Starting FORTEO tomorrow and so nervous.

I was nervous as well, but now I feel Forteo is a true blessing. I fell on my hip last July and did not break it. The mild symptoms that I had the first two weeks went completely away once my body got used to Forteo. The shots that were so scary ended up being nothing. I do the shot as soon as I wake up before coffee.

Two years of forteo. Shots easy. No discernible side effects

I did two years of Forteo about 14 years ago. I don't recall any adverse reaction. I also traveled just putting the injector in a insulated lunch bag with a blue ice pack. Didn't have any problems with TSA either.

I’ve been taking Forteo since May 2023. No side effects. Was nervous before first self-injection only because I didn’t know what to expect. No problem, easy, felt like small pinprick at most. After that it quickly became easy and routine. Forteo Connect is good, supportive, and free resource. You can register at https://www.forteo.com/savings-and-support
Good luck!

Thank you so much!

We hear ya! We were all so nervous! But I'll share that I had a good and easy experience. No side effects at all and some decent gain in spine density. Sometimes the injection hurts a little but it's really not that big a deal. I found that if I put on some music and sang along, I got those endorphins going and didn't feel a thing! After Forteo I went on HRT to maintain the gains and I've been pretty stable for the past 5 years. I am considering going on Forteo again and if I have the same success a second time, it would bring my done density out of the osteoporosis range.

One thing I want to mention is that my gains were achieved in the first year with a very slight loss (-.1) in the second year. I would recommend getting your bone marker blood tests done at the one year mark and then a couple of months after that to evaluate whether to continue on.

Wishing you the best of luck!

@teb may I ask your HRT usage: were you within 10 year of postmenopausal when you started it? Was it considered as a small dose? Did you use bioidenticals?

I'm weighing which followup med to use after forteo completion, and also am planning more anabolic therapy in the horizon.

Thanks a lot!

@vkmov I'm sure that you will get used to the injection, like others who've already commented. The side effects that I experienced were typical listed by manufacture: fatigue and low blood pressure. In my case my blood pressure went down to 80/50 since my base pressure is relatively low to start with. It took 1-1.5 months to feel normal. During that time I couldnt bring myself to exercise either. What helped was a lot of water and at times, adding salt to water. Hope this helps. Best of luck!

I was about 62 at the time and just at 10 years past menopause. I was on the lowest dose of transdermal estradiol, .025, and the standard dose of oral progesterone at 100 mg. All bioidentical. I just increased to .0375 on the estradiol as I think (and my integrative gynecologist thinks) it would be helpful. That's still a very low dose that I am comfortable with. Most doctors will not prescribe HRT as a treatment for osteo but they will prescribe for treatment of hot flashes. My endocrinologist wanted me to go on Prolia after Forteo but I argued that due to my autoimmune issues, that was not an appropriate choice for me so he agreed to the hormones as a follow up.

Thank you SO MUCH for the positive vibes! I've read all the posts here and the web re negative side effects which basically has left me in this state. So today I decided to ask for all the positive stuff so I really appreciate your note and advice!