Pagets Disease

Symptoms of Paget's disease of bone include bone pain, joint pain and problems caused by a nerve being squashed or damaged.

But in many cases, there are no obvious symptoms and the condition is only found during tests carried out for another reason.

One or several bones may be affected. Commonly affected areas include the:

• pelvis
• spine
• skull
• shoulders
• legs

), which cancause:

• Joint pain
• joint stiffness
• swollen joints

The symptomsare usually worse when you wake up andimprove a bit as you start to move.

Nerve problems

Abnormal bone growth can result in bonesquashing (compressing) or damaging a nearbynerve.

Possible signs of this can include:

• pain travelling from the spine down into your legs (sciatica)
• pain travelling from your neck into your arms and chest
• numbness or tingling in the affected limbs (peripheral neuropathy)
• partial loss of movement in your limbs
• balance problems
• loss of bowel control or loss of bladder control

Other problems

Paget's disease of bone can also cause a range of other problems, including:

• fragile bones that are more likely to break
• deformities in affected bones, such as curved legs (bow legs) ora curved spine (scoliosis)
• hearing loss , headaches , vertigo (a spinning sensation) and tinnitus (a noise in your ears) thesemay occur ifthe skull is affected
• too muchcalcium in the blood
• heart problems

.

When to see your GP

Seeyour GP if you have:

• persistent bone or joint pain
• deformities in any of your bones
• symptoms of a nerve problem, such as numbness, tingling or loss of movement

Your GP can organise tests to check your bones and look for problems such as Paget's disease of bone.

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