UK Edition
Meg Mathews: How I got my osteoporosis under control with diet, exercise - and HRT
When a broken wrist revealed she was a sufferer, Meg Mathews was in shock - and determined to learn to manage it her way
Since 2018, Meg Mathews has been one of the UK’s foremost menopause campaigners, determined to use her profile to end the stigma surrounding it. In her weekly column for Stella magazine, she reveals what she’s learnt. This week: why Osteoporosis is a 'silent disease'
About seven years ago I broke my wrist. For whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to climb a 3m wall whilst trying to get into my house. I’d locked myself out. I didn’t think the wall looked too challenging… Of course, I fell – and when I put my left arm out to protect myself, my wrist snapped. I didn’t have the body strength I thought I had.
At hospital, an X-ray confirmed my wrist was broken. Luckily they suggested I have a Dexa scan – it’s rare to be offered one on the NHS. This was mainly due to the fact my mum had suffered terribly from osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis before she died at the age of 73.
A Dexa scan is a high-precision type of X-ray that measures your bone mineral density and bone loss. It takes 15-20 minutes, and you can be fully clothed. A light goes from your breast down to your hips and thigh and back again, then the results show straight away on a computer. If your bone density is lower than normal for your age, it indicates a risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures. The results showed I was in the ‘red zone’: I was told I had osteoporosis. For those of you who don’t know, osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bones to the point where they break easily – most often bones in the hip, spine and wrist. It’s called a ‘silent disease’ because you may not notice any changes until a bone breaks. It’s more common in women because we have smaller bones and lose oestrogen (which helps to protect bones) during menopause.
I kept hearing that oestrogen was good for your bones. I asked my GP about HRT and started using an oestrogen gel, which I applied to my thigh. I’ve also spent a lot of money over the years on an expensive cocktail of bone supplements, magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin D. I went all out because having the osteoporosis diagnosis put serious fear into me, having watched my mum’s decline. I wasn’t going to take this lightly. I’d thought I was healthy; I was fit, I felt great. I worried that my previous lifestyle and obscure diets over the years had not helped my bones. In a way I’m grateful for my fall, because without it I would have had no idea about the potential risks to my health. I now know that osteoporosis is polygenic, meaning there are many factors involved, but a big one is that it is genetic.
My mum was a tall, slight woman, naturally ‘twiggy’. My dad and I watched her waste away as osteoporosis got her in its grip. She had fractures in her lower spine and right heel, and she became bed-bound, suffered urinary tract infections and finally dementia. I’m an only child and seeing her decline was the longest two years of my life.
In 2018 I had a second Dexa scan and I found out that I was now on the border of osteoporosis known as osteopenia, still in the ‘amber zone’ but the process had essentially started to go into reverse.
After researching, networking and campaigning for menopause awareness, I was invited to a Royal Osteoporosis Society gala dinner and sat next to Michael Smith – a man on a mission to prevent osteoporosis with help of body vibration. He is now the managing director of LiV MD, which launched Marodyne LiV, a therapeutic device that applies precise low-intensity vibrations to the body to increase bone density. The technology came from Nasa and was used by astronauts, so of course I wanted to give it a try. It’s like a set of weighing scales that vibrate and it really helps to strengthen your bones. I was given a machine and now use it for 10 minutes every day. It’s part of my daily routine along with load-bearing exercise, eating well and HRT.
In 2019 I had a third Dexa scan. I was in the ‘amber/green zone’. I felt the biggest sense of relief; I couldn’t believe it. It was amazing news: all my hard work was paying off.
As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, there are an estimated 13 million perimenopausal and post-menopausal women women in the UK. The NHS spends an estimated £6 million a day on hip fractures alone, and many of these can be prevented. You won’t know you have osteoporosis until you fracture or break a bone. But knowledge is power – we get given regular information about mammograms and smear tests but nothing about our bones… Why is this? Our skeleton holds everything together, it's vital that we have the knowledge to know how to protect it and how to prevent osteoporosis. There are more than 300,000 fractures every year in the UK due to osteoporosis. About one in two women and one in five men over 50 will break a bone (fracture) because of osteoporosis so it is important to keep our bones healthy. If you are 50 years old or over and have a family history of osteoporosis or if one of your parents has broken a hip, my advice is to request a Dexa scan.
Having had osteoporosis I know how important my bone health is. Some days I might not feel like exercising, but I know if I work out by lifting weights my body will thank me for it. I’m lucky and have an incredible personal trainer @aimfitincornwall at my gym in Cornwall who helps keep me motivated, but there are lots of exercise classes available for free online like @richie.swan, which saved me throughout lockdown, and Lucy Wyndham-Read on YouTube. Pilates, walking, dancing, elliptical training machines (cross-trainers), stair-climbing and gardening are also really good ways to work your bones.
Keep active and up your calcium intake. I eat so many leafy green vegetables, which are packed with calcium. I also take vitamin D supplements as this helps my bones to absorb calcium. The other way of getting vitamin D, of course, is through sunlight.
Research shows that both smoking and regularly drinking too much alcohol can lead to bone loss and increases risk of a broken bone. Smoking in any amount is bad for bones so if you smoke and drink try reducing your intake where possible. I stopped drinking years ago and my body is so happy I did.
Lastly, try to maintain a healthy body weight. As well as protecting your bones from too much weight and pressure, you also need to keep a healthy weight – rather than too slight – to protect our bones as we age. If you’re malnourished, you may not be eating enough nutrients that help build healthy bones.
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