Treating Osteoporosis: What works for you?

So sorry that you are experiencing so much nausea -- I coped by thinking about how fortunate I was to be experiencing this nausea just when I took a pill (eventually just monthly); that I could plan for the side effects and hope to reduce them; and that the doctor who prescribed this "side effect" had lived on soda crackers during her two pregnancies! I would suggest keeping handy whatever works to calm your nausea -- for me it was, in fact, crackers and calcium. Planning also may involve keeping your mind active with something that you love or dislike, whatever works.

Hi, @rareeby. my experience was with Fosamax, taken by my wife. She didn't have the discomforting side-effects experienced by others in this discussion, but the long-term consequences of taking Fosamax for year after year was documented in a multitude of respected research reports. A consistent and insistent conclusion of many of these studies was that Fosamax "does not rebuild bone, only slows down disintegration" of bones. I can only speculate about your personal experience. I note, for example, that you addressed a nausea side effect with crackers (sodium and starch) and a calcium supplement. Perhaps the strengthening of your bones was attributable to nutrition, improved levels of Vitamin D, improved functioning of your parathyroid glands, improved kidney function, different physical exercise, or some other positive development rather than the medication or its aftermath.

In such circumstances, it would not be correct to insist that the results of the medical research on the issue should be edited in the absence of extensive medical research to that effect. Your professed support for Mayo Clinic mirrors my own, and a profound disagreement with leading medical research might benefit from guidance from Mayo.

How kind of you to reply, however, what is the research with Fosamax and Boniva?

Hello, I am 54 and with a similar frightening result, I also looked at the table with the multitude of scores, the specialist will have and my whole spine was affected. However I have since gone on to learn so much. Bone strength is not just how it looks on a DEXA scan, but also compression strength and expansion strength. The whole bone building process is interrupted taking these drugs (i had 1 prolia shot). Unless you know what you started with I think there is no need to panic, though I say this to myself too. There is SO much good info out there..

My endocrinologist and rheumatologist doctors told me the same thing about avoiding meds. I also am very leary of taking them with all the side effects. I have a very sensitive stomach. My vitamin D level was very low too (11) so I was put on 50,000 Vit. D units once a week, my Vit. D. did come up to 40. Yes so true the more I read about these bisphosphonates the scarier it becomes. What to do, what to do...

Hi @rareeby and @predictable,
We took your question about whether Fosmax and other bisphosphonates can or cannot rebuild bone to a Mayo Clinic pharmacists. This is what she responded:

"Looking specifically at the Fosamax package insert, the drug “is indicated for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. In postmenopausal women, Fosamax increases bone mass and reduces the incidence of fractures, including those of the hip and spine.” Fosamax is also “indicated for treatment to increase bone mass in men with osteoporosis.” The medication inhibits the activity of osteoclasts which are cells responsible for bone resorption. It does not have a direct effect on bone formation, HOWEVER, since resorption and formation are coupled during bone turnover, decreasing the amount of bone resorption allows for the bone to form without being resorbed at a rate faster than it can be built.
I hope this helps." ~ pharmacist, Mayo Clinic

I also found these articles of interest about treating osteoporosis with medication (in addition to lifestyle changes)
- WebMD http://wb.md/2gVSA1J
- Mayo Clinic http://mayocl.in/XvF3QB

What is written on the Fosamax package insert is the manufacturer's claim. What the pharmacist said is an interpretation of the claim. In my situation, I was on Fosamax for about 8 years when my doctor (an internist) took me off of it, immediately following a report of broken femor bones (there is now a class action lawsuit over this problem). Three years later (early in 2016) I had a compression fracture of a disc. I then asked my doctor if he would recommend my going back to Fosamax or perhaps Actenol, which my twin brother is on. His response was that he didn't want me to go either of these because, he wrote in an email, "it might do more harm than good".
The fact is that there is a lot that doctors do not know about these drugs yet they continue to prescribe them.

Any one of the drugs that interferes with osteoblasts/ and clasts may increase bone MASS, as per DEXA, but not necessarily make it stronger! Exercise and diet is a way we can control it better ourselves or as well as drugs if you must.

My response to Kayelle: Thanks for your insight. This is exactly what I thought after I had spent many hours looking into this. I'd like to know how you arrived at this conclusion and why isn't the medical profession saying this?

Big Pharma make big money telling normal people they need drugs and have a disease! Like many folk I have a bit of health scare. Before this I took my precious body for granted. I found a fantastic Book and Website. I have never had a more thorough insight into my bones, a so so important structure/organ of our bodies. So much to it, that tampering with it seems a great sin.