Are you taking Reclast for osteoporosis?

Thank you. I am just so hesitant to do nothing but as some point and time I have to follow the doctors orders 🤔

Dear tmtm4~
I have no answers for you..but wanted to send you a 'hug'.
I haven't yet walked the path you've been on..and I'm so sorry you've suffered so.
I am just beginning my journey with these issues...three compression frxs. and severe osteoporosis as well as osteoarthritis. I'm scared of what's to follow when I do see an Orthopedic surgeon...and get an MRI of my spine.
My nightmare will become reality then....
I'm, on the outside extremely healthy for a 77yr. old women...but this bone thing is beyond me as to how I got this bad as well as what to do first. I'm afraid of surgery, injections, as well as the current medications that are out there..all causing such dramatic and lasting issues to then deal with. Lordy....don't know what to do. I guess you feel the same way..like we stepped on a land mine and now have to figure out a way to step off without blowing up!
I hope the best for you on your journey....peace of mind and resolve, so that your body can heal with what your decisions are to be.
Bunky....

I have had 3 Reclast injections. Felt a little off that night, but not that bad. Recommend LOTS of water starting a couple of days before the injection, so you are super hydrated and also for a couple of days following the injection. My doc also says to take Tylenol the day before and the day of the injection and for a couple of days following if needed. My chiropractor friend said to take a probiotic too, so I did.
I had my last infusion in Sept. of 2020. (DEXA scores improved!) In July of 2021 I cracked a tooth. The tooth was pulled, and (about one year later) I am having the implant placed next Wednesday.
As soon as I heard I needed a tooth pulled and an implant, I asked my dentist to call my rheumatologist who is my care provider for my osteoporosis. They spoke to each other over the phone and decided since my overall health was good; I was not a smoker etc., to go ahead with the pulling of the tooth and the implant.
Last week I went to my dentist for a special X-ray to determine if enough bone had regrown in my jaw over the past year to place the implant. It had. YAY! I religiously take my Cal-Gel supplement by Natural Creations. This past year I also drank a collagen supplant and took Bio-sil, vitamin K2 and vitamin C. I exercised and drank a ton of water. I cut back on alcohol.
I ride horses (wearing a protective vest and helmet) and just do life. Do your part to stay as healthy as possible, get good docs and trust them.
I also highly recommend the FB group Dr. Lani's Osteoporosis - Myths and Facts. She also wrote a book about osteoporosis, I gave it to my rheumatologist, and I recommend to anyone who has osteoporosis. It is on Amazon. It has a great index and a TON of legit information. It is not anti-med, and it discusses the many reasons osteoporosis can occur.
Good luck!

I think that I know how you feel as I'd likely feel the exact same way for some of the same reasons. [I was pet-free for the first time in decades. And then breast cancer and a lost cat showed up at the same time. The cat is with me on a veranda in the Blue Ridge mountains, staring at butterflies, and seems secure and oblivious to any worries about the future.]

I think that most of us are concerned about the drug choices for osteoporosis. But doctors are also aware of the issues and seem to be increasingly more creative about a treatment path that minimizes the risk of over-reliance on any one drug. And allowing for drug vacations as well. Add that better technology is yielding more (and maybe better) data about bone health as well. So the future is way more promising than the past in the osteoporosis world. And the internet allows us quick access to medical studies that were formerly hard to read so we can also read the stuff our doctors do.

See what your doctor(s) say and, maybe, start getting names of others in the event you seek a second opinion. If you don't need the names, fine. But if you do, you'll be glad to have them at the ready. Also have your questions ready. One of mine would be if the fractures can heal by themselves, or with some added thing like ultrasound (which caused enough bone growth that a 70+ year old friend's shattered neck vertebrae pieces to "rebridge" and fully healed).

I'm sorry to point out that you have a lot of homework to do, ;-). But the more actions you can take, the less scary things get and fear is a huge part of the problem. Or it was when I was in severe pain. Pain seemed to make it hard to even think at a time when thinking clearly was critical.

I have had 3 Reclast injections. Felt a little off that night, but not that bad. Recommend LOTS of water starting a couple of days before the injection, so you are super hydrated and also for a couple of days following the injection. My doc also says to take Tylenol the day before and the day of the injection and for a couple of days following if needed. My chiropractor friend said to take a probiotic too, so I did.
I had my last infusion in Sept. of 2020. (DEXA scores improved!) In July of 2021 I cracked a tooth. The tooth was pulled, and (about one year later) I am having the implant placed next Wednesday.
As soon as I heard I needed a tooth pulled and an implant, I asked my dentist to call my rheumatologist who is my care provider for my osteoporosis. They spoke to each other over the phone and decided since my overall health was good; I was not a smoker etc., to go ahead with the pulling of the tooth and the implant.
Last week I went to my dentist for a special X-ray to determine if enough bone had regrown in my jaw over the past year to place the implant. It had. YAY! I religiously take my Cal-Gel supplement by Natural Creations. This past year I also drank a collagen supplant and took Bio-sil, vitamin K2 and vitamin C. I exercised and drank a ton of water. I cut back on alcohol.
I ride horses (wearing a protective vest and helmet) and just do life. Do your part to stay as healthy as possible, get good docs and trust them.
I also highly recommend the FB group Dr. Lani's Osteoporosis - Myths and Facts. She also wrote a book about osteoporosis, I gave it to my rheumatologist, and I recommend to anyone who has osteoporosis. It is on Amazon. It has a great index and a TON of legit information. It is not anti-med, and it discusses the many reasons osteoporosis can occur.
Good luck!

Reclast is my only osteoporosis drug. I have had three infusions, with two to three year drug holidays in between, meaning I take no other osteoporosis drug.

If bone regret, or filled in, in your jaw, that's a really good sign! I take Bio-Sil too (and the other usual suspect supplements to ward off osteoporosis). I don't know if the Bio-Sil is doing anything but my dermatologist puts his patients on it to help maintain basic hair and skin care. And it can't hurt.

Thanks, @lilypaws Of course I remember that you went through that back fusion. Although I have not recently been very active on Connect I did follow that.

Thanks for the info on Rosuvastatin Calcium 10 mg, I will have to ask my endocrinologist about that. For some reason my PCP left the prescribing of a cholesterol medication up to him.

My litany of problems sounds worse than they are actually. Pre-transplant I was very good up until the end when things went downhill. My transplant recovery was amazing, even the transplant team was surprised at how quickly I was doing well. As I mentioned in a different message I think, my old PCP felt all I did pre-transplant was why I did so well after transplant. Maybe, but I think he gives me too much credit. I always think of myself as being very healthy and then I remember all the things that wrong with me! Right now I am doing pretty well other than sporadic depression when I think of how much longer we will be stuck isolating and wondering when if ever I will see my son again. My daughter is planning to self-isolate going into August so we can spend time together. She and her husband can drive here, no need to be on an airplane.

I was still having knee and hip problems from walking longish distances but I am using Voltaren (a gel) two times a day. The recommended is three times a day but I never get a third time in. Even so, I am finding this helped.
JK