I’m home from the hospital now and doing OK – well sort of. Life is really different with a limp and a walker, but thanks for asking!
Oh, sorry. I don’t think we’ve met before. Agatha here. I won’t tell you my age, but I will tell you this: “I’m old enough to be your mother!” So listen up girls and learn from my story…
I fell three months back, broke my wrist, left hip bone and bashed my head real bad. I had to have emergency surgery and only got home now. Believe me Dorothy, there’s no place like home!
For me it was the age-old story, which came first? The break or the fall? Some people say only old ladies break bones if they fall – bahhh you should have seen who else was in that hospital!
Ideally, anyone should be able to fall and get up with no breaks – but we’re dealing with the “silent thief” here. Osteopenia is the thinning of bones and this leads to osteoporosis and osteoporosis leads to breaks – nasty circle! The thief starts stealing from your bones early in life – about age 30 – and we girls are at a disadvantage to men. During our lifetimes, at least one in three women will suffer a broken bone from osteoporosis. For men, it’s one in five.
Our bones are at their best around the late teens to mid-twenties. So girls, ditch the pop. Calcium’s a girl’s best friend – not diamonds! If you don’t like milk or can’t tolerate it get calcium from your food any way you can. You might need supplements and that’s OK. If you’re over 50 you need 1,200 mg of calcium and 800 to 2,000 international units (IU) of Vitamin D3 every day. The two of them work together but everybody’s different so talk to your doc about what you need.
If you’re over 65 get your bones tested. It’s called a “bone mineral density test”. It’s really the only way to see how much stealing that thief has been up to over the years.
Finally, exercise every day. Oh, I know it’s tough, so talk to people about what exercise is best for you and how you can fit it in. My therapist said that weightlifting will benefit me, but I think I’ll be “struggling” with that, ha ha!
Talking of exercise, gotta run. Betty’s knocking at the door. We try to walk together every day – you know, use it or lose it?
But before I go and if I got you thinking, check out osteoporosis.ca to find out more. It’s Falls Prevention Month girls so learn from my story and look out for each other, we’ve all got a role to play – spread the word!
Love ya!
Agatha
This post was originally published on November 16, 2016.