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Prednisone duration

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 20 hours ago | Replies (7)

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@ropnrose

My bone density wasn't the greatest, when I started on 60 mg. Prednisone in July 2024. I'm down to 12 mg. and I started Actemra infusions a week ago. I'm going to ask my rheumatologist to order a bone density scan for me. What drugs do you get through IV infusions for building bone strength?

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Replies to "My bone density wasn't the greatest, when I started on 60 mg. Prednisone in July 2024...."

I don't know a lot about it, but my sister gets a yearly infusion for her osteoporosis. I just did a Google search, and got these matches. There might be more than these.

Zoledronic acid (Reclast)
Given as an annual IV infusion, this drug can treat and prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and men. It can also help prevent new fractures in people who have recently broken their hip.

Ibandronate (Boniva)
Given as a quarterly IV infusion or monthly pill, this drug is FDA approved to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Pamidronate (Aredia)
Given as a slow IV infusion every 3 to 4 weeks, monthly, or every 3 months, this drug is used to treat osteoporosis, hypercalcemia from cancer, and Paget's disease.

You may want to investigate how each of the "bone building" drugs work and their long term effects. It's not all good. If they can be avoided and bone building exercise and dietary changes can be made instead, the long term outlook can be so much better.

Here is one of many good explanations of how they work that made me very wary of "bone building" drugs.