How Can I Navigate Osteoporosis and Chronic Kidney Disease?

In the past 12 months, I have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis. I wasn’t really worried too much about the osteoporosis diagnosis. I’m not prone to falling, so I thought. Well, that was shortchanged, I have fallen up the stairs 5 times and fell down the stairs once. It was only 2 steps. One day I was just walking and fell. What the heck!!! It was only falling, but it was scary and got me thinking about what was to come.

Can CKD lead to changes in my bones?

For me, this stuff is for elderly people. I’m only 65. I spoke to my primary doctor who told me that CKD can lead to changes in the bones. Who knew that kidneys play a role in the calcium and phosphate levels in the body?

My bones have become weaker and can crack easily is what my doctor told me.  Now, I make sure I always wear shoes with good soles on them. No more high heels for me.  I didn’t have a clue that having CKD can change bone metabolism. This was information I got from my PCP.

I have asked my doctor to monitor me closely only because of other health issues. They are trying to avoid any additional damage to my kidneys. As we all know it’s important to talk to your doctor about a treatment plan. Make some lifestyle changes, such as adding in more exercise and maintaining a healthy weight. It is a good idea to research how to eat kidney-healthy foods. My doctor added vitamin D along with other medications that are safe for my kidneys.

Health concerns come up as we age

I have several chronic illnesses, so they almost have to do trial and error with me. Right now, I am having problems with side effects, but I know we will get over that hurdle too. We have all read that this illness can be reversed, but I'm not sure. I wonder if there is anything natural out there that we can do. At my age, I don’t want any fractures. But my doctor also said you can reverse some bone loss. We have all heard that eating right, getting fit, and living healthily are the ways to reverse a lot of things that are wrong in our bodies.

I think that a lot of things happen to us as we age, no matter how much we take care of our bodies. But we do better with a healthy body. We should encourage each other by sharing what we know about osteoporosis and chronic kidney disease. It never even dawned on me that these two things went together.

I do have bad days where I just want to give up, but I never will. There are days I feel like life is drifting by. Many of us have several chronic illnesses, so you understand when an illness can dictate our lives. We can’t make changes from one day to the next, but we do. Let’s keep our heads above water and keep moving forward. Our voices need to be heard. There are plenty of good days ahead, so let’s keep moving forward.  We are all in this together.