Broken wrist

I'm sorry to hear of all these fractures. I had a double leg fracture almost three years ago - not an experience I'd care to repeat!

May I suggest that if you're over 50yo, you ask for a DEXA scan to check your bone density and ward off any future problems? It's standard procedure in my area to be offered a scan if you have a fracture after the age of 50 but I don't think that's the case everywhere.

Get well soon, everyone!

Oh Glamma that sounds worse than any of our breaks and pains. Do hope it come right in the end.

A double leg fracture....how awful *sue" did they heal all right?

I do have oesteoporosis, but not I thought in my wrists. Oddly enough I was due a DEXA scan the day after this happened. Had to postpone it.

Anya I truely can't see an end to it sometimes,I'm managing to use my laptop a wee bit more now but still uncomfortable as I have difficulty raising the right arm above waist height,but i'll get there in the end xx

I truly sympathise with you glamma .

Do you have someone to help you with all those little but essential things? And how about the pain? (((very gentle hugs)))

Anya yes, it did heal, though not fast enough for my liking! I chose to have an op to put a pin in it so as not be in plaster from thigh to toes for 16 weeks! I briefly had a plaster before the op and I thought I would go mad with the itching. I think that was almost the worst bit of the whole thing. Apart from missing my holiday - we were supposed to be going to the Caribbean the next day and I'd just been out to buy a new swimsuit, when I slipped on my own driveway, coming home.

I was found to have the precursor to osteoporosis so I am taking preventive medication for that.

Cast off now and I have been told the best way to exercise is to use a keyboard. So far I have made more mistakes than before! And it aches even more.
What surprised me was that there were five other elderly women in there with broken wrists today. It surprised the xray department as well.

What preventive medication do you take, Sue?

So glad. Doctor said I should exercise, make a fist the kind you need to keep hold of money, with the cast on not that easy. Take it easydurhamjen it won't be up to full strength yet, no arm wrestling! champagne even.

Cast no. 4 on now in less than a week and gave to have yet another x-ray on Monday. Bet you're glad to have yours off DJ ?

What's with this virtual epidemic of broken wrists? There were at least six at today's clinic.

if you can get hold of the squeezy foam tennis balls used in short tennis, they are perfect for exercising the wrist and hand muscles.

I guess that, having watched the trampolining in the Olympics, they've been giving it a go on the back garden trampolines.

Durhamjen Imtake alendronate acid once a week and calcium + Vit D daily. Is preventative the right term? I'm not sure! I'm hoping it wards off any future problems.

That should say I take

Yes, Anya, pleased to have the cast off, but my arm does not know what to do with itself yet. Did you say you had done both wrists at the same time?
However, no more hitting myself on the nose or the chin with the cast when I wake up in the morning.
I have one of those squeezy balls somewhere, anno; I'll have to find it. I also have a strengthball, which is supposed to strengthen your wrists the faster you rotate it. Do not think any of the lights will light up yet. Actually, I have just discovered a lavender wheatball. When I get tired of exercising my wrist, I can send myself off to sleep!
I do not appear to have an opposable thumb yet, but I am sure it will be there by the weekend.
The doctor told me not to move heavy furniture for a couple of months. My daughter in law looked horrified and said I wasn't allowed to do it at all. Otherwise I might end up back in A&E!
Would you believe that I was really happy today to be able to peg washing on the line using my right hand. Easily pleased.
I've got a bottle of beer, Mildred. That will have to do instead.

I wonder if it would be practicable for all women over 60 to have a Dexa (bone density) scan. Oh, I suppose they'd say it would cost too much.

Could be a cost and possibly life saver if broken bones are reduced, anno, good idea.

anno, I had a scan a couple of years ago when my GP discovered cash was available for RA patients because of our higher risk of bone density loss. It showed osteo pina and I was put on Adcal/Vit D supplements. If scans are too expensive (humph) I wonder whether all post menopausal women should be offered the Vit D and calcium supplement. Don't take it if you don't want to but at least have a discussion with your GP about the costs/benefits involved.

Not both DJ just left wrist and right elbow. I'm fairly helpless as you can imagine, though the cast itself comes in useful.....sort of 'give me a lever and I'll move the world'!

There was a 22 year old having xrays today who had broken her right elbow. She is supposed to be starting a new job in two weeks time, but also going on a longhaul flight in two days.
She was nearly in tears with both pain and frustration.

Being positive, having a cast gives a reason to go in disabled toilets, although it's annoying when the grab bars are on the wrong side. However, only for a few weeks.

Iam, having taken steroids for the past five years, I've had two dexa scans and found that I have osteoporosis in my left hip. I've been on AdCal ever since the polymyalgia diagnosis and have had the first of three annual infusions of Zolendronate. I am ultra cautious about where I put my feet nowadays! Just as well I don't have a dog.

I don't know about the practicalities of all women being offered a DEXA scan but you can have one on request when you reach a certain age in my area.

It would be interesting to know more about the pros and cons.

It's not as if there's anything to 'cure' oesteoporosis but I suppose if you know you have week bones you can take more care.......like wot I did ?

Weak!

No, it can't be cured but it can be stopped from worsening. I was told that the aim of medication is to halt bone loss until the density matches the norm for your age. So if at 55 you had the bone density of a 60yo, the aim is stop you losing any more bone so that when you reach 60, you still have the same bone loss as a 60. I'm not sure whether you then continue treatment or not.

Apparently bone loss begins when you're 25!