Hesitant to begin drug treatment for my osteoporosis

@jonijean do you have any GERD/reflux/heartburn issues? The orals can be hard on the esophagus. Many seem to do fine on Reclast but they tend not to post on forums! IF nervous you could ask for a test dose of half, and one hour infusion with hydration. I had a harder time with orals to be honest.

I took 3 months of Evenity shots for low bone density since I have not had any prior stroke or heart incidents. After 3 months I developed severe heart arrhythmias that were occurring several times a day. I went to see my cardiologist and it happened while I was on an EKG machine, so they recorded the whole thing. My heart went to 230 beats per minute for a minute and then dropped back down to 120, then went back to 230. I was oscillating like that for quite a few minutes as I sat on a chair, after getting off the EKG machine. I suspect that if I had any vascular blockages in my system, I would have had a stroke right then and there. I think the Evenity shots caused the arrhythmia episodes. I had to have an ablation heart surgery within 2 weeks. So in order to prevent a POSSIBLE bone issue later in life, I ended having cardiac surgery immediately. This is NOT a good tradeoff.

Since getting off the Evenity shots, all the arrhythmia episodes went away, thank goodness. I am back to diet and exercise. I now work out 7 days a week for about 45 minutes with both jogging and lifting weights to hopefully build bone. I am also told that new measurements such as trabecular scores are better measurements of bone quality than just bone density measurements. My trabecular scores are above average.

I am 67 years old and very active and healthy. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis quite a few years ago which was surprising to me. I suspect that being born in Asia, drinking milk was not the norm and also the local water was not floridated. I have not had a bone scan since the ablation surgery.

I don’t know if my reaction is just specific to me. It feels like the Evenity shots acted like stimulants to my system. I have never had any heart issues prior to taking Evenity and nobody in my immediate family has either.

The day before seeing my cardiologist and understanding that I had arrhythmias, I had gone to the gym and tried to do my usual jogging exercise. I had a very high heart pounding episode then as well and had to cut the run short. In the locker room, I had an arrhythmia episode and passed out. When the heart rate gets too high, it cannot provide the oxygen to the body anymore and that is when people pass out. The gym sent me to the ER where my heart rate came down.

By the way, the ablation surgery cost over $100,000.00 It must be a very profitable operation for hospitals. Thank goodness Medicare paid for it. The condition of limiting Evenity to people who have had heart conditions previously is not good enough in my opinion.

I know that I am very lucky to be in good cardiac shape and did not have a stroke despite extended periods of heart rates at 230 beats per minute.

I’ve been reading this thread and am truly amazed. You all are dealing with so much! How were you diagnosed? I’ve never had a doctor, gyno, PC, orthopedist, etc. ever mention getting tested for osteoporosis and I’m early 60.