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Paget’s disease of bone: the symptoms, who gets it, getting a diagnosis, treatment, and living with it
For anyone with bone pain that will not go away, anyone whose x-ray or blood test pointed to Paget’s disease, and anyone just told they have it. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) says Paget’s disease of bone is a chronic (long-lasting) disorder that causes bones to grow larger and become weaker than normal. It usually affects just one or a few bones, most often the spine, pelvis, leg bones and skull; many people with it have no symptoms; and it does not spread to normal bones. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: the symptoms and what can follow, who gets it and the causes, the tests and who treats it, medicines by kind, surgery for complications, diet and exercise, and how to prevent falls. It builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
Right now
- After a fall, a bone may be broken (it looks out of shape, you cannot put weight on it, or the pain is severe): go to an emergency room now (ours). NIAMS says the bone changes of Paget’s disease can cause broken bones.
- After a fall or an injury, someone cannot move or feel their legs: call 911, and do not move them unless they are in danger (ours).
- New trouble controlling your bladder or bowels, or numbness or weakness in your legs that comes on fast or gets worse quickly: go to an emergency room now, or call 911 (ours). NIAMS says enlarged bones in the spine can press on the spinal cord or nerves.
- Chest pain or trouble breathing: call 911 (ours).
More help
- Related: Osteoporosis · Arthritis · Spinal stenosis · Hearing loss · Getting older · Pain, bones and joints.
- Day to day: Symptom diary · Medicines list · Pain that lasts · Quit smoking · Depression.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · When medicine costs too much · Get ready for the appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIAMS’s Paget’s Disease of Bone page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed September 2022), and on its shorter Spanish twin, Enfermedad ósea de Paget (September 2022). Ours: going to an emergency room now after a fall when a bone may be broken; calling 911 when someone cannot move or feel their legs after a fall or injury, and not moving them unless they are in danger; going to an emergency room now, or calling 911, for new trouble controlling the bladder or bowels, or legs that go weak or numb fast; calling 911 for chest pain or trouble breathing; getting care right away for hearing that drops suddenly; writing down which bones hurt and what has changed; keeping a list of every medicine, calcium and vitamin D included; asking what a test, treatment or surgery would change, its risks and what it costs; 988; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any medicine’s brand or dose, NIAMS’s calcium and vitamin D chart (it is on NIAMS’s page, linked here), any supplement, device, remedy or product, and NIAMS’s research pages. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.