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Alendronic Acid and side effects - useful reading

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Thought it may be of help to get matters in perspective. Do look at the site at **** on bonehealth and osteoporosis. Wish I had read more before I started taking the drug. I have now stopped it, convinced that my joint and tendon problems, racing heart and general and increasing awful feelings of fatigue and illness are linked to the start of taking alendronic acid. I understand now why my GP was a bit reluctant to prescribe it in the first place but I trusted my hospital consultant and believed he would be looking after me for the good. Maybe this trust was a bit misplaced?

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  • lynda45
    lynda45

    Posted

    I was prescribed Alendronic Acid tablets several weeks ago. I've taken 7 tablets and never felt so rotten!

    Back pain and strange pains at the tops of my femurs - so bad at times - I could hardly walk. I'm fit and active and not overweight. I wondered what on earth was the matter and then I found this forum. I've spoken to my

    GP and the outcome is that I am stopping the tablets for a while to see if I improve. It was as though she

    hadn't heard similar symptoms from other patients. I am hoping all these symptoms disappear now - fingers

    crossed.

    • pat24839
      pat24839 lynda45

      Posted

      I was just wondering how you are doing by now.  I took the tablets for 5 months and now going off of them.  I am in the same situation as you with the bad back pains and legs that I can hardly walk or sleep.  I went online and started reading all this and thought this came from this pill and I will no longer take it but how long until I feel normal again.  I am 65 and was still very active, playing ball with my grandkids, exercising, etc. but as of now I am lucky if I am getting out of the chair very much.  Hate this kind of life.  I really hope you are better and that I can look forward to feeling like the old me and not that its going to take a year.  Please let me know how you are.  Thank-you
  • Spindles
    Spindles

    Posted

    I stopped taking the alendronic acid a year ago almost to the day (6/6/12) and was surprised how long ago it was when I checked. I have to say that I haven't had any of the pains in my thighs and aching that I was getting when I was on them. I have commented previously about the problems I had but the woman doctor I saw didn't seem to believe I was having side effects from the tablets. I have to say that I have heard the "my mother takes them and she's OK" from a doctor and all I can say is "So what?" Everyone is different and just because he's a doctor it doesn't mean that he knows everything. They rely so much on the little black book that tells them all about the medications they dish out but it's getting the facts from the horses mouths, the people who actually take them, that matters.

    I am still prescribed the Adcal D3 tablets but have to admit that I don't always take them as I read that the calcium can build up and cause problems so if it's not one thing it's another. I wonder how many people are taking medication to counteract the side effects of another medication - thousands probably. My husband was put on blood pressure tablets and cholesterol tablets but he was getting terrible pains in his feet so he told the doctor he wouldn't take them any more and he's been fine since then - coincidence or what?

  • meg712
    meg712

    Posted

    Does anyone know if there is a time limit to how long this drug is taken for? My mother is 82 years old was given this drug some time ago and suffers from most of the side effects to varying degrees, yet neither her GP nor her hospital consultant have ever suggested she stop taking it.
    • Aristotle13
      Aristotle13 meg712

      Posted

      My GP insists that the absolute maximum time on AA is five years. By that time, it has done all the good that it could do. No comment about the bad that it does.
  • david465
    david465

    Posted

    My father in law is 92 this month. In December he suffered a broken hip. Recovery has been slow,expected at his age. About eight weeks ago he was prescribed Alendronic Acid tablets and the only thing I can say is the side effects have been horrendous. He has been suffering severe dizzy spells and nausea, cannot control his bowls, severe wind and the latest symptom appears to be ' confusion', something he has never suffered from before. He has become permanently tired and will spend most of the day in bed, if allowed. this is a man who seven months ago was travelling into Birmingham on public transport five times a week! Thankfully today his GP has taken him off them and, hopefully, he can get some of his old self back.

    I would've advise anyone who is elderly to take this drug.

    • Aristotle13
      Aristotle13 david465

      Posted

      Did your father in law ever recover from the drug and if so, how long did it take and how good was the recovery?
    • susan61469
      susan61469 david465

      Posted

      I suspect that one day AA will be classed along with drugs such as thalidomide. Even HRT which was once virtually pushed on every woman I know, is not quite so celebrated these days. It's a bad day when the 'illness' is preferable to the treatment!

    • Anhaga
      Anhaga susan61469

      Posted

      And prescribing it without even a DXA scan will be considered a form of malpractice.
    • susan61469
      susan61469 Anhaga

      Posted

      I haven't had a DEXA scan for several years now. I have been doing lots more reading and have ordered several books. There's one that looks good by Gillian Sanson called the 'Osteoporosis Myth'. A couple of things are interesting on her page: why do people with negative DEXA scores not necessarilly fracture bones, while those with 'good' DEXA scores often DO, I've supposedly had this condition for 15 years, or more and have had three quite heavy falls, twice caught on my wrist and once on my hip, but, (touch wood), no,fractures resulted from those falls. I've also had a couple of MRI scans where they've confirmed I have degenerative DISC disease, but they've never actually said any of my vertabrae are fractured?!? I'm just worried I'm going to be MADE to take this AA.

    • Anhaga
      Anhaga susan61469

      Posted

      How can you possibly be forced to take a medication you don't want and apparently don't need?  The DXA scan cannot show how strong and flexible your bones are.  Smaller women will naturally have lower bone mass, which is why the criteria for determining where one is on the bone density scale actually varies from country to country depending on the dominant ethnic group.  Discs are nothing to do with bones, they're the pads between the vertebrae.  We all lose height as we age because the discs become compressed.  Physiotherapy can help with pain caused by that.

      The only way to determine whether you have healthy trabecular bone, i.e. bone that is not full of larger holes (osteoporosis) is some sort of really invasive biopsy which would never be done for this purpose.  

      Can you change your doctor to one who is more open to helping you maintain your health than one who wants to give you drugs which are so very controversial, coming with the possibilty of side effects which are worse than "possible" OP?  

      We have to weigh the options.  In my case when I was first diagnosed my doctor mistakenly told me I had osteoporosis, so all my initial decisions were based on this assumption.  It turned out she was wrong and it is low bone mass, aka osteopenia.  This discovery made me very happy, but I was already on my way to natural recovery having decided that the risks of osteoporosis were not as bad as the risks from the drugs.  

      You know your body.  You know how you react to external forces, including foods, drugs, etc.  If you are a sensitive soul as I appear to be then it is wise to avoid stong medications unless you need something to preserve your life.

      I'll private message you the bibliography I've accumulated over the past year or so.  I've read a lot more but there's no point including everything.  I did run it by the moderator and as he didn't tell me I should change anything I assume it's ok.  

    • susan61469
      susan61469 Anhaga

      Posted

      Well, to be fair, I was first prescribed it about ten years ago, but just never took it. When I had the first hip replacement in June the hospital sent me home with a prescription for AA but as I said, I spoke with the older doctor I've known for years and he somewhat relunctantly agreed I shouldn't take it. I have now, after discussing it with you, decided on a course of action. I'll ask for an up to date DEXA scan, and ask if I have actually got any fractured vertebra because if I haven't I really don't see the necessity of taking such a dangerous drug. I shall also point out that my dentist, who I've also known for years, has only bad reports of the stuff and doesn't think it should be so freely given. Thanks!

    • Anhaga
      Anhaga susan61469

      Posted

      Good luck.  There is one thing I posted elsewhere on another forum, which isn't on that bibliography.  I'll send that along as well.  

  • cli
    cli

    Posted

    Thank you all for reassuring me I'm not dreaming this added pain, discomfort and generally feeling 'bleurgh'!

    I'm 36 and just taken my 4th weekly A Acid dose. I have OI so multiple fractures throughout my life (over 40 at least) and suffered severe SPD whilst pregnant for the first time last year. Following the birth my back pain was worse than ever (fractured thoracic vertebrae aged 12 so no stranger to back pain) and 2 lumbar vertebrae are collapsing, a DEXA scan revealed severe established Osteoporosis (-3.2) in my spine and both hips osteopenia. I'm lying here with aches and pains down my legs and my back pain is worse than ever, heartburn which I've only ever had while pregnant, have been tired and just not feeling well these past few weeks and it all seems to be making sense now. The most alarming thing I've read here is the 2 year gap before trying for a baby as we were planning on starting IVF before the end of this year (4th course due to bilateral salpingectomy) now I'm really worried this 4 weeks might have introduced another challenge on that front :-(

    Seeing my GP in the morning needless to say this will be top of the agenda, wish me luck Cli x

  • angie_lyn
    angie_lyn

    Posted

    i am also taking Alendronic Acid, one a week to stop the early stages of ostiopena, having had an operation for a tibial plateau injury. I also take calci chew vitamin d twice a day. I have recently over the last 8 weeks, had a really bad tummy, and bowel trouble, although i have been taking this medication for three years, i had a hospital appointment. I have a kidney stone that needs sorting. This can be the cause of a build up of calcium, how ironic! What should i do ?
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