1. < Osteoporosis & Bone Health

Forteo vs. Tymlos: Which did you choose?

Posted by suze317 @suze317, Oct 17, 2018

I have to make a decision on Forteo vs. Tymlos and am not sure what to choose. Forteo has been around a lot longer, but has to be refrigerated. Tymlos only around 1 1/2 years but is shelf stable and seems to have less side effects and less issues with calcium. Can anyone offer their perspective? Thank you!

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fili123 | @fili123 | Aug 25 2:25pm
In reply to @gently "Babs 10, if you make tooo much money to qualify for manufacturer discount, you might consider..." + (show)
@gently

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

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I’m traveling to Singapore this autum. Do you require a Rx for the Tymolos?

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gently | @gently | Aug 25 7:01pm

@ fili23,
I was headed for NUS the hospital associated with Duke, but Raffles was close to where I was staying, so I dropped in. They took an avid interest and set me up for all the testing the following day. They seemed quite surprised that I would ask for Forteo without having had a fractured hip.
They weren't at all interested in my prescription. The following day everything was coordinated and fast. I left with two Forteo pens for 100$ each. I'd have gotten a third, except they only had two. I paid less than 100 for the blood draw and the dxa. https://www.rafflesmedicalgroup.com/services/specialist-centres/diabetes-endocrine/
I didn't try to call ahead
I hope you have a wonderful trip.

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alicevondall | @alicevondall | Aug 28 6:38pm
In reply to @leacy "I’m 59, with osteoporosis, primarily in my spine, 3.4 t-score in spots. I’ll begin a daily..." + (show)
@leacy

I’m 59, with osteoporosis, primarily in my spine, 3.4 t-score in spots. I’ll begin a daily injectable soon, it’s called Tymlos. If I understand correctly, it’s the newest version of daily injectable. Does anyone have any experience with this med? The results for other daily injectables sound good. Side effects?

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I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It seems to be getting worse as time goes on, instead of better. Anyone else experiencing
this or know how long it may last?

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3 replies
windyshores | @windyshores | Aug 28 8:50pm
In reply to @alicevondall "I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It..." + (show)
@alicevondall

I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It seems to be getting worse as time goes on, instead of better. Anyone else experiencing
this or know how long it may last?

Jump to this post

I did experience fatigue, but my body adjusted to it over time. Some of us reduce the dose early on (to two rather than eight "clicks" on the pen) and move up slowly to a higher level I ended up with 7/8 dose and had excellent gains). I also found that if I got up and out or even went for a walk or tai chi, it seemed to help the fatigue paradoxically. But everyone is different.

Have you checked your blood pressure? Tymlos can lower it for a few hours. It helps to hydrate and even eat some salty crackers before hand. I had a home blood pressure cuff to check on bp.

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1 reply
alicevondall | @alicevondall | Aug 29 7:33am
In reply to @windyshores "I did experience fatigue, but my body adjusted to it over time. Some of us reduce..." + (show)
@windyshores

I did experience fatigue, but my body adjusted to it over time. Some of us reduce the dose early on (to two rather than eight "clicks" on the pen) and move up slowly to a higher level I ended up with 7/8 dose and had excellent gains). I also found that if I got up and out or even went for a walk or tai chi, it seemed to help the fatigue paradoxically. But everyone is different.

Have you checked your blood pressure? Tymlos can lower it for a few hours. It helps to hydrate and even eat some salty crackers before hand. I had a home blood pressure cuff to check on bp.

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Thank you for your response! I take it at 10pm, in hopes I sleep off side effects. Walking does seem to help which I do in the AM so I am good in the morning but by 1 pm I am very tired and the rest of the day is a struggle. I do have a blood pressure cuff and that is good but before Tymlos I had an incident of it dropping to 53/33. I will talk to my Dr about a smaller dose. Thank you for you quick response!

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babbsjoy | @babbsjoy | Aug 29 8:43am
In reply to @alicevondall "I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It..." + (show)
@alicevondall

I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It seems to be getting worse as time goes on, instead of better. Anyone else experiencing
this or know how long it may last?

Jump to this post

@alicevondall
I don’t know if this will help. I, too, am new to Tymlos. I have been drinking about 1/2 to 1 cup of zero sugar Gatorade before I inject at night. When I lay down for the night, I do feel a weird pressure feeling in my forehead and around my eyes, but it goes away within an hour.

The one night I did not drink the Gatorade, the next day I felt nauseous , tired, light headed and ended up resting most of the day. Not sure if one has anything to do with the other, but I have been careful to drink the Gatorade every night since, and no more problems…..

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dmshope | @dmshope | Aug 29 10:44am
In reply to @alicevondall "I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It..." + (show)
@alicevondall

I am 3 wks. injecting Tymlos and I am so tired, I can hardly function. It seems to be getting worse as time goes on, instead of better. Anyone else experiencing
this or know how long it may last?

Jump to this post

Yes - but take heart. I had extreme fatiguqe so much so that takign the cereal spoon to my mouth took effort... I almost couldnt talk - I could not sing at church.
I started tymlos at 1/2 dose and it was way to intenese for my body. Fatque. weakness heart palpitations. I restarted at 2 clicks and begain taking cocunut water for the heart pounding; 3-4 cups throughout the day.
I dosed up 1 1/2- 2 weeks at each click - very gradual. I continued on the coconut water. It took 3 months to get to 8 clicks but now I am ok with only occassional weakness and heart issues. I needed cocunut water for 6 months. Everyone is diiferent and some people on this site only made it to 6 clicks... Keep going and figure our how to make it work. Stay positive - Its a good medicine. Sending postive eenrgy for a successful acclimation and healing

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1 reply
alicevondall | @alicevondall | Aug 29 12:04pm
In reply to @dmshope "Yes - but take heart. I had extreme fatiguqe so much so that takign the cereal..." + (show)
@dmshope

Yes - but take heart. I had extreme fatiguqe so much so that takign the cereal spoon to my mouth took effort... I almost couldnt talk - I could not sing at church.
I started tymlos at 1/2 dose and it was way to intenese for my body. Fatque. weakness heart palpitations. I restarted at 2 clicks and begain taking cocunut water for the heart pounding; 3-4 cups throughout the day.
I dosed up 1 1/2- 2 weeks at each click - very gradual. I continued on the coconut water. It took 3 months to get to 8 clicks but now I am ok with only occassional weakness and heart issues. I needed cocunut water for 6 months. Everyone is diiferent and some people on this site only made it to 6 clicks... Keep going and figure our how to make it work. Stay positive - Its a good medicine. Sending postive eenrgy for a successful acclimation and healing

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Thank you! I almost fell asleep at a meeting, so I understand that fatigue of lifting a spoon. I laid my pjs out for bed and woke up in my shirt. I am going to call my Dr today and ask about scaling back. I do have a fracture at T11 so I may need the full dose, but I will be asking this AM.
Thank you for your input-it helps alot

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1 reply
dmshope | @dmshope | Aug 29 1:36pm
In reply to @alicevondall "Thank you! I almost fell asleep at a meeting, so I understand that fatigue of lifting..." + (show)
@alicevondall

Thank you! I almost fell asleep at a meeting, so I understand that fatigue of lifting a spoon. I laid my pjs out for bed and woke up in my shirt. I am going to call my Dr today and ask about scaling back. I do have a fracture at T11 so I may need the full dose, but I will be asking this AM.
Thank you for your input-it helps alot

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I too had stress fractures ( feet) when I began tymlos and I had one 'minor' one about 2 months in. None since and that has been 18months. MAy your healing proceed smoothly.

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