| Imperceptible symptoms: |
|
|
"It didn’t cause any pain. There was nothing that told me I had osteoporosis." (W20, age 72).–"(If you think of osteoporosis, what are the first words that come to mind?) Painless."–"You don’t feel it."–"You can’t see it." (Focus group, age 50 to 69). |
| Indirect symptoms of osteoporosis associated with fractures: |
|
| - Fatigue |
"Sometimes I’m so tired that I go to bed and I can sleep during the day, because of the pain (from osteoporosis)." (W11, age 64). |
| - Pain |
"I don’t think [osteoporosis] is painful; it’s the consequences that are." (W8, age 66). |
| - Curved spine |
"Because of the compression of the vertebrae, you hunch over more and more and you can’t straighten up." (W6, age 70). |
| Symptoms viewed as nonspecific, indistinguishable from signs of aging or other illnesses: |
|
| - Pain |
"I’m in pain; it hurts all over, all the time. Is it arthritis, is it osteoporosis? I don’t know." (W34, age 60). |
| - Fracture |
"I think anybody can have a fracture. I wound up stepping into a 5-cm hole. I twisted my foot and hit it here on the asphalt… I think you could fracture something the same way without osteoporosis." (W12, age 68).–"If you fall, even if you don’t have fragile bones, you can break something, no? It depends on how you fall, that’s all." (W3, age 79).–"It seemed normal to break my femur neck after a certain age." (Focus group, age 50 to 69). |
| - Loss of height |
"In any case, over time, there’s always a sort of compression, whether you like it or not.” (W3, age 79)–"I lost two centimetres. I was 1m65 tall; I’m not 1m65 anymore, but I think that’s normal. After a while, everybody loses a bit (of height)." (W34, age 60). |
