Hi Everyone,

I am a 55 year old, white woman who has just been diagnosed with Osteoporosis. Two years ago, I had a complete workup done to evaluate exactly what kind of arthritis I have that included a Dexa scan. For the record, I have, "Erosive, inflammatory, osteoarthritis that is not associated with an auto immune disorder". My doctor said I am an extremely rare bird in that regard. This is absolutely genetic as both my mother, grandmother and great grandmother also suffered from it.

At that time, I was in Osteopenia. That was July 2020. So I diligently kept track and when I didn't hear from my doctor after the two year period, I called and asked for a referral for another bone scan. I just had that done and my T scores are now -2.8 in the spine, and -2.1 in the femoral neck. My PCP was very concerned that the numbers got that much worse in two years. So...I am just starting my journey. I have worked out my entire life doing aerobic and weight lifting, I do not have low Vit D or low calcium and have been taking supplements of both for decades now, I have no family history of fractures and have had no fractures myself except for when I was 8 years old and fell off a playground unit onto a concrete surface landing directly on my leg. Ironically, two months after the Osteopenia diagnosis, I slipped on a piece of laundry on my basement stairs and fell down the last three steps, landing on an area rug on my left hip pretty hard. It hurt, but I didn't break anything. (I must confess that I was a hot mess lying there crying with the "patient has an 8% risk of hip fracture within the next 10 years" going over and over in my mind).

I have scheduled an Echolight scan to be done in Asheville during an upcoming visit in October and will also be setting myself up with a specialist at a local hospital to run a battery of tests to see what might be causing this in someone of my age. I am NOT going to make a quick decision about going on any medication and read this entire thread, which I must say has been hugely helpful, so thank you to everyone who commented here. I look forward to adding to the conversation with my experiences and am grateful to have this connection.