Where was the advice after my bone diagnosis?

ADVICE: Julie wants more help for other sufferers

- By Jaymi McCann

WHEN Julie Kaine was diagnosed with osteoporosis it “knocked the stuffing out of her”.

She had been struggling with back pain after working in her beloved garden — but despite taking medication the agony continued.

After speaking to her GP, she was reluctantly referred for an MRI and DEXA scan in October 2020.

Two weeks later she found out that not only did she have the bone-weakening disease, but she had been living with two back fractures.

"I was completely taken aback," Julie, now 68, said of the moment she found out. "When the doctor told me the results of the MRI, using words like spinal fractures and compression and bulging discs and phrases I'd never heard of, it took the wind out of my sails completely.

"I felt really alone,

I knew no one with osteoporosis, and I was told to keep taking painkillers and some weekly medications, but that was basically it. I decided knowledge was power. I had to advocate for myself."