Hello! I am new to this board, and am hoping some of you good people might have some similar experiences to that of my mother, who is 88.
Mama has osteoarthritis (as well as osteoporosis, please read on!) badly, and for this reason has been lap-swimming for over 40 years. She only stopped swimming a couple of years ago. She has also been doing weight-lifting with her legs, lying on her back, or sitting in a chair, at home. She is 1000% diligent with her exercise! But swimming is not weight-bearing. She has a whole lot of difficulty with walking and uses a walker.
Is this sort of weight-lifting considered "weight bearing" -- if so, to what extent? Has she basically MISSED entirely, all weight bearing exercise for the past 40 odd years?
She also has osteoporosis.
Last week, she developed SEVERE pain in her lower back. You have to understand Mother, to understand how truly severe this pain is for her. Mama never, ever complains. She smiles and is cheerful all the time. I'm sure she must have been in pain all the time, prior to this latest, but you'd never know.
Well, with this latest, she grimaces, and groans, and says, "OW!" when she changes position, or tries to get up or down from her chair, or in or out of bed. Hey, this is really awful for my mother, everyone. Nobody has EVER seen her like this.
Other than changing position, she isn't complaining. But I know she is worried.
She says she has had this pain for 6 weeks, but it only got this bad the last few days of last week. None of her three "kids" (i.e. us, in our 50s and 60s!) would have ever found out, except that her sweet helper, a dear woman who has worked for Mama for 7 years, called my sister Amy and told her, last Thursday.
My sis took her to the doc to have her back X-rayed, on Friday. The doc also said Mother has "sigNIFFicant" osteoporosis. That is, he emphasized "significant" in some significant way. He did not give any numbers, though Amy asked him for some.
We have had someone with her, now, 24 hours per day, since Thursday night. I was there over the weekend, and my brother has driven up now.
She will be moving into Respite on this coming Thursday, then to Assisted Care, when the doc says it's okay. She will be selling her house -- that is, we'll be helping out on that end. She seems to have a sense of relief about that. She loves the place she's moving to, as she's been there before, and knows all about it.
Today the doc said there are signs in the X-ray of earlier hairline fractures in her spine.
Mother is feeling better, because she has 3 special anesthetic patches on her back, now, 12 hours per day. Also this wonderful heat pack with an elastic belt, which she got at Wallgreen's. It lasts for 2 1/2 hours. Heats in the microwave for 2 min. 30 sec. Wow. What a great piece of gear. She says that's the best thing she has. She is also taking Vicodin and a muscle relaxant. But if she does not keep taking the Vicodin, the major pain comes right back. She says the major pain,on a scale of 1-10, is about an 8, and the pain medication reduces it to a 7.
My questions are:
1. Could hairline fractures, or anything else related to osteoporosis be causing this major pain?
2. How can osteoporosis pain -- if that is what it is -- be controlled? Or will she have to live with this for the rest of her life?
3. Could this be life-threatening for her? The pain, I mean? I worry about this aspect, too. I don't think I could stand to live with a pain level of 7 and all that other discomfort of changing the patches and the hot pack all day long, that's if it was me. But Mother is very adaptable.
(I do realize we don't have all the info yet, from the doc. And she also plans to see an orthopedist, as her pcp is an Internist.)
Thank you for any help.
Mother has terrible back pain, and "significant" osteo -- need advice, please
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