hi,
did anyone see the ny times article yesterday entitled osteoporosis drugs taken may weaken bones. link below. very scary. any thoughts on this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/health/15well.html?ex=1216785600&en=02dd6 c110b1febbe&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Maybe I did something wrong, but I put in the address
you gave and am unable to access the article. I'd like
very much to see it. Thanks for sharing this information.
Hi b1: Thanks for the article it was very interesting. There is another thread on this board where we discussed this topic and Duranee1 posted a lot of good articles on this.
I'm not taking any BP's however I did take Actonel for a little over a year. I haven't had a fx since 2003, so I'm doing pretty good. I just finished Forteo and started Evista. So far no side effects with the Evista, plus I didn't have any with the Forteo.
In regards to this rare type of fx that is associated with BP's I still think the number of people being affected is low considering the number of people who have taken this drug over the last 20 years. BP's were and are still being used in cancer treatment so they've been around a little longer than some may think. I'm mainly talking about the older drugs like Fosamax and the iv BP's.
I don't have the stats on how many people are on these types of drugs, but the number of people they've helped far out weighs the number of people the drug has hurt. That's not to say that this isn't happening, it is, but the numbers are still really low considering how many people around the world take these types of drugs.
Everyone should be careful with any medication, and have regular x-rays just to check on your bones. I know some Dr.'s don't feel that x-rays are necessary until you injure yourself, but my Dr likes to check me (spine and hip) along with a dxa, plus they do the VFA (vertebral fracture assessment) that is included *in some* dxa scans. If you don't go to a facility that has this VFA, check with the ISCD (International Soc of Clinical Densitometry) to see if your dxa clinic is using the VFA technology. I'm not suggesting you *switch* to another clinic, because having your dxa at the same place/same tech each time is very important, if you can do that, but if a situation ever comes up where you have to change to a new scanning center, check the new one out at the ISCD to see if they are certified and if they use the VFA technology with dxa's. If you go to the website mentioned there's a link to look up Dr.'s/clinics names that are certified in the field of densitometry.
Thanks for the article and I hope you don't ever have to deal with this type of fracture.
http://www.inspire.com/groups/national-osteoporosis-foundation/journal/bone -growth/?recommend
Take Care...
http://www.consultwebs.com/fosamax-alert.html
http://www.nafella.com/naflogger/?EyeOnHealth/Osteoporosis_medication_and_i rregular_heartbeats
http://www.drbenkim.com/osteoporosis-drug-dangers
Jacqueline, when i clicked on the link it took it awhile to complete the link after the ads. If you haven't done so, try it again.
Thanks a lot, Blues. I found the link.
yes i did see the article, yes it is quite alarming isn't it, i already have discomfort in the tops of my legs, i walked extra carefully today!
Add to the discussion