AA or fosamax to take or not to take?

I am taking  Vit D, calcium, and eating calcium rich foods,  exercise/walking as I do not want to take AA! I will have another bone density scan next year. I was daignosed as borderline  osteoporosis last year but do not have any  symptoms.  

From what I have read and from discussion groups, taking AA seems to often cause a lot of problems especially if taken long term.  My bone density might have been caused by treatment for cancer. I hate taking anything unless I really have to.

 

My cancer consultant wanted to put me straight on the AA tablets but I read up and did not like the sound of them at all. I then insisted on seeing a specialist - and he agreed that as I have no symptoms and am fit, it was fine  to wait until the next bone density scan. .

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I hope my experience will help you make a decision.   Ten years ago when I would have been 59 I had a bone scan (not one ordered by my GP but because I go to the Twin Research Unit in London where one of the tests is a DEXA scan) I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, mainly in my spine, and was subsequently put on Actonel and then AA and was told I would need to be on it for the rest of my life.  After a few years I started to get aches in my thighs and if I lifted anything heavy my one leg would just give way under me but luckily I didn't fall down.  I then began to research AA and was horrified to read some of the side effects, one being that it seems that it doesn't regrow bone it just hardens what's already damaged and therefore can make it brittle.  It can also cause something called osteonecrosis of the jaw that causes the jaw to crumble, especially when having a tooth removed. I read that it should only be taken for five years but I had already been on it for nearly eight years so I told my GP that I wanted to stop taking it because of what I had read but she wasn't impressed and referred to her little black book and said "it doesn't say that here".  One of the things I had read was that people who had been on the tablets for years could sustain broken femurs just from simple acts like stepping or slipping off a kerb.  One study done on fractured femurs showed that 90% of the people had been on AA!  I stopped taking AA in June 2012.

During the time I was on AA I had various accidents where I hurt (possibly broke) some of my ribs, broke my toe, broke my finger, slipped on the stairs, that fall probably being the cause of the fracture of the L4 vertebrae that was found by chance by a CT scan for something unconnected to my bones.

At the end of April 2014 I slipped in the garden and broke my femur clean in half.  Thankfully it is now healed as it has a rod and screws in it but I was told I would have to go back on the AA as I had had a couple of years without taking it.  I am now back on it and have no aches or pains like i had before, although I am having pains where the screws are catching on my tendons which means I may have to have them removed.   So, this goes to show that being on AA to protect your bones doesn't mean that you won't break a bone, in fact it could make you MORE likely to break a bone so how long I stay on the AA I don't know at the moment.    My advice to anyone who is borderline is to try and build up bone strength and density by more natural means before you go onto AA.  

Hi Kathleen,

I noticed in your post that you refer to consuming gelatin in home made jellies. Apart from sounding delicious I wondered if you had any OP reason for taking gelatin. Does it help provide more cushioning or does it just make the medicine more acceptable? The reason that I ask is that Dr is advocating a reduction in the amount of animal protein that we consume and this needs to be balanced with the good it can do.

Just trawling around all the old posts to see if there's anything significant that I've missed

Aristotle