@pargeo47
Thanks for your response. How great that your doctor is on top of this and has you taking Fosamax early on to avoid getting osteoporosis. I only wish someone had told us! Some doctors leave me scratching my head at times, especially the first rheumatologist we had. She didn't even believe me when I told her I thought he had GCA. He was so sick that I had to insist on the biopsy, hoping and praying I wasn't putting my husband through that for nothing. Turns out it was severe and so disappointing. She never once mentioned the bone issues with taking prednisone. I would have been all over it had I known. Ugh! Now it's too late for Fosamax as a starting drug and we're looking at Forteo. His new endocrinologist is on it now and seems very knowledgeable. Once we get some results back we'll know if he can take it. If yes, he'll be on it for a couple years followed by a couple years on Fosimax.

Thanks for the info on calcium - no one told us about the Caltrate Plus either. Nice to know it won't cause kidney stones. Since he's getting 1200 mg in his diet, do you think he should also be taking the Caltrate Plus? How many mg are you taking in the morning and the evening?

I'm going to be sure that he's being tested for magnesium levels. They are routinely testing sediment and CRP. That is fortunate you haven't needed higher doses of prednisone. He's been on such high doses and unless I had noticed the compression fracture that showed up since last May, we would still not be addressing osteoporosis with his lumbar t-score being -3.4. Which is really bad.

Thanks again for the info.