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Osteoporosis meds and bone collapse: weighing the risks

DR. ANGELA M. CHEUNG

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 11:59 AM EDT 09/04/08

How great is the risk of osteoporosis drugs? ...Read the full article

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  1. g bloor from montreal, Canada writes: Unfortunately, this expert does not address the other side effects associated with bisphosphonates: heart arrhythmia, and the latest FDA alert dated Jan 7, 2008 highlighting the possibility of severe and sometimes incapacitating bone, joint and/or muscle pain in patients taking this class of drugs. These symptoms may appear within days, months or years after starting a bisphosphonate. The risk factors and incidence are as yet unknown. The other thing that is not mentioned in this article is that this class of drugs kills certain types of bone cells (the ones that break down bone), and since the half life is 10 years, they stay in your body for good (or for worse). There is no doubt that these drugs lessen fractures in most people, but they do a lot of other things that you may not be warned about by your busy doctor.
  2. Jorly fuster from Canada writes: What about dairy products? the highest cause of osteoperosis around. Of course most readers are stupid and will believe that dairy prevents bone loss. That's ok, you've got nobody to blame but yourself when your bones start shattering like crystal.
  3. Me in Ontario from Canada writes: I wonder whose briight idea it was to say that dairy has calcium good for the bones? I mean, its whats preached to kids too at school, commericals, health workers, etc. Who conjured up that theory?

    Vitamin D and excerise is what builds bone along with magnesium.
  4. George Hall from Canada writes: Hi technology and heavily processed medications are easily susceptible to being an antithesis to ones organic natural body.
  5. Baria Blastoff from Canada writes: I'd like to add my two cents worth about Alendronate (fosomax)
    I was taking it for close to a year, then was felled by a horrible ulcer, including horrendous cramps, nausea, vomiting etc, for about six weeks, two years ago.
    I was told to go off Fosomax as it was contra-indicated with the Nexius (for ulcers). later I found out that ulcers are the biggest side effect of Fosomax (in the small print that comes with the medication0 and as well, U.S. TV ads for Fosomax said the same thing. So I would never take it again. I am now on Strontium, a mineral, and Bone Up calcium
  6. C. M. from Halifax, Canada writes: and other bones meds will causee ulcers if you don't take the meds proberly

    Read the directions, You can't lay down for 30 min after taking them. I;ve been on them for 8 years and never had a problem

    EXCEPT> I do gt scans every 6 months because my bones are so bad and my spie is collasping and I am still quite young

    Now with this new reeport the meds could be making our bones worse

    My scans every 6 months are showing my bones are getting worse and I mean very very bad

    I switched from the REAL meds to generics becaue of the price. But since I did, is when my bones showed a much worse detoration

    This makes me wonder if generics are the real meds and we are being fed sugar pills?? But charged the price.

    I have a lot of questions about generic med.

    Are we getting the protection from them as we thought?? I don't think so.

    it is either that gernrics are a big fake or bone meds are distroying our bones faster.

    This implies to me we are getting screwed by pharmaceuticals one way or the other.

    To others who question dairy foods distroying our bones. I don't think so

    The first 2 years I was on Actonel, I drank 6 litres of milk a week and ate at least 400mg of hard cheese a week. My bone mass increased 5 1/2 % each year.

    But as soon as I switched to generics, my bones are falling to pieces and I can prove this as I have been using myself as an experiment

    I think I will go back on dairy

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