A 34-year-old woman developed rare bone fractures from breastfeeding. She had to use a walker, and the sneezing caused the “oldest pain” of her life.

• The 35 -year Ultima Espino develops symptoms of osteoporosis after birth.

• She had numerous unexplained bone fractures and began to use a walker.

• It is diagnosed with pregnancy and lactation -related osteoporosis, a rare form of the disease.

Less than six months after the birth of his second son, Ultima Espino used a walker.

35-year-old Espino remembers the first impetus of her back pain three months after birth, when he lifted his three-year-old son from the car. She thought she was pinched.

“I had the feeling that I was pulling a muscle so much that every hour of every day that the pain was combined,” Espino told Business Insider.

It was not until months later – after going through many doctors, she learned that there were actually many bone fractures in her spine, a rare syndrome caused by breastfeeding.

Espino was confused. She was very active during her two pregnancies, visiting the classes on a greenhouse. She developed her entire first pregnancy – her water broke as she exercised – but she had to stop during her second, when she felt some pain in the joints two months before the date of expiration.

“I just put it on,” Most women don’t work so far in pregnancy, “she said. After giving birth, Espino felt well until the incident on the back. Within months, the pain became so intense that it began to wear a spine, recommended by an intervention physician and doctor to manage pain. After all, when she struggled to walk, her husband offered to buy a walker.

The reason was osteoporosis, a disease most related to women after menopause.

Excruciating pain without answers

Initially, Espino, who works as a senior director of sports partnerships at Orlando Health, thought there was a common sport and postpartum problem: a weakened nucleus. She booked a meeting with a physical therapist at the pelvic floor.

By the time I saw the PT, her pain was much more severe. “I couldn’t put on my pants without crying,” she said. PT reiterated that her pain was not associated with her nucleus. “They are like,” You belong somewhere else, “Espino said.” It’s definitely not here. “

Her pain accelerated for months, without clear answers. She could not put her newborn, without first having to rest her forearms on both sides of the Bassinet. She also couldn’t do it without “crying with pain.”

Putting the car seat and outside the car was even more challenging. Once, when she tried to take off the car seat with her baby still in him, she felt the pain again and the seat began to fall. Dad ran to catch the car seat on time.

Then Espino began to realize that there were more problems besides pulled muscle or pinched back. Her husband, concerned about her pain, offered to take her a walker for now. After doing so, it helped her reach from one end of the house to the other “without feeling as if I would break.”

The real call call came one morning when Espino was already experiencing a lot of pain. She was helping her bigger son dress for school. Suddenly, she felt a sneeze coming.

“My whole body knew it wouldn’t go well,” she said.

The pain was the “out of the park”, the worst he was experiencing in his life, more excellent than the long hours of birth. “I felt my spine split,” she said.

Moment to diagnose ‘aha’

Espino was taken to the Orlando Health Jewel Orthopedic Institute and received an MRI. Learn that there are four compression fractures in your spine.

It was immediately sent for testing, from calcium analysis to ultrasounds. DEXA scanning, which measures muscle and bone mass, finally confirmed that there was osteoporosis – though it was not yet clear how or why.

We talked to one of Espino’s doctors: DR Christin Jablonski, who specializes in bone health and orthopedics at Orlando Health. She suspected that Espino, whose mother was also diagnosed with osteoporosis at a young age of Jablonski, could have a rare form of osteoporosis associated with lactation. In both pregnancies, Espino had overproduction of milk, which could lead to loss of calcium. When the body cannot recover from overproduction, it can lead to osteoporosis.

“It’s not very often and I hadn’t seen it before, but I suspected that this was the reason for the ultimate condition,” Jablonski told Business Insider.

At that time, Jablonski simply happened to attend the annual interdisciplinary symposium on osteoporosis in Washington, Colombia County when one of the speakers made a pregnancy conversation and lactation osteoporosis (PLO). After the presentation, she rushed to the speaker and shared the symptoms of Espino. He confirmed that it sounds like Plo.

From there, she was able to collect what probably happened: Espino was genetically predisposed to develop osteoporosis. Since she had two pregnancies close to each other – at 30 and 33 – and had overproduction of milk, she created a “perfect storm” for the development of osteoporosis, Espino said.

Parenting

Espino was instructed to stop breastfeeding his son to limit the loss of calcium. It was emotionally difficult to follow: her first son did not come home, and she loved the relationship she felt breastfeeding her second. She was also discouraged to become pregnant again, as this could exacerbate her osteoporosis.

“We were planning to end two, but to tell us, in the midst of the pain that you probably shouldn’t wear another baby and stop breastfeeding, it was super difficult,” she said.

In the last year, Espino has been injected with bone growth and takes calcium supplements. Within the first six months of treatment, bone density increases by 15% and one of its compression fractures is healed. Although her pain became less constant, she does not have a hard schedule when she will be painless.

However, she has seen little improvements in her quality of life. She can hold her one -year -old and descend to the floor to play with her four -year -old son.

In the end, she is glad she sought medical attention and wants more mothers to do the same, even if her condition is very rare. “Especially as mothers, we really just accept everything and say,” We know that these years will be difficult, “she said.” If Mom doesn’t take care of herself, no one else can. “

Read the original Business Insider article