To think osteoporosis is shockingly sidelined by healthcare professionals in the UK

I'm not on Tik Tok (I'm old so do Facebook and YouTube) but that's how young people get their information these days.

I started martial arts 30 years ago and the instructor told us then how important it was to strengthen your bones through exercise. It's not a new thing.

@Carriemac I think dexa scans should be offered at a certain age… like a mammogram is. That’s what more they can do. Because the indication currently is when a bone is broken, which is too late.

Exactly and not a chance I'll ever want to take HRT

Treatment for breast cancer. It weakens your bones. And I’m not supposed to have dairy because I have high cholesterol - also a side-effect of treatment.

Really ??
im knocking on sixty
never been on the tik tok -
this advise / health promotion info has been around for decades !

@EmeraldRoulette i believe Queen Camilla is a vocal supporter of an osteoporosis charity and has been for some time. Her mother died as a result of osteoporosis, I believe.

I agree with this

The osteoporosis/ osteopenia prevention advice is not rocket science -

eat a healthy balanced diet
don’t smoke
limit processed foods
exercise
weight bearing exercise is good for maintaining bone density
take HRT unless contraindicated -

dexa scans are given to those who require it -
e.g. anorexia

what more can the NHS do ??

It really is. You said yourself that it’s all over Tik Tok. Tik Tok’s been around what?Less than 10 years? Fine for the younger demographic.

It‘s not just a question of taking or not taking HRT. Two of the most effective ways of preventing osteoporosis are:

• taking Vitamin D (and getting levels checked regularly)
• exercising with weights/dumbbells

It's something that affects more women than men.

Of course it's fucking overlooked! What the hell do you expect?!

The medical profession in the UK to give a remote shit about women?

I mean, come on! Don't be fucking ridiculous now...

(And this is the reality of any health care issue in the UK apart from corporate sponsored breast cancer awareness weeks).

Do you mean like a public information campaign? That's a good idea. I must admit I get quite annoyed with some of the public information campaigns, you can't get a bus without being told about lots of horrible diseases that you might get. But yeah, this one doesn't get talked about.

There's a lot of osteoporosis on both sides of my family, men too. Everyone has been treated well and thoroughly. The treatments are not without risk but looking at those people in the family, all dead now, they would've been diagnosed in their 50s and it wasn't common knowledge then.

The thing about building bone density, I think it's worth telling teenagers that. I didn't find school PE any use, particularly as I'm physically incompetent. But as soon as I turned 18, I went to the gym and started doing weights but I was lucky that my uncle told me to do that. But maybe school P E is different now? I certainly hope so.

my parents went on at me about calcium and vitamin D, so I was lucky there too.

dad ended up with osteopenia in spite of his best efforts and he had to take a bunch of stuff but the injection that's available now was not available when he was diagnosed.

No they aren’t. I’d never heard of it before my mother was diagnosed. I was in my 30s. I’m in my late 50s now.

Actually that’s not quite true, I think I had heard of it, but I thought it was kind of inevitable and you only started to suffer when you were very old. Not in your 40s.

Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that you said that at all, I was just talking generally and commiserating with people in the same position as it can feel quite isolating. Sorry, didn't mean to derail your thread.

Come on. Even if you read the Daily Mail or watch Tik Tok there are thousands of articles/videos on there about bone health, it's not a new thing.

Same here. It can be pretty depressing, the many many threads (and people irl) saying women must get on HRT immediately or our lives will be terrible - physically, mentally and emotionally.

I can't take HRT due to BC. I have an IV infusion every six months to strengthen my bones and take daily calcium and Vitamin D tablets. I've exercised all my life but a sudden chemical menopause put me at risk of osteoporosis.

Young women are warned (and have been warned for years) about the risk of osteoporosis later in life but choose to ignore it, it's the arrogance of youth.

I had an early menopause and by 49 had osteoporosis. My actual day job was as the head gardener of a place where I'd done about 12000 steps before elevenses. I was constantly carrying heavy stuff, walking about, lifting and stretching and digging and carrying and kneeling...it was non stop. I didn't even have a desk let alone sit at one for hours on end. So exercise alone isnt the answer.

HRT literally saved my life. What alot of people don't understand either is that if you have ever broken a bone, your body takes bone material from your bones to mend the broken bones which puts you at higher risk of osteoporosis, broken bones arent a sign of it they are also a cause of it...so along with an early menopause really hightens the risk.

Surely overweight people's bones are in better shape because they bear more weight?

whataboutism..

OP isnt suggesting they have all the answers, just that people shouldn't do nothing... so what about people who cant take HRT, what will you do?

I’ve always had a healthy balanced diet. Always. Some of it is genetic. Some of us have to work harder to maintain and restore bone density. The point is, you just don’t know, as there are no telltale symptoms.

Having a medical professional discuss osteoporosis when talking about HRT is not nagging. It’s healthcare.

YABU just becase we need to take responsibility for our own health it’s not up to healthnpredessionals to nag us about the bleeding obvious of a healthy balanced diet and excercise and HRT if indicated etc .