Would like to know people's experience using Fosamax

Posted by dschiff @dschiff, Mar 30, 2016

Would like to know people's experience using Fosamax.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Osteoporosis & Bone Health Support Group.

Hello everyone. After 8 years of no drugs, after losing most of my hair (all over body) on forteo and then getting LERD on fosamax, I got a dexa scan and ofcourse am back in osteoporosis range. Hip is -3.7 I wasnt ready to do a long term injection so started weekly Fosamax. Last week was pill #2. 24 hours later, I became so incapacitated with pain in both knees and back, I could hardly get home. The previous night I had horrible spasms that woke me out of sleep all up my legs and back. I realized this was Fosamax! Weds is my 3rd pill. I hope I can last 6 months on it. I know some have no side effects but this happened to me. If anyone had similar, what did you do? I read this can last a long time-- scary.

REPLY

Hello: I was dx last February with osteoporosis at 73yr and put off medication until now.
After my 5th week on Fosamax my left knee started hurting, after 6th week it really hurts and now the right knee.
I have a call into my endocrinologist but plan on getting off fosamax. My hip T score is -2.8. I am taking vitamins and exercising every day but stopped jumping and heal drops because of pain in my calves. I am terrified of taking Reclast because it stays in your body a long time.

REPLY
@foxy23

Hello: I was dx last February with osteoporosis at 73yr and put off medication until now.
After my 5th week on Fosamax my left knee started hurting, after 6th week it really hurts and now the right knee.
I have a call into my endocrinologist but plan on getting off fosamax. My hip T score is -2.8. I am taking vitamins and exercising every day but stopped jumping and heal drops because of pain in my calves. I am terrified of taking Reclast because it stays in your body a long time.

Jump to this post

I wonder why they didn't start you on a bone builder first.

REPLY
@foxy23

Hello: I was dx last February with osteoporosis at 73yr and put off medication until now.
After my 5th week on Fosamax my left knee started hurting, after 6th week it really hurts and now the right knee.
I have a call into my endocrinologist but plan on getting off fosamax. My hip T score is -2.8. I am taking vitamins and exercising every day but stopped jumping and heal drops because of pain in my calves. I am terrified of taking Reclast because it stays in your body a long time.

Jump to this post

I had a lot of muscle and joint pain with Fosomax after taking Evenity which was pretty debilitating due to those same adverse reactions. I avoided Reclast for same reason you stated. But I am on Actonel and am doing well. A little achy but very tolerable.

REPLY
@foxy23

Hello: I was dx last February with osteoporosis at 73yr and put off medication until now.
After my 5th week on Fosamax my left knee started hurting, after 6th week it really hurts and now the right knee.
I have a call into my endocrinologist but plan on getting off fosamax. My hip T score is -2.8. I am taking vitamins and exercising every day but stopped jumping and heal drops because of pain in my calves. I am terrified of taking Reclast because it stays in your body a long time.

Jump to this post

For me, a hip score of -2.8 is a goal. Do you know if your 5 weeks helped? I understand your fear of a longer lasting injectible.

REPLY
@monica1234

I'm trying to find out as much about Fosamax as I can. I've had Osteoporosis for some yrs. now, no problems, but a new Dr. just prescribed this med. It's 70 mg., a once-a-week pill. Picked it up today. Read the insert...OMG, I freaked....the side-effects and warnings just about blew me away. I am supposed to have oral surgery...a complete bridge on the lower left side, which also includes an implant....I have no pain, though....so have put it off. I was told I needed this in Nov., 2023. They said approx. $15,000, minus what my ins. may cover...ugh. (let it go.....too close to Christmas....and maybe I don't need it, anyway?) But after I learned this can compromise the jaw bone...I was like, no way. Now I'M between a rock & a hard place. I take D3, Boron, Super K (K1, and 2 kinds of K2, which are in ea. vitamin), Magnesium and today I started taking Positive 'Super Silca', supposed to help with bone density, among other things...I just hope it helps! I suppose I should take calcium, as I don't get as much as I should through food. If anyone takes calcium, which kind do you take? I read that the 'citrate' is absorbed better, but is that true? Has anyone just refused to take a medicine like this (the Fosamax), where so many have had awful experiences with it? It really scares me. God....can't we get older and just have things easier lol? I guess getting old ain't for sissies?? Trying to do my best....I just don't really know what to do.....

Jump to this post

Can you complete your dental work before you start Fosamax? Ofcourse you can refuse to take anything you want, but inevitably your bones will worsen. That is what happened to me. The good thing about a once a week pill is you can stop that and be done. An infusion lasts for months.

REPLY

Yes and not on being done if one stops.

This is from pdr.net. Notice the half-life.

"Alendronate is administered orally. Transient distribution into soft tissue is rapidly followed by redistribution to bone or urinary excretion. Alendronate is approximately 78% bound to protein in human plasma. There is no evidence that any metabolism takes place. Once alendronate is bound to bone, the half-life is more than 10 years. Inhibition of bone resorption diminishes after completion of treatment, suggesting that not all the alendronate sequestered in bone is biologically active.
Bone resorption in individual remodeling units normally continues for approximately 2 weeks. Due to the long half-life of alendronate in the bone, weekly administration of alendronate should inhibit bone resorption and provide benefits on bone mass and strength to a similar extent as daily administration."

REPLY
@foxy23

Hello: I was dx last February with osteoporosis at 73yr and put off medication until now.
After my 5th week on Fosamax my left knee started hurting, after 6th week it really hurts and now the right knee.
I have a call into my endocrinologist but plan on getting off fosamax. My hip T score is -2.8. I am taking vitamins and exercising every day but stopped jumping and heal drops because of pain in my calves. I am terrified of taking Reclast because it stays in your body a long time.

Jump to this post

My Mum was on fosamax. She was the healthiest lady I knew aged 89! Running with the Grandies, walked for miles up hills, swam, and many voluntary jobs. She got extremely tired for about 3 months then had a wee stroke. Bloods weren’t good and she had to have bone marrow check. Hardly any Red cells! Leukaemia! We read up on fosamax and it wasn’t good. Kills bones!??? So maybe started that process of killing bone marrow?? Think it caused all this 😞

REPLY
@greenlilac

Hello everyone. After 8 years of no drugs, after losing most of my hair (all over body) on forteo and then getting LERD on fosamax, I got a dexa scan and ofcourse am back in osteoporosis range. Hip is -3.7 I wasnt ready to do a long term injection so started weekly Fosamax. Last week was pill #2. 24 hours later, I became so incapacitated with pain in both knees and back, I could hardly get home. The previous night I had horrible spasms that woke me out of sleep all up my legs and back. I realized this was Fosamax! Weds is my 3rd pill. I hope I can last 6 months on it. I know some have no side effects but this happened to me. If anyone had similar, what did you do? I read this can last a long time-- scary.

Jump to this post

I go to a holistic chiropractor who, as a child, was never taken to a physician_ She told me that Fosamax causes bones to be brittle so that if you fall, they actually shatter.

REPLY
@normahorn

Yes and not on being done if one stops.

This is from pdr.net. Notice the half-life.

"Alendronate is administered orally. Transient distribution into soft tissue is rapidly followed by redistribution to bone or urinary excretion. Alendronate is approximately 78% bound to protein in human plasma. There is no evidence that any metabolism takes place. Once alendronate is bound to bone, the half-life is more than 10 years. Inhibition of bone resorption diminishes after completion of treatment, suggesting that not all the alendronate sequestered in bone is biologically active.
Bone resorption in individual remodeling units normally continues for approximately 2 weeks. Due to the long half-life of alendronate in the bone, weekly administration of alendronate should inhibit bone resorption and provide benefits on bone mass and strength to a similar extent as daily administration."

Jump to this post

Yes, I've read it lasts forever so I wonder why we cant take it for a month and stop and then resume? Why it says to keep taking it for 5 years without pause? I want to give myself little breaks. These meds can be toxic

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.