Last year, February 1, 2019, I was hiking with a group of friends. It had snowed several inches and the trails were very inviting and picturesque. Blue skies, bright sunshine and fresh snow. We were just finishing our hike of 3 miles and were on the service road to the park. I was walking behind another hiker feeling confident that the surface was safe to walk on. I was wrong. I took one step and the next thing I know, I’m sprawled out in the snow with my right arm pinned under my body. The pain indicated an injury to the right shoulder. All I could think about and say was “oh no, not again.”
You see two years earlier, while dancing barefoot in an interpretive dance class, I fell, slipped, in a similar fashion fracturing my left shoulder in 4 places. Now my fear was I fractured my right shoulder. But that’s impossible. Two bones in two years? No, I thought, probably sprained.
As I rose to my feet, the arm seemed OK and I drove home. An hour later I was in the emergency room at the hospital as the pain and mobility indicated something very wrong. My worst fear was realized when the x-rays indicated a simple fracture. Of my right arm.
The odds of this happening, the way it happened told me there was something very wrong. I waited until the bone healed before I broached the subject with my orthopedic surgeon. I expressed my concerns. “Its doubtful you have any bone problems- you’re a male. Its highly unlikely.” But I insisted, in fact demanded a bone scan. Reluctantly he said he couldn’t write the script, my primary care physician would have to write it.
So, onto the primary physician I went. Same scenario of “you’re a male.” But after much discussion and demanding., he wrote the script. Even a discussion with my endocrinologist resulted in the same verdict., “you’re a male. Its highly unlikely.”
The bone scan came back positive for osteoporosis. The numbers weren’t borderline numbers. I was very lucky, when I slipped and fell, that I didn’t fracture my hip, femur or spine. The numbers were that bad.
I fully expected that the insurance company would question the findings or question the need for the Prolia injections and medical intervention. Happily, once I got past the “white wall” of doctors that were questioning my concerns, the treatments have been forthcoming with no hesitation on anyone’s part.
I know from reading, over the years, that a great deal many more women get osteoporosis than men due to many factors in a woman’s physiology. But men are built different and, so, seem less likely to suffer bone loss. Studies taken over the years (Osteoporosis in Men, 1967, Why Osteoporosis is More Common in Women, 2013) the statistics have remained the same. 4-6% of men older than 50 and 50% of women, same age group will be diagnosed with osteoporosis.
One can see how the doctors view their male patients claiming osteoporosis. They have to address the prevalence by the studies done. But as the article stated in “Why Osteoporosis is More Common in Women “ these studies are putting men at a diagnostic disadvantage as compared to women.
It honestly staggers the imagination to be told one is mistaken when that person knows something is very wrong. It was only because I could show two fractures in two years as being out of the ordinary that medical doctors would budge . Numbers and statistics are fine and are a must for running a business, which insurance companies are. Doctors don’t get compensated if the insurance business disagrees. One has to wonder how many undiagnosed male patients are going about their lives with the imminent risk of fracture that could have been avoided if males were given the same screening as females.
Women should routinely be given bone scans (How Often Should Women Have Bone Tests? 2012). That seems to make sense given the prevalence. Males fare differently though.” It is increasingly common for women to be diagnosed with osteoporosis or low bone mass using a BMD test, often at midlife when doctors begin to watch for signs of bone loss. In men, however, the diagnosis is often not made until a fracture occurs or a man complains of back pain and sees his doctor. This makes it especially important for men to inform their doctors about risk factors for developing osteoporosis, loss of height or change in posture, a fracture, or sudden back pain.”(NIH Osteoporosis in Males)
A male has to wait to get what a female is given routinely unless a fracture occurs which could involve the debilitating and crippling fracture of the spine, hip or femur. I simply couldn’t believe what I read, Consequently, doctors and males themselves think this is a female disease disregarding their own warning signs. I know, I did it myself the first fracture. Not a second time. Men need to be their own advocates in this and bring their concerns to their doctors.
