Osteoporosis help

[Crazycatlady_101]

My mum is 55 and has recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis in her spine and hips, she has been off work for 7 months.

At first she had a lot of back pain, after various scans she had fractured her spine without any injury so was diagnosed with osteoporosis, She has got better but still struggles to walk to the shop which is at the end of the street, not too far, she even struggles to stand and wash the dishes.

2 days ago she was getting out of the bath and she said she felt her back go, it took her breath away and took a couple of minutes for her to get herself out, yesterday morning it took her half an hour to get out of bed and downstairs, couldn’t put her trousers on, couldn’t even stand to make a cup of tea as she couldn’t hold the kettle.

She is going to the drs today to see if he will send her for an X-ray to see if she’s fractured her spine.

She takes 2 co-codamol 30mg/500mg every 4hours which are strong and help.

We don’t have a lot of knowledge on this, she feels like she’s not getting any help from the drs or spine specialist with pain management or treatment and medicines, she’s worried about work, as she’s been off so long there’s no income.

Can anyone share their experience and offer any advice?

[Steenygirl1]

Hi, has your mum been put on bone support supplements? Calcium and magnesium is important obviously but so is vit d3 with vit K2 (hardly ever prescribed but K2 directs extra calcium that is absorbed from the diet due to vit D3 into bones and teeth rather than blood vessels and soft tissue such as kidneys. Vit B12 is also necessary for bone formation. She should have her blood levels of calcium, vit d3 and B12 checked. Other minerals are important too, boron and silica for example. An all round bone supplement quite frankly is better than what is given out by nhs. Has she been started on biophosphantes? It is generally prescribed after her diagnosis and particularly previous fracture. Dies ahe see a specialist? A rheumatologist? Also once your mum's pain is under control it is important for her to do weight bearing exercise, it's how you build bone. And progressing onto training with light weights if possible.

[Jay66]

Your mum needs to go down the disability assessment route asap - look at the criteria here turn2us.org.uk/Your-Situati.... If she struggles to stand to do the dishes or walk to the shops she should qualify. Read it through as you only need 8 points for the low level pip. I'm pretty healthy, work 2 days a week, run a rescue and do most of the household chores and still score 6 - not enough to claim. This will reduce the pressure she feels to work a job.