Koala,

After I read your post, it dawned on me that my acid reflux has been better this week. I wonder if the Actonel was messing with my stomach also. I think I feel better because it's been 2 weeks since I took the pill.

I was taking a much higher dose of Prilosec (generic) which happens since I have a history of ulcers since 1983. It's hard to know what causes what when we have so many weird symptoms going on.



Becky......I too started on Actonel, but after a month, I was waking up every morning between 4 and 5 am and rushing to the bathroom in order to worship the porcelain goddess! I haven't even told my doctor yet that I stopped taking them about 3 months ago. I daresay she'll notice soon that I'm not asking for repeat prescriptions.[/QUOTE]

What they didn't know then....is that while the bones test
a bit denser on the scans....

That the capacity to MAKE new bone during an injury is lost on those drugs. It took many years to learn that. It shows up first in the jaw, since that bone is very thin, and active, for remodeling due to the teeth.

The esophogeal damage is less with the IV treatments, as offered to DM. But I don't know the stats on the jaw risks.

I put up some animated gifs in the past here to show how the bone is affected by the various treatments. That explains it better.

At this time Forteo is only one that builds new bone, that is available. But it has downsides too.

There is no perfect solution unfortunately.

This link has the gif and other information on strontium supplements as well.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...t=osteoporosis

mrsD,

I just remembered something after reading your post.

In 1986, when my son was 16, he was kicked in the shin hard enough to break his leg while playing soccer. I remember the Ortho telling us how broken bones healed from the outside in. David wore a cast for 3 months. It was not a clean break but angled in an L shape if I remember correctly.

After the cast came off, David was concerned about the bump on his shin. The Ortho told him that was the bone rebuilding that he had explained to us.
The body manufactures the bone outside first to protect the inside healing.

Does that sound right or am I confused after 23 years?

when you get a big injury... there is a callous formation to protect the underlying areas that are still healing.

You can see this on the skin, in a smaller scale. The bone would probably do this too.

Just letting you know mrsD, that I did have a gastric bleed which was the last straw and caused me to stop taking the Actonel. I've since seen a gastroenterologist and he thinks I probably tore my esophagus when I was vomiting. If I bleed again then he'll do a gastroscopy.

I will get around to talking to the GP about it, but although she is a top doctor, she's not easy to talk to. It's not easy to change doctor's here because of a chronic shortage of GPs, so most have closed their books and don't see new patients. Usually it's a case of waiting for some-one new to come to town, before you can see a different person.

I was just prescribed once a month actonel today. I am also 52. After reading these posts, I am really afraid to take it. I have had so many problems with meds. I was just dianosed with moderate to severe osteopenia. My back and neck have been really bothering me for a few months so I do feel like I have to try.

I have a feeling that my insurance would not approve iv treatments unless I have problems with the oral drugs. I am also nervous because I take nexium for GERD and have been on either prilosec or nexium for about 8 years. I was dx with three gastric ulcers eight years ago. Now I have read that they affect the absorption of calcium and that the gabapentin that I am on caused bone thinning. This is so frustrating!!!

Hi, Barb... I get a Vit D test pronto. You might get better results with that than with the Actonel.

Thanks! I am having one tomorrow. My results were normal two years ago. I am going to hold off on taking the actonel until I get the results and actually get to talk with one of my doctors in person. I am currently taking 1000mg of calcium with 400 iu of Vitamin D (need to switch to calcium citrate from carbonate) and an additional 1000iu of Vtamin D3. I just started this last week.

My doctor is not suggesting I try reclast instead of actonel due to my stomach issues.