← Return to Prolia discontinuation

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Prolia discontinuation

Osteoporosis & Bone Health | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (206)

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@czauderer, the safest transition is Reclast--a bisphsponate. You were only on Prolia for a year, still you have the risk of rebound. I don't blame you for not wanting to transition to a bisphosphonate, but avoiding it could be a worse outcome. And there is a good chance that Reclast wouldn't even be bad.
So what happens you may already know is that while on Prolia the cells that breakdown the bones are held back in the last stages of development. When you stop Prolia all those acid producing cells are released upon your bones. Cascade fractures can result where the vertebra break compress one after the other. Fractured vertebra never heal in the prefracture configuration. You lose height and your spine bends forward. The new configuration is painful even after you heal and leads to other pain as the space where the nerves exit the spine becomes more and more narrow.
Maybe, consider the single injection of Reclast.
Whatever you decide, may you never fracture.

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Replies to "@czauderer, the safest transition is Reclast--a bisphsponate. You were only on Prolia for a year, still..."

Hi I've posted a few times about my dilemma with trying to transition from Prolia to something else due to complications with dental work and possibility of ONJ, but I've never really read the breakdown of what happens during rebound when you go off of Prolia. This is pretty scary given the fact that I have been on Prolia for 6 years, meaning I've had at least 12 injections if not 13. I am due for a Prolia shot end of December early January but I'm waiting to get into the endocrinologist to evaluate my parathyroid activity, which is elevated, and to see what my options are for weaning off Prolia. This doesn't sound to promising to me. Does anyone on the thread know just how long someone can be on Prolia before there are other long-term effects? I'm only 70 years old. What if I stay on Prolia till I croak? That could be another 15 years and 30 more shots?? Why was this medication even put on the market? Certainly wasn't told that people who have extensive dental work should not go on it, not by my doctor... I found out on my own.

I have been on Prolia for 5 years. Dexa scans every 2 years has shown that my spine improved to the osteopenia stage but no change in my hips; they are still in the osteoporosis zone. Ten days ago I went in for my scheduled 6 month injection. I live in northern Calif. and we have a health care system in this part of the state called Sutter. Though technically not an HMO, they are starting to act like one. Case in point was when I went for my injection 10 days ago I was told that Sutter has now switched to Jubbonti instead of Prolia for their injections. Both have desonomab as the active ingredient to treat osteoporosis and my endocrinologist told me they are biosimilar though not identical. Usually I am neurotic about researching any medications I take but I was already there, it is hard to reschedule with a specialist in the Sutter system, so I went ahead and had the injection. Immediately I felt a burning in my nose. It did go away in a short amount of time. The next morning I got up and while in the kitchen making coffee I noticed chest pain in my sternum area. Seven years ago I had to have a neulasta shot to boost my white blood cell count and felt a similar pain in my chest (which is expected with neulasta) so I figured the chest pain was from the Jubbonti injection. (I wasn't having tingling down my arm, or sweating, or feeling weak, etc. so there was no way I was going to sit in the ER at the hospital for 8 hours only to be told I wasn't having a heart attack.)
Then, 2 days later, I came down with bladder inflammation (cystitis) and a uti. I never had this problem taking Prolia. After doing my own research, instead of just trusting my doctor, I found that Jubbonti has only been on the market since June 2 of this year, 2025, so less than 3 months. I am angry with my endocrinologist for not disclosing this. Years ago I had a primary care doctor advise me to never take a newly released medicine; don't be part of their post-marketing studies. I have since messaged my doctor that I will not have another Jubbonti injection and if the Sutter organization can't make an exception for me to have Prolia I will find another doctor who can prescribe it. I guess my point in this post is to, first, make the point that Jubbonti is new on the market to treat osteoporosis and available for health care organizations at a less expensive option than Prolia so their may be an economic incentive for prescribing it rather than Prolia. Secondly, I am posting/asking a question because I haven't seen any posts stating that people have had bladder issues on Prolia/desonomab, even though it is listed on the manufacturer's website as a common side effect. I never had that issue on Prolia. Or could it be that the longer one is on desonomab the more prone you are to having this side effect. Before my first injection 5 years ago, the endocrinologist said if you're going to have side effects they usually show up the first year. (That would be after 2 injections.) I'm trying to decide if I'll try Prolia again in 5 months or switch to once a week fosamax. 10 years ago I tried a biphosphonate (fosamax) and they both raised my blood pressure. Has anyone else had that side effect with fosamax or actonel?