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I'm taking both evista and actenol for osteoporosis and am concerned with side effects. As of now, the biggest I have are night hot sweats and insomnia. Does anyone else take these drugs and what is your experience with them?
Posted in:
Exercise Cancer Surgery Alli Osteoporosis Warfarin Evista Hysterectomy Boniva Forteo Coumadin Physical therapy Breast cancer Actonel Pain Bone cancer Insomnia
Hi a1b2c3,
I took the one month pill of Boniva a couple of months ago. It didn't agree with me..
I had pain in every joint in my body, and felt sick for two weeks. I have Not taken another one.
I'm looking for an alternative that is not a perscription!
For me, I think it was a blessing that It didn't work out for me. I don't like what I have been reading about the side effects now.
I didn't know you can take Evista and Actenol at the same time!!!!
My cousin has been taking Actenol for a few years, and her bones have improved. She didn't have Osteoporosis. She has Ostopinia. She has never been sick on Actenol.
You might want to check through this group. There is allot of great information, about taking alternatives, or something else.
I'm finding there are so many different ways to go about inproving your bones, but then I read , where there are side effects to just about everything!
I guess you just have to figure out which is the right one for you.
I do take two different types of Calcium, D, and Mag, and allot of other Vitimins.
Exercises is very good for Osteoporosis, but you should make sure its the right type for you.
I go for Physical therapy, and she shows me the right type of exercise to do for me. I'm also starting a exercises class for people with Osteoporosis.
Take Care,
April
I have been only of Evista and the supplements like calcium, magnesium, vitamin D.........I started on Evista December 2006.....I had Osteoporosis at the start of Evista........I did have a few hot flashes but they were easy....nothing else except that when I had been on Evista 17 months and during my vaginal ultrasound my uterus lining went from 8mm before Evista to 15mm and then I had to have a D&C.....my two year mark on Evista I had a Bone Mineral Density the last of November and I was worse.........lost more in my spine and Evista is supposed to help the spine more than the hip.........I had a 1.5% increase in the hip someone told me....my doctor would not and now I get a letter from him to come in now that I have a new deductible and he will work on helping me........well, that won't work by man unless I take Boniva or Actonel and I will not take those drugs or Forteo so there is nothing for me.........anyway my spine showed 7.5% decrease so I don't believe it helped me at all..........I am going to call Eli Lilly this week and let them know their drug only messed me up..NOW, my spine could have been worse.......I am still believing in my healing.....I will take Evista until May and see what the second ultrasound shows on my lining. If it has grown back thick again it was the Evista and the crazy thing in tiny teeny somewhere it states on Evista that it can cause thickening of the uterus.........I wanted to write and tell you my experience.........I really believed in that drug.......the other drugs I am not risking at all.......Best to you.
I forgot to add that I called my uncaring doctor around the 12th or 10th of December because I went and got my results from the Imaging Center and they never called me back and so now I don't have the money right now to see him since I have a new deductible and he wants to really help me when he has ignored me for two years. He does not realize I am up more on it than he is and I just know he will want me to try Forteo.....NO it causes bone cancer in rats with doses 3-60 times more meds.......well, 3 times the amount is too much since that amount can cause bone cancer........better bones and then suffer with bone cancer possibility....no way. I wish we had someone in our small town to have exercises for people with Osteoporosis.......I am fed up with all this mess.
I took actonel weekly for 6 years with little or no side effects other than some hot flashes for awhile and perhaps some insomnia. It did not help my bone density scores though. During the 4th and 5th year, approximately, the doctor added Evista which I took for two full years. I was in my mid-50s and had had a complete hysterectomy years ago. Adding Evista did not help my dexa scores either. But it did trigger uncontrollable hunger and it took some research on the web for me to finally discover that my unexplained hunger was due to the Evista. During those two years, I gained 25 pounds and finally joined Weight Watchers to get it off and stay with them to keep it off. Because of my continued bone loss, I am now on Forteo and am holding steady on my dexa scores. Forteo can, in some women, cause abdominal weight gain and I've put on about 9 pounds in the tummy area in the year I've been on this drug. I would encourage Southernlady to do more research and not be so afraid of Forteo. The cancer/rat connection is just that - RATS! My grandmother ended up in a nursing home for the rest of her life from a broken hip due to osteoporosis; my mother is all hunched over in a wheelchair because of it too. My dad had loss of height as he got older. I do NOT want to end up like them!
Thank you all. One of the reasons I'm on Evista is becaue I am high risk for breast cancer and this drug seems to help. I did a urine test and turns out I was excreating too much calcium, so now I'm on a calcium binding drug since Oct. I go into see the doctor again next week and will let you all know what happens.
Evista has history of causing blot clots and stokes. I will not take it
I wouldn't chose Evista as a 1st med., but if one has stomach trouble with the others, blot clots don't look so bad. Plus, it appears if you survive the first 4 months you're probably gonna be okay. (Am I morbid or what?) ~ JJ
The doc that trying forcing Evista down my throat sounded like a Evista salesman, lost all cred with me!
Do some Docs still get kick-backs for prescriptions prescribed? Lordy knows we pay enough for them that drugs companies could easily do that.
Along with overseeing financial companies the feds ought to oversee private insurers and these drug companies when it comes to price gouging, and not taking care of their "clients" in a timely manner. <s>
~ jan
I know the staff in my doctor's office has lunch catered in EVERY DAY from reps from pharmcetical companies....and if they are that open, what do you think the doctor is getting? Exactly!
Hello Really, I'm curious if you have spoken with your doctor personally or with a written letter about any perks you feel the office is receiving from pharmaceutical reps?
I worked in a doctor's office for almost 2 years. Yes, we had catered lunches 2-3 times a week paid for by a pharmaceutical company. The only thing the doctor's got was a free lunch. And by allowing the reps to come in for lunch and talk to doctors for 20-30 minutes about their med, we got free samples to give to patients so they could actually try a med before paying for a prescription. Most times we gave 2 weeks to a one month sample to a patient. We also got free pens, note pads, calendars, staplers, etc. but that was all. The doctors didn't receive any money or anything other than the free lunch.
Try going to "askapatient.com" and plug in the name of your drug in the search box. You will be very surprised at what comes up, I am sure.
Hi Djatsw47:
I did check askapatient and this post I thought was the most relevant:
The only side effect I've had is the fear generated by reading other peoples' ratings! This drug has not caused me any problems that I can tell. I think rating drugs is a good idea - but take it all with a grain of salt - most of the people who post will post because they don't like a medication not because they think it is okay so you see truly horrific posts here while the majority of people don't have much of a problem so they don't post. I'm not saying that people don't have real problems but you have to put it into proportion. I read this board (askapatient) before taking Evista and it really scared me - I'm sorry I read it first and got all worked up. My doctor told me that this drug is out of your system after 24 hours so if you don't like it, you can go off of it pretty easily.
I like that last sentence, above, the best.
Some what similar to another little internet research project... I read 3 ratings on an under-the-counter TV I purchased in December. 2 said it was a piece of crap, 1 said they loved it. Since the price was right, and it was the only one of the size I wanted I got one. Guess what? I love it! It's on antenna and with the digital change, I get a picture as clear as our other TVs on cable. Seems when people are unsatisfied they take the energy to tell the world on the internet, whereas satisfied people just tell their friends via e-mail, phone or word-of-mouth. ;-) ~ JJ
Hey everyone, a blood clot is no fun and a serious health problem. My clot went to my lungs and last year I was 2 weeks in the hospital. Be careful with the Evista, many people have genetic blood clots disorders and are not aware.
Now I am on Coumadin for life.
Is there any test for genetic blood clots?
What are you taking now for Osteo? ~ JJ
Yes there are genetic blood tests for blood clots and because I had a blood clot, I was tested for all of them. Had to be off my Warfarin for 6 weeks. I tested positive for Protein S.
Now I take a large cocktail of supplements, Calcium citrate, calcium amino acid chelate, Vit D, no strontium.
I took Ezorb for more than one year, no change in my DEXA; I was disappointed as with all the internet rhetoric I gave it a try.
At the time I took Evista (before Ezorb) I did not know I had a genetic blood clot disorder. But then I did not take it daily, Evista gave me a headache. I think my blood clot came from physical activity. I was aware tht Evista could cause blood clots, I did not know I had a blood clot disorder.
I don't take anything for my oestro, my trauma orthopetic doc says it's better not to take anything than to deal with the terrible side effects of the current drugs on market. I do take calcium pills
Don't you think taking free lunches cheapens your office?
I'm not sure what you mean by "cheapens your office". I haven't worked there in 2 years so I'm not going to worry about it too much. If the pharmaceutical reps don't come into doctor's offices, then patients are not going to have free samples to try. Plain and simple.
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