Undecided choice of drugs for Osteoporosis
I am 80 years old women and have borderline osteoporosis which affects my entire body. My doctor wants me to take Prolia and the Rheumatologist wants me to take Reclast. I’m unhappy with both choices as the side effects are great and I do not tolerate new drugs well. I am very undecided and am considering doing not taking annty drugs for this condition. I have never had a fracture and I’m very active Any opinions or advice.
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@bobbiruni if your DEXA scores are low, those are not the best meds anyway. Was it a primary care doc who prescribed them? I avoided meds for 16 years and wish I had done Tymlos earlier. The dose is adjustable, and it builds quality bone with no dental or femur issues.
Good luck with whatever you do!
Thank you for sharing. I will look into Tymlos. If it doesn't have bad side effects it is important to know about.
Everyone has trouble remembering what the doctors say. Even the doctor doesn't remember what he said, so he writes it all down. That makes a record for you to access. If your md is at a hospital call the records department as say you want the "doctor's notes", and the dxa report and any labs you've had done. If you are at a private office call the receptionist and say the same thing.
You should keep all the records of you medical visits in one binder, not all over the place like I do.
You had right hip replacement? and the left is brittle. I can guess that you need a more proactive medication than fosamax. I would guess Tymlos or Forteo, but without your medical inormation my guessing could be dangerous.
Forteo helps fix any hardware you would have with a left hip replacement. It speeds healing of damaged bone and increases bone density in a more rapid way that fosamax. You could ask your PCP but you might want to see an endocrinologist who will have more eperience with osteoporosis and may even communicate in a more.
Get the notes the pcp is required to write. If you need help getting them let us know.
Thanks for that wonderful sign off.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I’ll keep all this in mind. What a journey it has been. God bless you
I took 12 shots of Evenity for a year. I didn't have any problems on Evenity. I had painful broken bones and then I found out that I had Osteoporosis. The surgeon would not do surgery to fix me until I had treated my bones. After two years, I am having surgery next week. I don't ever want to have another broken bone in my back again. I went on Prolia twice per year in September. I have had one shot of Prolia but I have reservations about this drug.
I been on Prolia for 2 30 months.
I was high risk for fractures when my Endocrinologist put me on Prolia. I had gone from osteopenia to Osteoporosis.
The end of year 2 I had Dexa test and I was back to Osteopenia. My Endocrinologist was shocked and had me redo the test results which came out the same. So there maybe a possibility I can come off the Prolia.
I have had no side effects at all.
Discontinuation of Prolia is associated with rapid bone loss and multiple fractures. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00198-022-06648-9
You likely already know this, but it isn't safe to stop Prolia without immediate follow up with another medication. It is best to initiate new medication weeks before your next Prolia due date.
Best wishes
Thank you. My Endocrinologist and I discussed which medication would be best beings I reacted to the first oral medication.
The timing of going from Prolia to Reclast or alendronate is very tricky. Maybe get McCormick's book "Great Bones" out of the library. He suggests using blood tests to get the timing right. Too early and it doesn't work and too late, bone loss may occur or even fracture. The standard timing of 6 months needs to be individualized according to Dr. McC. Check this out with your doc!
I am about to start Forteo and this site is helping me . It is scary having to give myself a shot daily for a year when I don’t take any other medications.
Hearing some positive comments about Forteo is encouraging.