Treating Osteoporosis: What works for you?

Thank you for your feedback regarding your personal experience with Tymlos. I also started slowly with Tymlos a month ago. Side effects were manageable until I recently got to '7' clicks. I am taking injection at bed time to sleep off vertigo side effects. Drinking 2 qts water every day, eating every 2-3 hrs to keep blood sugar up. But next day after '7' clicks I was still experiencing intense exhaustion/brain fog all day, into the evening. Now, back to '6' clicks again & feeling much better. My Dr. suggests alternating '6' clicks with '7' clicks every other night to see if side effects get slowly better. Staying hopeful.

I alternated 6 and 7 for awhile. I agree. It's weird that there is such a difference with one click. At this point I do 7 most days but I rest afterward (I take it in the morning.) If I have something important to do, I do 6. I still fine 8 impossible! I think alternating is a good plan. Consider the half life. That way you kind of get 6 1/2 every day!

My dear @rashida, I will admit to you that I am considering stopping Prolia after 1 year which will be up in May. I am having some of the same reactions I had with Boniva and other bisphosphonates even though Prolia is not a bisphosphonate. Both my PCP and I are keeping an eye out for new information. She is researching Evista and I am researching Evenity. I read just last week that Evenity can now be taken for two years. Remember that Evenity does both jobs.......creates new bone and then protects it from being destroyed. If that is true, and we are just guessing, then you could do two years of Evenity ........then another what you call relay drug......then back to Evenity .......etc. etc.

I will see if there is anything more in the literature. If you find something mentioned about that possibility with Evenity, please post me here on Connect. I get so discouraged with the limited options available to those of us who are extremely sensitive to so many of the osteoporosis medications.

Other than that......get ready to enjoy springtime. Let's stay in touch.
May you have peace and contentment.
Chris

Hi @flygirl8

Normally they run pth ( parathyroid hormone ) blood test if serum or ionized calcium is high or low. Have you had your calcium checked. With parathyroid disease calcium can be normal with high pth as well
I would most certainly want to find out the cause of your osteoporosis first if that is possible.
Usually 2-3 blood tests with pth and calcium ( both done at same blood draw ) will give some indication if there is a problem with pt glands . They can be done weekly for 3 wks. Also good idea to have vit d tested as some have 2ndary hyperparathyroidism due to low vit D. Generally speaking, secondary hyperparathyroidism due to vitamin D deficiency does not cause abnormally high calcium levels but usually pth is higher than it should be. ( Calcium to parathyroid hormone ratio ) Hope you find this somewhat helpful. You are far too young to have osteoporosis
http://endocrinediseases.org/parathyroid/normocalcemic_hyperparathyroidism.shtml
http://endocrinediseases.org/parathyroid/secondary_hyperparathyroidism.shtmlhttp://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/endocrine/primary-hyperparathyroidism/Pages/fact-sheet.aspxhttp://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/endocrinology/osteoporosis-disease/

Yes, the internal medicine doctor mentioned increasing Vit D/exercise/increasing calcium but nothing else. She said the only way to build up the bone is through medicine (Forteo) and then to maintain it with a bisphosphonate thereafter. I kinda feel like the doc is treating me like I'm 90. I'm looking to have a second opinion with an Endocrinologist soon. I'm concerned about the length of time I would be on medication as I think typically women are diagnosed and start treatment at a later age. Would really like to hear what others are doing in a similar situation.

This is exactly my concern! I have mild osteopenia, which I`m determined to do everything that I can to prevent progressing to osteoporosis, and maybe roll back to low osteopenia. So I've been reading about the various drugs for osteoporosis in case I have to decide on one someday.

But the big issue for me is that a DEXA scan gives very limited information. And the old bisphosphonates don't result in new healthy non-brittle bone being deposited. So what test(s) will yield real, valid measures of healthy, replicating bone? Since there's a lot more to the bone story than just thickness. Or, worse, just a picture of it.