Osteoporosis treatment side effects effecting me

by Madeline
(Scotland)

In 2002 I was diagnosed with osteopenia in my thigh and osteoporosis in my back. I was started on Fosamax straight away. After 18 months on this I was pleased I had no side effects. The fact that I was going to physio for sore muscles in my arms was not associated with this. I thought it was caused by throwing the ball for my dog. It was not until it was getting worse and affecting other muscles that I looked at the side effects of the medication and found that in small print it said it could cause some muscle and joint ache.

I stopped the treatment and within a few months it got slightly better so I started again and found within 3 months it was worse than before. I then stopped taking Fosamax altogether. Looking back, I also went to the dentist because my jaw was clicking a lot when I tried to chew anything other than very soft food and I was given a brace which did not help at all. I thought it was caused by chewing gum. Within the year after stopping Fosamax this almost disappeared, although I still get it clicking slightly if I chew something very hard. It is now 7 years since I stopped the Fosamax.

I went on a trampoline in 2006 as I used to trampoline in a club when I was younger. Thinking that falling off the trampoline would have been a problem I just did a couple of very gentle jumps to see if I was at risk of falling off or not, I felt very confident that I would not. I did the next step and brought my feet up and landed on my knees, keeping my back very straight (thank goodness) as I felt a bang bang crack and knew I had done something bad - I had broken my back at T11 and compacted my Lumber.

My doctor then put me back on bisophosphonates. 2 years later I had slight discomfort at the top of my stomach which turned out to be a hiatus hernia. ( I can deal with that no problem) At the time of finding this out they also found out that I had Gastritus, duodenitus and an erosion (beginnings of a stomach ulcer, none of which gave me any symptoms at all - my conclusion was that this must have been caused by the Actonel I had been on for 18 months. I then stopped the Actonel against my Doctors advice.

I tell you this as I have only now developed severe back ache and my doctor sent me for an X-ray which came back that I had osteoporotic compression fractures, which I think may have been caused when I broke my back and not directly caused by the osteoporosis. My doctor now wants to put me back on bisophosphonates. I NOW DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. I am food combining and trying to have the best alkaline diet I can and take supplements to help but don't know if I am doing the right thing or not.

I am going to seriously consider everything this article says and see if I can do as much as possible to reverse my osteoporosis.
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Good luck with what you try. Anything will be better than the drugs, basically. Just be sure you're getting plenty of rmagnesium and Vitamin D as a minimum.