Osteoporosis...t score -3.4.......what meds to take.

You make an excellent point about use of walking aids; fractures do not generally occur unless a person falls, and if someone falls they are not spared the risk of fracture, osteoporosis medication or not. I don't think the studies are sophisticated enough to determine how many fractures are prevented in relation to actual falls; at any rate, I've not gotten a straight answer to this question from any of the doctors I've posed it to.

The doctors like to repeat the mantra that any drug has potential side effects, or tradeoffs, as they often put it. What I've not found them willing to address is the issue of the half-life of the osteoporosis medications -- i.e., the very valid concern that, if somone is unlucky enough to have a catastrophic problem due to Fosamax or another bisphosphonate, it won't be enough simply to stop taking that drug, as it is in one's system for up to ten years. When I've directly mentioned this concern to the doctors, the response is generally a blank look, which I suspect is due to their not having any convincing comeback as to how this level of risk is an acceptable "tradeoff" for the by no means guaranteed benefit of increasing one's bone mass.

 

Hello, I have recently been diagnosed with Osteoporosis, after reading about all the drugs and their side effects I decided I wasn't going to take any of them. I already suffer from half the side effects before i even look at the drugs, and some can make Asthma worse, which I have. My Asthma nurse would tell me to take more reliever inhalers which are steroids, making the Osteoporosis worse. I don't know my T-score, and I don't want to. If I hadn't fractured 2 metatarsals in my foot, and pointed out the radiographer said my bones looked osteoporotic I wouldn't know now that I had osteoporosis, and I would still be living in ignorant bliss, which I wish I was.

I'm treating mine the natural way with calcium, etc, containing foods, weight bearing exercises when I'm able to do them, and I'm taking "Bonexcin" Google it, it's expensive as it comes from the USA, but I prefer that to the bisphosphonates. They just kill off the osteoclasts which remove dead bone, so you are left with dead bone increasing your bone density, but it's not good bone it makes your bones more brittle and more likely to fracture. I was a radiographer and X-rayed more fractures not caused by osteoporosis.

I am 70 too and have heart disease so I have to be careful on how much clacium supplements I take, especially calcium carbonate, because over the years it can cause heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

That's my story and what I'm taking, there can be mild side effects from some of the ingredients in Bonexcin, I only take half the daily dose. My GP said if I changed my mind and wanted to take one of the drugs then to go back, and I just thought "no way".

I hope you find something you feel happy with taking and it helps you. It seems like it's treat one condition and cause another, I didn't want to take the chance of osteonecrosis of the jaw and a sudden fracture of the femur through taking drugs. If I was going to fracture my hip I would have done it when I fractured (minor) my foot because I landed heavily on my hip. My other suggestion is just be careful and use a walking stick when out walking.

If you're interested there are support groups around the country and you can contact the National Osteoporosis Society.