Erna Craig is now 5 inches shorter than she was before her bones started fracturing.
As of a year ago, with osteoporosis slowly chipping away at her 84-year-old frame, Craig had already fractured her spine five times, splintered her arm and broken her shoulder.
“I didn’t know how bad it was until I got the bone density test that told me my bones are very weak. I didn’t have to fall to get the fractures; I could do a wrong move or lift something heavy and there was a fracture,” Craig said.
Now, with Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month in full swing, she is espousing the fortifying virtues of a relatively new medication that is infused into the bloodstream once a year.
Glendale Adventist Medical Center is one of the few hospitals in the area that offers Reclast, an infusion medicine for post-menopausal osteoporosis.
“During menopause I felt fine, so I didn’t take any hormones, and that hurt me later,” said Craig, who has lost an inch of her height with each spinal fracture.
As a member of the Joslyn Senior Center in Burbank, Craig used to ballroom dance five times a week, but due to her osteoporosis and other health complications, the risk of injury was too high to continue.
As a result of her spinal injuries she had to wear a corset for six weeks following each injury and began taking oral medicine, but saw few results.
“The doctors started me on hormones, and I’ve been taking them for seven years, but then they came out with drugs. I tried it for a whole year, but it didn’t do the job,” Craig said.
She eventually developed bleeding ulcers as a side effect of the medication.
Noune Pashinian, a rheumatologist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, said the hospital has been offering Reclast to its patients since it first became available about two years ago.
“We’re increasing awareness about the importance of screening and we’re working on educating our patients about the different medications that are available,” Pashinian said.
Patients who respond negatively to oral medication are prime candidates for the infusion, she added.
“For those patients it’s just another route of administration,” she said.
Vitamin D deficiency is an important issue that Pashinian said should be detected early through screenings because it is a contributing factor to osteoporosis.
