JEDDAH, 7 June — Dr. Nadia N. Ghannam is a Saudi doctor with a remarkable difference. She spearheads an education campaign on osteoporosis every year. Come May and she has her pamphlets and other forms of campaign material ready on the disease that literally means "porous bones."
In an interview with Arab News she emphasizes: "Osteoporosis is a hidden and silent disease that makes bones so thin and fragile that every day actions like sneezing or lifting a child can cause bones to break. This is a disease that one can contract irrespective of age, color or race. At its worst, osteoporosis can result in chronic pain, disability, physical deformity and loss of independence."
According to her, women with advanced osteoporosis say that this is the disease that overnight makes them feel frail and vulnerable. The pain and disability and even the fear of more fractures, cause them to change the way they live. To protect their bones, these women redefine themselves and their lives. Their world becomes smaller and smaller until they are unable to care for their families, have to give up careers and often can no longer enjoy many of life’s pleasures.
And the message she gives to every woman coming to her is: "You probably think like most people that osteoporosis is an inevitable part of growing older. But this is not true. The bone disease is preventable and treatable, particularly at menopause."
And she hastens to add: "I distributed literature on osteoporosis to 800 people myself during this year’s osteoporosis week. Although it was observed in the second week of May like every year, for me it began on the first day of the month and lasted until the last day of the month like in the previous years."
Women coming to her give a patient hearing to what she says. "In the years before menopause estrogen levels can vary, causing irregular menstrual periods. Some bone loss may occur at this time. In the years following menopause, estrogen production ceases. This results in even great bone loss. Women who begin menopause with low bone mass, or who have rapid or severe bone loss after menopause, are more likely to develop osteoporosis. Bone mass is the calcium-rich material that makes bones strong. And there are tests that can detect low bone mass."
Her message to women approaching menopause is: "Menopause is a good time for you to take steps to protect your bone health so you can live a full and independent life well into the future. Remember, the time to find out all about osteoporosis is before your bones begin to break."
At the same time she has a comforting word for women. Osteoporosis is not an inevitable part of menopause — or of aging. A woman’s risk of developing an osteoporosis-related hip fracture is equal to her combined risks of developing breast, uterine and ovarian cancer. She tells women to make choices for a healthy future. Each woman experiences menopause differently, but all women at menopause face choices that will make a difference for their future health and well-being. So every woman should try to be informed about health concerns that are linked to decreased estrogen levels, especially osteoporosis and heart disease; Eat a health diet rich in calcium; A good calcium source is milk so children especially should be given at least three glasses of milk daily; exercise regularly; avoid smoking and drinking; consult a health care professional about specific steps to be taken to ensure a healthy future.
She makes an appeal for joining the National Osteoporosis Foundation, headquartered in Washington. "You can thus be informed and learn how you can make the right choices for a ‘bone healthy’ future," says Nadia, a mother of three sons.
A glaring positive approach she adopts is to educate the patient. She believes that treatment of patients becomes more convincing and rewarding when they are told about what exactly the problem is and how easy it becomes for them to tackle it through information and knowledge.
This has been her approach ever since she chose to take up medicine as a career. "Whether educated or not, everyone needs to be given information on what their problems are and how they could have avoided through precautionary measures and what they need to do to avoid further complications," she says.
When she graduated from King Abdul Aziz University’s Medical College in 1981, Jeddah-born Nadia was yet to decide the field of her specialization. But by the time she went to Canada in 1985 for higher studies, she had made up her mind. She opted for internal medicine and endocrinology. Why? "Because that is the best way to serve humanity, especially women."
She explains: "Many people, especially women, silently suffer from diseases that are dormant but about which they have no symptoms or knowledge. Realization of health problems come when they start surfacing one way or the other. I chose endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes at the end of my higher studies in Canada and completed my training program there. My aim was to educate people on health problems that are common and rare."
She became a consultant at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center in Riyadh toward the end of 1990. There she found she was the lone female among 40 endocrinologists. So she came back to the city of her birth, where she has been practicing in her own clinic at Al-Badriyah Medical Tower, Prince Abdullah Street, for over five years. "This has really helped me in pursuing my mission of educating the ignorant and even the so-called educated people, especially women, on health care," she says.
As part of the osteoporosis week, she gave a presentation to members of the Society for Environment, Architecture and Technology (SEAT) at the Saudi German Hospital Auditorium. On behalf of SEAT, General Secretary Zahyr Siddiqi and Joint Secretary Dr. Iqbal Musani made opening remarks, Vice President Salahuddin presided the program coordinated by Fairy Siddiqi. Anjana Mohsin proposed vote of thanks.
