1. < Osteoporosis & Bone Health

Is a dexa every 2 years enough?

Posted by hopefulheart @hopefulheart, May 21 4:16pm

My doctor suggested that a Dexa scan every 2 years is what he uses to monitor Evinity then followed by reclast
I asked about blood turnover markers to see if meds are working along the way
He said he doesn’t use those
Time for a new doctor????

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

njhornung | @normahorn | Nov 4 11:25am

If you are immunocompromised, you may want to think twice before taking prolia.

"Does Prolia weaken your immune system?
Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Feb 9, 2024.

Official answer
by Drugs.com
Yes, Prolia (denosumab) does appear to weaken your immune system. Research has shown people who take Prolia are at an increased risk of serious infections leading to hospitalizations, including serious infections of the skin, abdominal, urinary tract, and ear. There is also a higher chance of developing endocarditis (an infection of the heart’s inner lining, usually involving the heart valves) in those who take Prolia, and those with advanced kidney disease have an increased risk of severe, life-threatening, low calcium levels (hypocalcemia) developing, particularly if they have a metabolic condition called chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD). For some side effects, people administered concomitant immunosuppressant agents (such as prednisone or cyclosporine) or with impaired immune systems may be at an even higher risk."

REPLY
susanjane77 | @susanjane77 | Nov 4 2:54pm
In reply to @awfultruth "@susanjane77 Hi. Before commenting on Prolia I want to say that generally you don't want to..." + (show)
@awfultruth

@susanjane77 Hi. Before commenting on Prolia I want to say that generally you don't want to be on Reclast 6 years consecutively. That's too long to have heavy duty bone suppression. I don't know your details and all your DXA scores and how that's trending and so on but I personally would be thinking of taking an anabolic (bone building) med after all those years of bone suppression. My idea and hope is that a bone builder following a bone suppressive med may at least somewhat restore the architecture and bone quality that will have declined with long term bone suppressive meds.

On Prolia, lots of people have good results and few or no side effects with Prolia. The biggest problem comes with how to stop Prolia if you need to stop taking it. The longer you take it the greater the danger stopping it. When you stop you lose all the bone you gained while taking it and the loss occurs rapidly. That will happen to everyone unless they take some other med to stop that loss and even a follow up drug may not stop that loss.

But worse than that is that some people get multiple fractures on stopping. So they don't just lose the bone they gained, they start fracturing and may fracture many times. I don't know what percentage of people this happens to, I wish I did. I've seen on these groups people saying they got 2-10 fractures within a year or two of stopping Prolia. This happens most often when doctors are or were unaware of this problem.
So Prolia works great for many people but some of us think this is a drug that is a reasonable choice only quite late in life. When you don't expect to live more that 6-10 years say.
That's a very quick run down of the worst issues. Others will have different opinions to consider.
I have no medical training - I'm just a guy trying to turn my own bone loss around.

Jump to this post

Thank you for your thoughtful note. Just met with my endo today and we have decided to start me on Prolia after being on Reclast for several years. I was informed that i will be on Prolia for the rest of my life. So be it. Lets just hope it starts to build stronger bones.

Good luck turning your bone loss into building strongers bones and no fractures! I have been fortunate having no fractures and hope to keep it that way.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Appreciate it!

REPLY
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.