Robert Rees, Wales, UK
Five years ago, when I was 43, I was enjoying a family holiday in the Dominican Republic when, during a dancing competition I went to lift my
wife Jean in a 50s-style swing, I felt as though a gun had gone off in my
head. I collapsed in agony.
On returning home to the UK, I baffled my doctors. My vertebrae were spongy and they looked as though I had fallen from a three storey building into a swimming pool. Also I had a damaged spinal cord which meant that I couldn’t feel or control my legs.
It took nine months to be diagnosed with osteoporosis – doctors were at first looking for something more sinister like a bone tumor and were not as accustomed to osteoporosis affecting men. When, after many tests, I was diagnosed with severe spinal osteoporosis, I was also found to have twelve rib fractures. My T-score was -4.9 and my doctor told me I had the bones of an eighty year old.
I thought that osteoporosis was something that only affected old ladies. My job as a sales director meant that I had a sedentary lifestyle so perhaps I had a risk factor that I wasn’t aware of. I had been spending a lot of time seated while driving and many hours each week sitting at my desk, although I had been a rugby player in my younger days and had been fairly active. I have never been a heavy drinker or smoked very much. There hasn’t been a family history of osteoporosis and of my six brothers and sisters, only two of my sisters have been recently diagnosed with osteopenia.
My treatment included a prescribed medication, calcium and vitamin D, and now I am taking another medication and vitamin D. My T-score has now improved to -2.9. I am four inches shorter than I was before. For me, being able to help other people in a similar position is much better than wallowing in self pity. Since April 2006 I have become very active in increasing both awareness about osteoporosis in men and funds for the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) in the UK, as NOS Ambassador. Once or twice a week I speak at meetings such as Lions or Rotary clubs, schools and other community groups. People respond positively when I tell my story and I think that this does make them stop and think about their bone health. Especially those who think it can’t happen to them.
Although I attend a chronic pain management clinic, I find helping the NOS a form of therapy, it helps take my mind off the pain I suffer everyday. This year I have set a goal of raising £10,000 (14,700 euros) for the NOS and I hope to raise two or three times that amount. The Cardiff and Welsh Rugby teams have donated signed rugby jerseys and we are going to auction these. Also as part of the NOS osteoporosis helpline, I counsel people who are recently diagnosed with osteoporosis.
My advice to men and women who have busy jobs and a stressful lifestyle is to understand and reduce your risk factors, if possible. Try to do half an hour to an hour of weight bearing exercise every day – even if it just means walking around outside the office in the sunshine. Avoid sitting for long periods, don’t smoke or drink too much. Make sure that you have a calcium-rich diet with plenty of vitamin D. Speak to your doctor if you have concerns.
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