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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
I understand the reps have to come in to promote their products....but I doubt you know what is paid under the table to the doctor. If the doctor is going to promote a product, he MUST tell all the good and bad about a drug. If a doctor only tells the positive about a drug and it is obvious to the patients that there is a "relationship" with the drug rep....the first thing I do is investigate the drug online. If I find out the kind of information about Evista that the doctor "forgot" to tell me...then logic will tell you there is a lot more than meets the eye. I feel this doctor is not being honest with me because of being in bed with the drug companies. If I am wrong, then why don't the doctors tell their patients up front what is going on with the drug reps? It just all too shady. Maybe Evista is not a bad drug....but knowing the doctor hid information from me when I point blank asked him...I don't trust this doctor and will look for another one...but it seems this is common practice for doctors. I am not directing towards you personally, but the system is broken and the patients pay with their health. Hope those free lunches are worth the risks patients are put at, but you keep justifying it as the only way we can get samples...you know that is not true. Samples will be given out to doctors. Ever heard there is no "free lunch"?
Yes inactivity can cause blood clots such as what happened to David Bloom, I had blood clots and was unaware and my physical activity caused them to visit my lungs. Sometimes blood clots are silent, my first clue, I was short of breath, could not breathe and talk at the same time. Coughing up blood. Ugh
I did not have red or swollen legs; my Mother had the red and swollen legs.
Besides genetic, blood clots can be caused by surgery, trauma, birth control, HRT, Evista, cancer, cancer treatment, flying, etc.
Char you wrote: . I think my blood clot came from physical activity.
I thought it was inactivity that could cause a problem with Evista, like sitting in a car/plane for a long period. I was wondering if sleeping would be a problem?
Course with me, I get up several times a night usually due to hot flashes, so if this is the drug choice for me, I may be getting up more often. Clots may be the least of my worries. Sleep may be #1. <s>
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.
Don't you think taking free lunches cheapens your office?
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
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.
Is there any test for genetic blood clots?
What are you taking now for Osteo? ~ 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.
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
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.
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.
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 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!
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
The doc that trying forcing Evista down my throat sounded like a Evista salesman, lost all cred with me!
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
Evista has history of causing blot clots and stokes. I will not take it
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.
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!
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