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Did your doctor test your BTMs (bone turnover markers) prior to starting you on osteo-meds?
I got my 81 y.o. aunt off Prolia almost 2 years ago (she’d had 4 doses). She went on alendronate and will stop taking the alendronate in April of this year, so after taking it for 2 years.
With a t-score of -2.7 and no fragility fractures, I wouldn’t be rushing to take anything. Do you have other risk factors? What are your other t-scores? On my 1st DEXA, in 2019, at age 50.5, my lumbar t-score was -3.9 and both hips were around -3.1. My endocrinologist prescribed bisphophonates, which I took and now regret—no bad side effects, yet, but after doing my own research I learned that bisphophonates weren’t right for me because I have low bone turnover, which my doctor should have known, or tested for, because I also have hypothyroidism, which he prescribes my levothyroxine for.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of doctors out there that do more harm than good.
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No, my doctor did not do any BTM tests prior to starting me on Prolia. I only found out about BTMs from my own research after 3 shots and when i asked my doctor, he said it was uncommon and he did not know any lab that does such blood work! Last week, i finally found another doctor who can order my BTM tests and i plan to do quarterly CTX tests starting from my 3rd month of Alendronate. Unfortunately, i will not have any base numbers to compare with. Without a knowledgeable doctor to interpret the numbers, i am trying to find out as much as i can online and learn from others who have been very helpful in forums such as this
So i would be very interested to know how you are managing your aunt's exit from Prolia. Other than putting her on weekly Alendronate for 2 years, are you doing regular (quarterly?) CTX and/or P1NP? What were her CTX numbers like if you can share? Did the CTX numbers remain low throughout the past year and a half or were there any spikes? Is there anything else you need to do or look out for during this "easing off Prolia" period?
My other TScores were Spine -1.3 and Total Hip -3.0. I do have Sjogren's but not sure if that would classify as a risk factor. Nontheless, if i knew what i know now, i would never have started on any osteo med but would have gone the natural route first. But what's done is done and i hope i can "reset" and undo any potential harm from the meds i have taken. It's unfortunate that i have to take one med, Alendronate just to prevent harm from another med, Prolia! Thus far, i have been getting achy feeling from my left knee, arm and lately, back. I pray they remain mild because i really do not want to go on Reclast and the only other option is Actonel which, from what i read, is not as effective in mitigating the rebound effect
Yes, i agree with you completely on your last statement. Unfortunately, we cannot just accept our doctor's advice and need to do our own due diligence