Brittle bones

[Sassy80]

I'm fairly new to Mumsnet and haven't posted very often!

Not sure if this is the best board to post this query on?

My DH who is in his mid 30's keeps breaking bones, and not by doing any extreme sports. He's doing normal daily activities! In 7 years he has broken his shoulder (playing 5 aside with friends), broken ribs falling on ice, broken elbow (twice) once slipping on ice again the other just out walking and losing his footing. Another tripped over and landed on a bench and broke his back!

It's gotten to a point that I think he needs to insist on getting seen by a specialist to check his bone density. He won't.

I wonder if he does have a bone density problem is it likely to be hereditary as I may h able to convince him to get checked if there is a possibility our DC could be affected in the long term...any advice welcome! X

Hi sassy ,
your suggestion is very sensible. i.e.get some investigation , or checks at least, to eliminate the possibility of some well known problems

Whilst there are many heritable ( genetic) syndromes affecting bones, it is possibly more likely that your dh may have reduced bone strength due to a parathyroid gland malfunction , or even something as simple as vitamin D deficiency.
Why not ask the GP for a bone density (dexa) scan , and also a blood calcium test as well as Vit D. If any are out of range ... that is a starting point for further investigation. You've mentioned 6 broken bones in 7 years from normal daily activity, that should prompt your GP to make at least some tests even in these cash strapped times.
Most likely, nothing will be found , BUT , to check now , whilst he is young , makes a lot of sense.

         best of luck 

             BTBH

Does he take any medication on a regular basis.

Eg. Asthmatics taking corticosteroids for their condition have these problems sometimes.

It’s not really breaking bones while doing normal daily activities- he’s had trips or falls to cause the injuries..

You would have equal reason to be concerned about the numerous falls, rather than jumping to his bones being at fault.

I would have thought if there were any worries a&e would have flagged it. They usually take a full history and if the mode doesn’t match the injury it will be looked into. So if he sat down normally but put his hand down first and it broke, that would suggest brittle bones. If he fell with his full weigh on his hand, then a broken bone wouldn’t be unreasonable. It sounds like your dh’s breaks are “normal” given his falls, so might not have been flagged.

So perhaps a better question to ask is why is he falling so often? Does he fall and not break bones?

Brittle bone disease is not just more than average number of breaks- it’s breaks when you wouldn’t expect it, from very little force for example. A slight knock rather than a full on fall.

Anyway first stop GP. Although if he’s not worried you can’t do much.

what you describe are (to me) incidences that can result in breaks.

so for me the question is, is he clumsy and falls more often than others?

what's his diet like?

from experience gp's are only concerned if someone breaks bones without reason.

but I agree he should see his gp.

• because of numerous fractures. ask for bone profile blood test and bone density scan
• because he's clumsy/falls more often than most people with his activity level

I'm not sure he'd meet criteria to be honest. He has a clear adequate mechanism of injury for each and none sound particularly low trauma. But it is worth a chat to the GP if he wants to. I am presuming he's been seen by orthopaedics for each of those? Was it the same hospital? He just sounds unlucky to be honest.