Also within the bisphosphonate family is a drug called Zometa (zoledronic acid) which has two qualities by way of advantage over the the initial pamidronates. It is I'm told about 4 times as strong and infuses (that is goes into a vein, in contrast to blocks, which are injections of local anesthetics along with perhaps other medications directly into a specific site) in 15 minutes, as opposed to 4 hours.

I've been getting periodic infusions of Zometa for the last 2 - 3 years and it has helped substantially with the worst of my "bone crushing" pain. The one major caveat is that if you need or receive significant dental work, such as root canals, anytime around date of the infusion, there is a significant chance that it will cause "jaw necrosis," death of the bone tissue within the jaw. Accordingly, my pain doctor requires a certification from the dentist that I'm in good dental health, before proceding with the infusions.

The Pamidronate (Aredia) for the RSD in both legs went into a vein, this was back in 1998. I had to have 5 consecutive IVs, 1 each day through a central catheter in my hand. The IV normally had 4hrs. to run through, but some days it ran through in 2 hrs. and that's when the flu-like side-effects were bad. When it had 4hrs. to run through, the side-effects didn't bother me that much.

But yes, I've been told there are "better" bisphosphonates these days, like Aclasta, that need much less time to run through, we're talking minutes instead of hrs.