<p>jym626, sorry to take so long to answer your question, but I just saw this thread pop back up with your question about Boniva and memory loss. I was surprised that my MD took it seriously. I thought she’d look dubiously at me over her eyeglasses but she didn’t. The memory loss was the scariest thing. I noticed it but thought that maybe I was just overtired or something and that it would go away, but day after day it didn’t. I couldn’t remember things like what the kids wanted at McD’s when we’d pull up to the window, and I did all sorts of things like putting the wrong items in the wrong places. My mother was suffering from dementia at the time and I thought maybe I was having some sort of sympathetic symptoms or something because I was acting like her! I thought to myself,’ I’ll wait one more week, and if this continues I’ll go see a neurologist". The worst part was that my kids and husband noticed it. They’d say, “Mom, I just TOLD you that!! Why are you asking me AGAIN?” and my husband said, “Where is your head? Not screwed on tightly or WHAT?” It was awful. Then I reviewed the very few meds I’m on (just hypertension pills) and connected it all with when the Boniva started. Literally, within a week I was my normal (as normal as I get…ha ha) self again and no one in the family’s mentionned anything . When I told the MD she said, “we don’t really know the long term effects of these drugs or what organs they may affect. The less time you’re on them, the better” and since my last posting in Nov. about it she’s taken me off. Hope that answers your question!</p>
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<p>Kind of like hormone therapy and the oversubscribing of birth control pills in the '70’s, before they realized that smoking and birth control pills could have disastrous consequences. I sometimes feel that women are guinea pigs and lucrative objects for drug companies.</p>
<p>dke – I’m glad your memory problems were just temporary! </p>
<p>Eight years ago, when we were remodeling the house, the woman who was in charge of ordering our windows was having severe memory problems, and in fact, it really screwed up our remodel. She thought she had ordered our windows when she hadn’t. Finally we contacted the manufacturer, who confirmed they hadn’t been ordered. Then she said she would order them and forgot again! I remember her saying she was doing a trial for an osteoporosis drug (don’t know which one) and me thinking, “geez, why don’t you stop the trial!” Our contractors had never had a problem with her before. </p>
<p>A while later I read an article about some oseoporosis drugs and memory loss – wish I could remember more about it . . . (Hey, it was a few years ago, after all!) I would like to be sure I wouldn’t have memory problems before I take a drug, since my memory already isn’t the greatest . . .</p>
<p>Count me in as one who is appalled at the amount of over-medicalization these days. Doctors are bombarded by drug companies with “studies” telling them to lower thresholds, diagnose more, and put more people (most often women) on lifelong drug therapy. The articles I’ve read about women being hounded by doctors to go on HRT in the past are chilling, especially now that we know the risks.</p>
<p>I’m in favor of treating symptoms, not suppositions. Certain body types may run to osteoporosis, but I’m not one of them–the one time being a little overweight is a good thing :)! So I am not going to let myself be guilted into every could-be that someone has invented a drug for. It’s getting so life in itself is a symptom. Those who truly have real diseases should of course be treated, but life itself is not a disease.</p>
<p>I’m not saying, believe me, that those who feel more comfortable following protocols shouldn’t, or that those with issues should grin and bear it. I do think, though, that there is an overkill in diagnosing and treating which is not benign, either.</p>
<p>The dexa scan room looked like it had been decorated by Fosamax. Fosamax measuring station, posters etc. Wonder how many free lunches came with talks to discuss the drug. However, the tech was more into Actonel. Will see what the nurse practioner says next week. I was not happy with the physician I saw last year but stayed with the group. So far I am comfortable the NP.</p>
<p>Having seen the effects of hip fractures in elderly females, I will take my chances with the Boniva. I am a distance runner and do other weight bearing exercise, and still have loss of bone density at 54. I have been on Boniva about 9 months and have had no memory loss and absolutely no side effects.</p>
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<p>Best I can tell osteoporosis is actually pretty common in Japan. Where’d you hear otherwise?</p>
<p>Japanese people eat a lot of soy, which is supposed to help with good bone health.</p>
<p>I take Actonel, have taken it for may six or seven years, and plan to never stop. At only 5’ 0" tall, slim build, with a mother and two grandmothers who had severe osteoporosis, and an older sister who’s already shrunk an inch, I take this VERY seriously. I’m 58 and have osteopenia, and I’m damned if I’m going to let it get worse. I take 1200 mg of calcium every day, 1000 mg of Vitamin D, and a multivitamin. I also do significant wieght-bearing exercise – free weights, machines, treadmill, walking – at least three times a week and I try for more. This is my most major health concern. Given my family history, it’s what I have the most to be concerned about – not cancer, not heart disease, but a hip fracture and the resultant deterioration, pneumonia, and death. I plan to live to 100, and I need strong bones to do that.</p>
<p>VeryHappy,</p>
<p>I still saw a lot of older women with classic signs of osteoporosis.</p>
<p>[ed. note: An article I just looked at suggested that bone density loss is as high in Japan, while fractures are lower. It argued it may be due to lifestyle differences.]</p>