@joyboudreau
I hear you. I was 60 when I fell on the edge of a wooden ramp and cracked three ribs (I'm 66 now). For Heaven's sake, I think anyone at any age would have broken something with that fall. Of course, I was immediately sent for DEXA scan and of course it showed osteopenia. I was immediately told I had to start on medication. The nurse practitioner in charge of the Fracture Prevention Clinic gave me a brochure so I could choose which medication I wanted. My husband was already on Forteo, but he has rheumatoid arthritis, and definitely had weak bones. I had my choice of Forteo (don't remember why I didn't choose that one), Tymlos (caused cancer in rats, though at notably higher doses than ever given to humans), bisphosphonates (had watched a friend of my Mom's go through jaw necrosis on that one - no thanks), Prolia (once you start you can't ever stop or you will lose any and all progress made) and probably more meds I'm not remembering. I weighed my options and chose the Tymlos, knowing that I had a strong family history of kidney stones, and that was a potential side effect. I told the NP about it, but she just kind of blew it off. Sure enough, over a year in I started getting very bad abdominal pain. It wasn't in the area where kidney stones typically cause pain, so it took 9 months for me to be diagnosed (I stopped the Tymlos on my own). I even saw a urologist who announced that my pain was not typical kidney stone pain, but he would send me for pelvic floor therapy, because he hadn't known anyone who didn't benefit from pelvic floor therapy! That night I ended up in the ER with terrible pain. The proper scans were done, and I had a very large kidney stone stuck in my right kidney. No way was it coming out on it's own. Had to have a procedure to have it removed - miserable experience. I decided right then that there was no way I should have gone on any of those meds, and unless I had obvious severe signs of osteoporosis (not just a bit of osteopenia), I would not go on any of the drugs again. I don't really think I ever needed to go on the medication to start with, and I am angry that I wasn't smart enough to just say no. Obviously there are a lot of people with severe osteoporosis who must have these medications, but I do not believe that everyone who has osteopenia, or has a fracture caused by something that would likely give anyone a fracture, automatically needs to be put on these drugs. It took me awhile to get past the anger I felt from my experience (maybe I'm still not over it). Live your life, don't let numbers on a dexa scan report scare you to the point that you are afraid to live. PS, a week ago, I stepped backward and tripped on our small dog and took a hard fall right on my rear end, trying to avoid crushing the pup. Yep, I broke my tail bone. Of course I was immediately sent for a dexa scan - results were basically the same as one from two years ago - osteopenia. Am I going to go back on meds? Heck no. I know my post will probably make a lot of people angry, and I'm sorry - I'm just telling my story and my opinion.