I also have been taking alendronate for about 1 year with almost no major side effects (some bone pain; took a 2-3 week drug holiday, pain subsided), other than a bit of constipation (IBS sufferer though, so used to GI issues!). Had 2nd dexa scan which showed improvement the doc was happy with (no improvement in femoral neck however). Now he wants to try reclast which I am not really interested in as the alendronate is helping and tolerable for me. Who knows what will happen with a once a year injection. Probably nothing but better bones - but the osteo drugs out there have a lot of issues. Then again an osteoporosis diagnosis is a big issue!