Treating Osteoporosis: What works for you?

Had you been on Prolia and gone off it without a relay drug? I'm sorry to read that you're dealing with this as I'm sure that we all are...

If you don't have any issues with sodium, try the baking soda. A lot of my gastroenterologist's patients gave up on the meds and have done well. I hope that your gastroenterologist informed you of the effect of PPIs on bones. (Mine did not, by the way.) PPIs are tricky drugs. They have odd side effects, none of which I knew much about when first prescribed to me.

For what it's worth, I tossed out all tummy acid drugs and relied on my grandmother's old cure after first learning about the PPI osteoporosis risk.

When I have an upset stomach of any kind, I drank 6-8 oz. of water with 1/4 tspn of baking soda. And it works for me 100% of the time. I don't have high blood pressure so the sodium from the baking soda isn't a problem.

My gastroenterologist said a lot of his patients have done the same thing successfully. It might be worth a try.

Here's a link to an article about the meds and osteoporosis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6540255/#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20PPI%20therapy%20is,metabolic%20bone%20disease%20%5B17%5D

Good afternoon @toni7. Your concerns are legitimate. And the basket of options can be extremely confusing. There are three rather new medications that require injections and have been developed to build bone. The one with the longest medical history is Forteo. The next one is Tymlos. Both are taken for two years. The newest one is Evenity which not only builds bones but also protects the bone from reabsorption during the one year schedule.

Because of uncomfortable side effects with bisphosphonates, I chose two years of Tymlos. My scores for hips returned to the osteopenia level and the other scores remained stationary which means they held their own. I had no side effects except for the first few days. They were unspectacular.....and disappeared in a couple of weeks.

Then came the hard part. What next? Moving to Evenity would mean a rapid building of more bone and a less active effort at protecting as the research begins to show. Since my unfortunate reaction with Boniva, it appeared that I only had one choice and that would be Prolia.

I did finish a year on Prolia with concerning side effects and unimpressive Dexa scores. I secured periodontist exam reports indicating that so far there was no damage to my jaw and that my teeth would probably not need any surgery or implant treatments.

Nothing felt right to me so I asked for a consult in Endocrinology at Mayo Clinic. Here is what I discovered. At the age of 77, when I was told that I needed to begin the osteoporosis medications, that recommendation was way too aggressive. I did not need any bone-building or bone protection at that point based on my scores. There seems to be some anxiety among endocrinologists and other clinicians to make sure everyone gets going on something.

So......now I was in a "pickle". Evenity was too new without enough research for me and only possible for a year. Again....then what? The Mayo endocrinologist went back to look at the once-a-month biphosphonate dosage which resulted in side effects. What if you took the bone-protecting biphosphonate, alendronate, weekly instead of monthly? The dosage of one infusion a month was just too heavy for me.

So.....four weeks ago I began to take one tablet, not an injection, every Monday morning. And as you might be beginning to realize......it is working. No side effects, no joint pain, no jaw or teeth or gum pain. No nausea or injection soreness.

So just backing off from the more infrequent heavy doses is the answer for me. It might also be worth discussing with your clinician. Questions??????

May you be safe, protected, and free from inner and outer harm.
And thanks Mayo Clinic.

Chris

@callalloo, I used to use baking soda, but then I saw this article so now I'm a bit worried about it. Because I'm new to this forum, I can't post the link but you go to the NIH site and search for article PMC3770998. Title is "Baking Soda Can Settle the Stomach but Upset the Heart: Case Files of the Medical Toxicology Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco/"

Went off prolia 1-1/2 yrs being in hospital and rehab that didn’t help. I had fractured ankle and Covid. Waiting til I could get to outpatient md to get prolia. On antibiotics for uti causing further grief. Finally did prolia last week and have severe spinal pain at t-12. Hard to breathe and sit up. I can’t take it away just need to wait patiently.