When I was younger, I couldn’t have predicted I would develop osteoporosis, and I certainly couldn’t have predicted that my husband and I would both be diagnosed within two years of each other. At the age of 64, I was at an art fair in a park when I tripped on a cord lying across the grass. It was a short, soft fall to the grass, but when I got back up, my wrist hurt in a way I hadn’t experienced before. Because it was a simple fall, I wanted to shake it off and ignore it. But after about twenty minutes, I told my husband I thought I should have it checked out.

It’s fair to say that I’ve been a rule follower most of my life. I am an oldest child, after all. I’ve always valued and safeguarded my health, making sure that I eat healthy food and get lots of my favorite exercise -- like hiking, yoga, swimming, and cycling. I have been grateful for good health. So, I was dumbfounded to learn at age 61 that I had quite serious osteoporosis.

At age 53, I was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis. I was completely blindsided and devastated with this diagnosis as it was not on my radar of health issues to be concerned about. My diagnosis came from chasing a pulled muscle. After six weeks of physical therapy and no improvement, I had some imaging done which showed mild degenerative disc changes with small protrusions.  This result led to a bone density scan.