night normal, woke up with 4 broken ribs, broken sternum and 4 broken vertebrae???

[suthmada]

Hi,

I went to bed normal and woke up in agony. 1 Sept 24, went to A&E and after scans found 4 broken ribs, broken sternum and 4 broken vertebrae, no bruising and hadn't fallen or slept walked. Never been ill or in hospital previously.

Admitted to hospital and had emergency surgery to stabilise 4 vertebrae, added 2 rods and 5 pins, mother does have osteoporosis.

Now they want me to start teriparatide, which I'm very nervous about taking due to side effects and what could it do to my body in the future.

From what I've read - teriparatide is a synthetic human parathyroid hormone (PTH) that mimics the loss of the 34 amino acids.

My question is by taking supplements for the loss of amino acids along with a diet improvement, exercise eg. Lecine, Glutamine, Creatine and others, would that be enough to increase those 34 amino acids missing or low?

(Parathyroid hormone is naturally produced by four small glands in the neck and helps regulate calcium levels in your blood. Teriparatide is very similar to the naturally occurring hormone. It helps new bone formation and so reduces the risk of fractures. A synthetic form of the hormone itself is also available).

Any advice greatly appreciated, I'm new to all this.

Thank you

[Fruitandnutcase]

Goodness, you poor soul what an awful experience. You must have been in absolute agony, I hope by now things are improving for you.

I can’t help you about taking teriparatide but I think it would be worth speaking to one of the ROS advisers for advice theros.org.uk

[Armagnac]

That is awful. I’m not a doctor but sounds like Teriparatide is essential. I did two years in 2019 and it did improve my DEXA score. You have to remember that most people who post about side effects are the people that get them. People who have no side effects don’t post.

I had very few side effects. I had some rashes but they went away. Unfortunately in the middle I had Shingles but I don’t think this was caused by the Teriparatide. Good luck.

[Samosalover]

I started on teriparatide last summer with no ill effects so far. In fact I “feel” much stronger than early last year. I put off getting any treatment as I had bad side effects after cancer immunotherapy and the proposed treatment was an annual infusion whose side effects frighted me off so delayed doing anything for nearly a year. The beauty of the teriparatide was that I could stop at any time. Once an infusion is done you can’t just suck the meds out of your body again if you do have a problem.

[questionably]

suthmada, without pharmaceutical help you'll likely have more fractures. The loss of hormone starting in our late forties weakens our bones. But the time we have osteoporosis it isn't possible to regain bone fast enough to prevent fracturing.

I'm finishing my second year of Forteo with no side effects and gain in bone density and strength. Your experience could be different and I could have untold effect evident in my future. It's a wager I'm making to prevent fractures.

You are about the age when osteoporosis becomes a concern. You are quite young to have had so many fractures, especially while sleeping in a soft environment. So I would ask if you have had your parathyroids examined. And if you have been tested for secondary causes.

I would take Forteo as soon as possible. It will speed the healing of your surgery, increase the integration of your hardware, and relieve pain.

I'm sorry about your fractures and amazed that you don't even mention your pain.

Bless your recover and your choice with luck

[suthmada in reply to questionably]

Thank you for the reply, hearing directly from someone who is going through this really helps I will definitely look into getting my parathyroids tested. The nurse is supposed to be coming today to show me how to start the injections so I will ask re getting the test done. Thank you again 😀

[questionably in reply to suthmada]

suthmada, Forteo vasodilates your blood vessels which causes your blood pressure to drop. If you already have low blood pressure it can make you a little dizzy. I have a little salty snack to reduce the effect. It's also helpful to be hydrated. Both can keep your heart from beating so quickly and prevent the mild headache that some experience with Forteo. The first few times I was careful about not falling from any dizziness, but I never had side effects, except that my fingernails are really strong.

I so like the drug that I've convinced the endocrinologist to prescribe a third year. I really hope it works well for you.

[Rooruby]

Hi sorry to hear all what your going through. I was terrified of starting this too but after spine fractures I decided to take it. I started beginning of November 24 and so far no side effect as such. I was really worried about getting dizzy or even Fainting so I decided to take the injection every night. Tbh if you read side effects of things like paracetamol etc they too are quite horrible lol. Good luck

[suthmada in reply to Rooruby]

Thank you for the reply, it is so refreshing hearing directly from someone who is in the middle of this process. Thank you again 🥰

[ROSModerator Partner]

Hi suthmada ,

We wanted to drop by to wish you the warmest welcome to our community, thank you for joining us here It sounds like you had an extremely difficult end to last year and we can appreciate wanting to understand more about our options and potential medicines. We have a factsheet on teriparatide that you can access on this webpage: theros.org.uk/information-a...

However, as it won't answer your specific question, we warmly invite you to reach out to our helpline of friendly specialist nurses who would be happy to chat through your questions: theros.org.uk/information-a...

We hope you can continue to connect and share here, as it makes a difference when we're around people who understand

Wishing you the very best,

Lulu

ROS Moderator

[suthmada in reply to ROSModerator]

Thank you for the info above and the fact sheet. Do you know how or if I can request a parathyroids text/examination? Many thanks again.

[ROSModerator Partner in reply to suthmada]

Hi,

You're very welcome. We're unable to get into specific topics/questions on here, but our specialist nurses would be able to help chat through any questions you have theros.org.uk/information-a...

All the best,

Lulu

ROS Moderator

[Rems in reply to suthmada]

You definitely should have your parathyroid blood test ... with calcium and vitamin d levels as part of investigation of osteoporosis esp if severe but you can't have them examined unless a proven problem

[Rems]

So sorry to hear of your awful ordeal ... do not hesitate to take teriparatide .. it's one of the better drugs ...the ROS has lots of advice. If you want to get into the weeds about leucine etc consider looking at Dr Doug Lucas on youtube /fo masterclass / join osteocollective. But for now you need treatment .. all the best