<p>I don’t use this RX and hope that hard weightlifting 3 x a week will prevent frail bones in the future, but I think I remember several women on CC mentioning they are using it or are considering it. </p>
<p>The risk looks like only 5-6% at this point, with 95% of women being helped a great deal…</p>
<p>anxiousmom - I had to laugh at reading your comment about guinea pigs. H works for a major pharma, like all others that has its share of problems.</p>
<p>The other night he left some paper work on top of his computer case, which was sitting on top of the kitchen table where we were eating. A couple of times I looked over to see what the papers were about… it was some sort of research report on some drug in the pipeline, and how different rats responded to the drug, depending on their age, dosage, etc. (more variables than I ever imagined), and why one rat, who took this particular drug, died less than 30 days into the trial, where other rats didn’t. Paragraphs were written about what could have caused that one rat’s death - it was like they were playing devil’s advocate. </p>
<p>Not having any science background of any sorts, it just boggled my mind that there are people out there paid to do such tedious research, then write paragraphs about what seems like such mundane things to me.</p>
<p>It made me realize that drug research is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If the FDA takes too long to approve of new drugs, or new applications to drugs, then it’s some sort of conspiracy to make people suffer. If they approve of it too quickly and years down the road, long-term effects are found, it’s a conspiracy to generate more money for the pharmas.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the answer is, but I will tell you that my H does not approach any of his research thinking let’s screw someone so I can end up with more money. But I certainly understand how it can be perceived that way.</p>
<p>I am not one who is anti all drugs, but I pulled the plug on using Boniva (after trying Fosamax). I think there is too much risk of problems with this class of medication. I am going to try to hold up my bone density loss (of which I do have some despite having been a competitive marathon runner for 30 years) for another 10 years or so and revisit the issue of meds.</p>
<p>I took the online calculator and got a 7% chance of genl fracture over 10 years, but a 0.6% chance of hip fracture over 10 years. About 5 years ago I took Fosamax for around a year, but it made me sick so I stopped. Later on that jaw death info came out and made me even less inclined to use it. At my last bone density scan the doc said my levels had either remained the same or improved, but she still thought I should either retry the Fosamax, or try one of the alternatives. I said no dice. If I am maintaining density or improving w/o the drug, why chance the side effects? </p>
<p>Now the same cannot be said for my estradiol pills, which my H refuses to let me quit due to the Jekyl and Hyde effect that results.</p>
<p>I plugged in my numbers to the calculator, too, but I’ve never had my density measured (I’m 45) and so left that part blank. I got a 0.2% chance of hip fracture and a little over 3.0% chance of general fracture. What confused me is that in the NYT article, the doc at the end said that Fosamax et. al should now only be prescribed for women with a 3% or greater risk… would that be me? That seems awfully low.</p>
<p>I tried increasing the weight on the calculator and the heavier I made it the lower the risk, which sort of ticks me off because we’re damned if we do (weigh more) and apparently damned if we don’t! My BMI is about 22, so right in the middle of normal, but it looks like the higher the BMI, the less chance of fractures. Am I reading this right? Maybe I should pack on some pounds… ha ha. (good excuse!)</p>
<p>Don’t laugh. Last time I was at the doctor’s for a physical she actually told me to put on a couple of pounds due to the risk of bone loss in smaller women. Now, I’m not saying I’m overweight, but I’ll be darned if I’m going to purposely put on some pounds JUST IN CASE it leads to thinner bones. I think I’ll just keep on doing the best I can with the information I’ve been given and live into the 90’s as all my relatives have. Who wants to live to a hundred anyway? Especially if it mean’s watching every bite and taking drugs that make me sick?</p>
<p>^^ The problem is that we want to live into our 90s and still be able to WALK without hip fractures etc. It really is damned if you do, damned if you don’t!</p>
<p>Thank you for your warning. But I must caution people reading into statistics. It is no joke if you are one of 5-6 people out of a 100 who gets fractured. There is also widely reported jaw-death of Fosamax users and they come down with disfigured jaws, unable to chew food properly rest of their lives. This is very serious. Study well before you choose.</p>
<p>Drugs have side effects, and the decision to use a drug must be made carefully … weighing the good & bad to see what comes out on top. My mom has taken Fosamax for many years. She has always been good about doing weight-bearing exercise, but was still at-risk. She is very slightly built, has scoliosis, and is definitely a great candidate for needing this drug. A couple years ago, she fell over while straddling her bike. She broke her pelvis. Last year, she fell while getting out of a pool. She broke the ball at the top of her ulna & fractured her shoulder. Her bones are so thin in the shoulder area that she had to wait a year just to see if it would heal on its own … and now she has to wait another 5 or 6 months to get in for the surgery, which is a huge deal due to other health issues. Recently, her heart doctor took her off Fosamax. He told her that her internist should never have left her on the drug for so many years … studies are showing that prolonged use is detrimental. It’s not easy knowing what to do.</p>
Sorry Terriwit, I didn’t mean to imply that researchers/pharma are just in it for the money - only that we are all guinea pigs for them! I question things each day I use shampoo (are the chemicals soaking into my body? What are they doing to the water we drink?), and put on lotion, and apply my deodorant, and… I realize that we are all part of the big experiment! Certainly 100 years ago people were not applying these strange new concoctions to their bodies, and ingesting these new compounds and medicines. (yeah, I do know some of them were applying leadbased makeup back then, and mercury in hats, etc… but surely there weren’t so many…)</p>
<p>anxiousmom: I think you unintentionally fell to the Recency Illusion. :p</p>
<p>The snakeoil industry was a major industry during the Gilded Age, as surely you must recall. Remember when Coca Cola with its cocaine was marketed as medicine? </p>
<p>The FDA was set up to combat an ill that had affected American society for centuries … not because mad scientists wanted to try out their new biochemicals on an unsuspecting society. Charlatans had been doing that for a long time – especially charlatans who weren’t experimenting – they just put in a bunch of weird solutions, knowing they wouldn’t work and sold them as medicine. At least mad scientists would <em>try</em> to make them work…</p>
<p>I’d rather live in the age of mad pharmaceutical researchers than in an age when women took heroin to cure their “hysteria”. ;)</p>
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<p>Maybe it’s a personality thing… it’s something that would pique me, especially if the drug was not supposed to induce any sort of death, even in rats. I have this tendency to try to fully document every possibility, and it annoys some of my teachers when I write lab reports that are three times longer than my average classmate’s. </p>
<p>I also take photographs of my cooking experiments and write blog reports about them. There’s this great inner urge to fully document every variation possible. (If the ratio of milk to melted-sugar water were my independent variable, how would it affect the consistency of my custard? Now, what if I vary the proportion of eggs…?)</p>
<p>Don’t worry, I didn’t take it that way, although many people do think that pharmas are out of control and only care about the bottom line. And please don’t take this to mean that I am justifying some of the unethical actions that pharmas take. </p>
<p>I am generally anti-drug , believing that they cause more problems than benefits, in the long run anyway. Our generation is too dependent on drugs. We want to be not only old and healthy , we want to be old and feel like we are in our twenties.
But there are some instances when you take a lesser risk. DH had a bad case of food poisoning while in Dubai (hot, hot, hot). Fever more than 40 C, unable to move a muscle, throwing up like a very sick cat. Called the doc in the middle of the night, got some antibiotics but never took it, since felt much better in A.M. Fast forward a couple of days, DH eats a fish or a suchi and the food poisoning comes back with a vengance. DH starts Cipro, feels better almost right away then flies to Europe for a funeral. A few hours after stepping off the plane he starts experiencing leg pain, which is getting more and more severe over the next few days . At first we thought DVT, but how possible is it for both legs to be affected. DH does not feel good about Cipro and stops taking it. Able to walk at the funeral, although needed a cane. The pain goes away and no problems since. It was over two years ago.
And now we are reading about tendon problems linked with Cipro.
DH was stupid to have fish/suschi in Dubai , but I do not believe he was the first one to experience that kind of a reaction after taking Cipro.
And Cipro/Levaquin is still the drug of choice in most hospitals in US.</p>
<p>I just checked the above link - it is really scary. But there is at least one product that I am familiar with - Vaseline 100% petroleum jelly, that gets a 0. My mom’s friend used it as a moisturizer for years and swears by it</p>
<p>I took Fosamax willingly, but each time I took it I felt like I had swallowed glass-and was sick for a week. My doctor prescribed Boniva, but I have yet to take it-I’m scared of the GI distress-the women in my family all shrink down to nothing as they age-but these new risk factors scare me even more.</p>
<p>My gynecologist wanted me to start Actonel 2 years ago after my bone density test. But I already have jaw problems, dental problems, TMJ, and have had 2 bone grafts that didn’t take. I may regret not taking it when I break something, but the risks just sounded too high for me. My oral surgeon/periodontist agrees. He has a big sign in his office saying to tell them if you have ever taken any of these drugs.
I’ve greatly increased my calcium/vitamin d and am walking a lot more. I just hope that’s enough for my small frame.</p>
<p>I took Fosamax for three years, but my bone density improved, so my doctor took me off 6 mos ago. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay off it for a long time!</p>
This doesn’t make sense to me, either – I got almost identical scores as Mercymom (7% chance of general fracture, under 0.6% chance of hip fracture- but I had absolutely no risk factors, BMI is 23.4. So it seems to me that age is the major factor influencing the score. (I tried keeping the same height/weight and just making myself 10 years younger, and sure enough the risk factor dropped to 3.4%).</p>
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