Reclast Infusions: Side-effects & Recovery time

After years of postponing this, I had my first Reclast infusion on March 25.
I had gathered all the information from this site for several months! I hydrated well 2 days before the infusion, day of, and 2 days after. I took Claritin once a day and Tylenol every 6 hours during that time frame. I had the endocrinologist order a one hour infusion followed by a 30 minute saline drip. I was very fatigued that night. I don’t know if it was from the Reclast or from the anxiety I felt leading up to that day!! I experienced no other symptoms and have my fingers crossed that none will happen in the future!

@frankstags
Reclassified causes flu in 3% of patients, can be mild or moderate, severe. Flu weakens the body making it susceptible to infections.
I have stool retention because of my diet. i want to get 80 grams of protein every day, fruit and fiber. I have high fiber Cheerios or oatmeal. This causes me to have hardened stools. I take dulcolax at night and by morning am able to pass my stool, but it is still difficult.
I avoid butter and oil. But I do eat raw salmon, cut very thin with some ginger for flavor. The result was a weight loss of 10 lbs per year, bringing me to my best body weight.
I am starting Reclast too, as I have osteoporosis. I will have it infused by a nurse annually to prevent breaking a hip. If an older person breaks a hip, they need to go into assisted living. I prefer to risk the short term flu to a broken hip that never heals.
I was a researcher on Reclast for 2 years, learned all the pros and cons. I moved to a single story home to prevent falls, but older folks do fall. I saw it in my own family. I would rather die than live in pain.

I had my first Reclast infusion April 22. Only prep instruction was to have 16 oz water within 2 hours of the infusion. One of the nurses told me I could have flu-like symptoms for a day or two and said I should take Tylenol when I got home. I felt fine so I took 500 mg.
That night I couldn’t sleep from fever, chills, headache & the worst whole-body bone and muscle pain ever. Worse than my Shingrix vaccine and the time I got Covid combined.
My son’s a pharmacist & he told me it’s safe to take 4000 mg Tylenol a day. After 2 days on that dose and staying hydrated I started to feel better, tho I still feel “off” and don’t have much appetite.
What brought me here is that now, 4 days after my infusion, I’ve a squeezing pain in my right chest. I’m trying to figure out if it’s localized example of the muscle pain that I now know is a side effect -thank you everyone for sharing all this good information- or if it’s heart related and needs to get checked out.

I’m really disappointed that my primary care doc who prescribed the Reclast didn’t review the side effects beyond giving me Mayo’s info sheet on bisphosphonates that mentions the risks of thigh bone fracture and jaw osteonecrosis, and possible GI issues with the oral meds. I naively thought I’d been fully informed!

@jmedquest I had the same horrible effect from this poison. Will not have any further infusions. I couldn’t use my hands for 10 days, had to have a heat pad on them for relief. I vomited the 2 day . I also had horrible chills. Very bad reaction
Hope you’re feeling better.

The side effects vary. I’ve had 3 annual injections now and had bad muscle pain the second time. This last time I hydrated like crazy for 2 days before and it may have helped as I had much less pain and was over it in a day or so. According to last dexa my bone health is improved but I do a lot of treadmill walking to support. The potential side effects are frightening. Best of luck managing your health.

My osteoporosis doctor wants me to have my first Reclast infusion at the end of May. I have been doing the Tymlos injection every night for the past two years and Reclast is supposed to help maintain the gains I have made with Tymlos. After reading all of the side effects that people have had from the infusion, I am terrified to do the infusion. I am a 75 year old female, I walk for an hour 4 days per week, I take vitamin c and d everyday and I eat a high protein diet. I really don't want to put anymore drugs like these in my body. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thank you!

@nana50 I had an infusion 3 weeks ago and had no side effects except a little tired the next day and then no effects. I assume it impacts everyone differently. It would be good to know the % of people who truly have those impacts.

@swysmrs Did you happen to take Tylenol or have steroids along with the infusion? Thank you for sharing your positive outcome!

I did take Tylenol and kept around 500-750 mg onboard for a few days before and after. I do not take any steroids. The second infusion was super painful so I worked hard to not experience that again and staying super hydrated and moderate Tylenol seemed to help. Best of luck.

@lee1447
I was also very nervous, and had to really push my endo to prescribe a saline drip and slower (30 minute) infusion. I followed what I learned here, and also took Claritin, day of and 3 days after. I am very prone to side effects, but it is 5 days later and I didn't have any kind of reaction at all. Part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop, and as I had a 5 week RA flare, starting 10 days after my first Evenity shots. Am hoping for the best and will post if anything happens down the road, but so far, it has gone far better than feared.