Forteo vs. Tymlos: Which did you choose?

Did anyone use the Tymlos Educator from the Tymlos site (clinical educator network) to learn how to inject and if so, how was your experience?it looks like you can do through zoom. I vaguely remember someone saying they had done this. I will be starting soon and thought they may be more knowledgeable than my doctor’s office. I’m anxious about this.

Babs 10, if you make tooo much money to qualify for manufacturer discount, you might consider a vacation. Our spy in Equador reports that Forteo is readily avaliable for 100$ a pen in Columbia using your US prescription. There is an endocrinologist in Arizona who regularly sends his patient to Mexico for generic teriparatide 100$ a pen. I bought my first pens in Singapore for less than $100 each with the three pen discount. My second set of pens were generic (Alvogen, formerly bonify) 789$ a piece with Gold RX . https://www.goodrx.com/teriparatide
I would be asking for an MRI w and w/o contrast of the femur from the knee to include the ball joint. While the focus is on the (minor, would be major if one or the other were neither osteopenic nor osteoporotic) anomaly between the hip and the spine. I'm more intrigued with the difference between the low femur and upper femur ( dxa doesn' t actually measure the pelvic bone), especially in light of your dear mom's femur fracture. Do you know where on the femur her fracture was.
Sometimes I think about something a long while before I realize that I don't have enough information. Your brain may be bombarded with too much general information and not quite enough information specific to your particular situation, which can be confounding.
I would like to see the video, but I don't want you to struggle to find it. Thanks

@gently, I found the video and posted it in some thread! LOL. If I see it, I'll let you know.

I don't know exactly where my mom's fracture was.

I can't qualify for the manufacturer discount, but probably can't afford a trip to Columbia either. I may try to hold off until 2025 when the cap is $2000, not $8000. We'll see.

I'll see my MD on June 5th and can ask about the MRI. I asked him about having a blood test for clots and he said I didn't need that, but I don't think I'd consider Evenity without it. I have a lot to live for and a heart attack or stroke is not on my list!

Hi. I am the one who responded. I did receive instructions and demo on FaceTime (Zoom was also an option). It was very helpful, and the nurse educator was very informative and reassuring. Like others, I started at a lower dose, 4 clicks, (first one was April 12) and am now doing the full. 8 clicks.

Thanks so much for responding again! I am starting to bookmark posts. I have an appointment scheduled today. My Tymlos comes sometime today so may not have it in time for my appointment. I asked if I should reschedule but she mentioned many of the nurses will be off until Tuesday, I guess for Memorial Day, but she said that was ok go ahead with the appointment. She also said if I didn’t feel comfortable after this appointment I could make another one. For anyone considering this, they were responded the same day I filled out the information.

Did you inject yourself while on FaceTime? I will be starting at a lower dose too. Did you ramp up 1 click each week? So happy you are able to do the full dose!

I didn’t inject myself while on FaceTime, though I think that would have been an option. I started at 4, just felt a mild nausea and some dizziness (which passed fairly soon), and fatigue the next morning (have been doing injections early evening). I remembered reading it’s best to get up and get moving, which I did, and felt much better. The third day, I increased by one click to 5, where I stayed for 5 days (side effects seemed to fade after 5 days). Then increased to 6, where I think I stayed another 5 days (I think). When I increased to 7, I felt stronger side effects (gastrointestinal), but they also decreased over a week or two. I ended up stayed on that amount longer because I came down with a virus and wanted to feel good when I increased to 8, which I did last week. Felt very small difference from the 7 clicks after being at that dose nearly 3 weeks, I think. Holding steady at 8, and am grateful for that and for this forum. Remembering what others had written and the encouragement they offer has helped me a lot. Hope this isn’t too much detail. Nice to pass along some info and any encouragement when appropriate after receiving so much from others here.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It helps so much and is so appreciated. I’m so glad you went into detail as so many of us are wondering how people are ramping up. Yay on getting to full dose!

My appointment with the Tymlos nurse was good. She gave me her number and said I could call if I had questions. She will also be checking in with me at some point. I’m going to start the med Friday night and will try doing early evening and move around a bit. The nurse mentioned drinking a full glass of water before doing and stopping calcium a couple hours before injection. Has anyone heard this?

@bluebonnet242 Tymlos temporarily raises calcium so I didn't take calcium beforehand for a long time. Weirdly my side effects improved a little when I changed to calcium an hour before. I have no idea why.

The water helps raise blood pressure I believe.

I hadn’t heard about the calcium, but have been taking it an hour or two afterwards because that’s when I regularly take it. Yes, about drinking water. I forgot to include in my previous reply that I find I need to drink more water since starting Tymlos and feel better when I drink more throughout the day and evening (though trying not to drink too soon before bedtime so I don’t have to get up more than once during the night…).

I guess I’ll try it both ways. I normally space my calcium out and last dose is with dinner. Thanks for letting me know. I have never had high calcium.