The 2am Breakdown
That night I broke down. The 2am kind of breakdown when you're staring at the ceiling wondering how this became your life.
I'm 58.
I want to travel with my husband. See my grandson grow up. Be the grandmother who's present and active.
But instead I'm terrified all the time. Of sneezing. Of reaching for something. Of what breaks next.
The doctor said after one fracture, I'm much more likely to have another within the year.
So I'm just waiting for the next crack.
And I'm so angry.
The doctor said my bones had been deteriorating for probably seven years.
Seven years I felt fine. Seven years I could have prevented this.
But nobody told me.
Life After Your First Fracture
Three months later, I went to a hospital lecture called "Life After Your First Fracture."
The speaker was Dr. Sarah Mitchell.
"How many of you had no idea you had osteoporosis until something broke?" she asked.
Every hand went up. Thirty women. All shocked by our own bodies.
"One in two women over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis," she said. "But most won't know they have it until that first fracture. You are the one in two. And I'm so sorry no one caught it sooner."
She paused.
"You should be furious. Because this was preventable. If someone had told you ten years ago that your bones were weakening, you could have stopped this. But nobody told you."
I was crying. Because she was right.
How was I supposed to prevent something I didn't know was happening?
What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You
"Here's what matters now," she continued. "You can accept this and hope nothing else breaks. Or you can fight to rebuild what's been lost.
But here's what your doctor didn't have time to explain:
— You're not breaking because your bones are weak.
— You're breaking because you're falling.
Your bones are the problem IF you fall.
But your muscles are WHY you fall.
Those deep stabilizer muscles in your hips and legs - the ones that catch you automatically - they disappear after 50.
So calcium tries to fix your bones.
But it does nothing to stop you from falling in the first place.
That's why women take calcium for years and still break. They're fixing the wrong problem.
You need both rebuilt - bones AND muscles.
Otherwise you're just waiting for the next fall."