When actress Sally Field was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2005, it was a disappointing development, wrote Richard Schmitz last month for the Society for Women’s Health Research.
“I had always eaten right, I had always exercised and I had always taken calcium,” Field told legislators at a briefing in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the Society and the National Osteoporosis Foundation during National Women’s Health Week and National Osteoporosis Month. “I tried to be a good girl all the way down the line, but it was going to get me.”
Field’s doctor let her know that she was losing bone at a very rapid rate and needed to start treatment immediately. The danger she faced became crystal clear a short time later while playing with her grandchildren.
“I had a five-year old on my back and a seven-year old in a wagon, pulling them up my steep driveway,” Field said. “I realized, ‘I’m at risk. I may not make it up this steep driveway.'”
When my mother was diagnosed with osteoporosis, she had already suffered a hip fracture. In her early 70s, she had all the risk factors: she was of Western European descent, fair skinned, seriously underweight her whole life, never exercised, had smoked heavily (quitting only when diagnosed with emphysema) and didn’t take calcium or eat a calcium-rich diet. Though physically frail, she was mentally alert, active socially and quite independent. That all changed. She never regained her independence, was fearful and unsure walking and died within a year.
I was close to her age when I was struck by a car and fractured a hip, and my first thought was of Mom and the awful statistics.
“A hip fracture can kill you,” said Ethel Siris, M.D., president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. “There is a 20 percent increased mortality in the year after a hip facture.”
Something about the surgical repair, in my case a partial hip replacement, either damages the heart or exacerbates existing heart and lung conditions, and greatly increases the risk of blood clots and strokes.
Even for those who survive the first year, many will have to rely on canes and walkers, and might not live on their own again.
Eighty percent of the 10 million Americans affected by osteoporosis are women, and an additional 34 million Americans are at risk for the disease, according to Phyllis Greenberger, president and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research. “As our population ages, osteoporosis will only become a greater public health threat.”
I had fewer risk factors than my mother and sisters, just family history, fair complexion and being underweight for most of my life. I did, however, start out with larger, denser bones, never smoked, ate well, took supplements and exercised a lot.
Even though I thought those things would save me, my first bone density scan at about 60 showed some bone loss and, at the urging of my doctor, spurred me to increase weight bearing exercise (more walking, less horseback riding), weight training to increase bone density in my spine, switching to a better supplement (calcium citrate) and adding soy foods to my diet.
Thanks to advances in medical research, many women may be spared the ravages of osteoporosis. The simple act of increasing vitamin D and calcium consumption reduced the risk of stress fractures by 25 percent in new recruits in the U.S. Navy. Vitamin D, which the body makes from direct sun exposure, aids in the absorption of calcium from food and supplements. As we age, this conversion is less effective and women living north of Los Angeles may never get enough sun to protect bone health. Canadian women, for instance, suffer many times the rate and severity of osteoporosis as women living in the southern areas of this country.
There have also been improvements made in the drugs that protect bone health. Where once the regimen for Fosamax was once a day, it’s now only once a week, and at least one newer drug is designed to be taken only once a month. For those who experience only mild side effects, these drugs can make a huge difference.
As younger women become more aware of the risks and take better care of their health, statistics may improve.
It’s not just about old ladies with dowager humps anymore. “Until you’re about 30, your bones are still growing,” Siris said. “You can build more bone. After 30 you build the rest of your body to support your bones.”
Thanks to Sally Fields and others willing to share their experiences, a younger generation of women may begin protecting their bones earlier and so avoid the devastating consequences our mothers experienced.