What kind of plans are possible if you are looking ahead for many year
I am reading that Evenity is for one year; forteo/Tymlos for 2 years; Reclast for 3 years; bisphosphonates for 5 years; and Prolia for ten years of usage. I am also reading that Prolia requires a relay drug urgently if you stop taking it which may be one that you have already exhausted your life time quota. So, what are reasonable plans and sequencing if you are going to be on some sort of medication for a long period of time? For one thing, it seems like you cannot avoid Prolia as it is approved for the longest period of time of all of these.
Any thoughts?
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It is very convoluted and punctuated by insurance and Medicare peculiarities. What a person on Medicare pays is influenced by whether the drug is a Part B or Part D drug. The difference can be thousands of dollars and not hundreds of dollars, bottom line, for the person.
I find a lot of the available information confusing to be polite about it. I remain completely confused if the restriction for being on a bisphosphonate is five years lifetime or five years but ok to resume if you are off this drug for a while. If it is “off for a while” what is awhile? I remain confused if Reclast is counted in this five years or not.
Might there be a medical revolution forming led by women?
can't edit the comment I made previously but wanted to add the actual percentages to further clarify the increased risk of breast cancer when on hormones.
From the New York Times ~ a woman’s risk of having breast cancer between the ages of 50 and 60 (the average age of the women in the WHI study) is around 2.3 percent. The Women's Health Initiative Study noted an increase in that risk of 26 percent and that's the number that was widely reported. That percentage is huge and scary. In actuality the 26% increase increased the risk from a 2.3 percent chance to a 2.94 percent chance, really a very very small increased risk. And again, this was on oral estrogen and synthetic progestin.
I read in an article today that 13% of women get breast cancer. And 80% are hormone- driven.
But it is an interesting idea to look only at women ten years or so post menopause.
However it takes time for breast cancer to develop so maybe the study should have extended the time frame to 60-70. How long do the effects of HRT last?
I was 63 at diagnosis and did bioidentical HRT for a few months in my mid-50's. I have always wondered....
it is unlikely that such short term use of HRT caused breast cancer. Agree completely that we need more studies on the long term use of HRT and use in older women. Such a complicated issue!