Mom had problems with Fosomax & quit, she talked to her 7th day Advent sister 1st. Sis says Fosomax turns your bone hard & useless. ACtonal has 6 pages in Physicians' Desk Reference book(1 dr. uses in his office) I got 1 since my mom had so many bad reactions. Now I check the drugs out 1st before she takes them. Detrol LA nearly killed my mom 2 yrs ago she took it for 2 weeks got unbelieveable muscle pain, hospital didn't have a clue, did MRI's after 10 days in hospital they put her in nursing home for month. I asked them for list of what she was taking- they were giving her Detrol LA -she was so dried up I was rubbing her feet with lotion, chapstick for her lips.I told them to get her off it & Bingo- I checked her out & she started getting well. It works well on some but on others it takes water out of cells of body, without it nothing works right!! DIL took Zocor-statin to lower cholestrol- got thyroid tumors- needed surgery- I told her to get off it before she went to appt in 2 weeks- by then dr. said he couldn't understand why they shrunk- no more zocor-so moral of this is check out what they are giving you & if you feel lot worse, wise to stop taking it. Oh MOst osteoporosis drugs are estrogen based. Actonal isn't. Safer is take calcium & be sure you take Vit.D some magnesium & zinc.Jan

My spine is fine but I have it in my left hip and osteoporosis in my right hip - pretty much due to the fact I've been a right above knee amputee since age 25 - no weight bearing on that hip joint in 27 years. It's only been about the last 5 years that I've had a prosthetic leg that allows me to walk very far but since I've had that I now walk about about 45 mins several times a week - less in the winter when it's slippery outside. I also ride an Airdyne exercise bike several times a week but biking doesn't help prevent osteoporosis - though I think the upper body resistance may have some benefit for arms and shoulders. In any case, left side has also suffered as a result of lack of walking over the past years. I drink about a quart of milk a day and take a calcium & D supplement to make up for any daily milk shortage. I also take a generic version of weekly Fosamax. I'm not due for another bone density test for a little over a year - at that time I guess I'll see if the medication is helping. Since I already have this problem at a pretty young age and am probably at a much higher risk of falling at some point in my life, I figured the benefits of taking some medication to mitigate the risk of a hip fracture far outweighed the risks.

There may be a connection, but the stronger connection is probably the periodontal disease itself, and insufficient dental/ gum care. The reason I say this is because I have recently been dealing with periodontal problems, and I have no indications of osteoporosis. My teeth are in reasonably good shape because I have been taking good care of them for the past ten years, but the years of neglect before that caused problems that can't really be fixed, so regular maintenance is important these days. I'm sure that measures toward maintaining good bone health can't hurt anything, and would probably be beneficial, but good dental care and regular cleanings will probably be more effective. When I went for my first root planing and scaling a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a couple of brochures at the periodontist's office. One of them mentioned hormonal changes as a contributing factor in gum disease. Mrs H

Hi Kids, My gastro is all done and it was a snap. The results were negative which is good and bad. No damage from the Fosomax but the Dr. want's me to now have a barium (sp?) swallow. I have an appt for that to be done this Thursday morning. But, I'm thinking that I need to talk with my Primary Care first. I have chest x-rays twice a year and am due for a chest C-scan in June. I would feel better if My PC knew of yet another radio-active event before it happens. For all of you very smart KT people...barium does have a radio-active eliment to it, right? Anyway, we were at the endoscopy center at 12:00. the process was fast and I was completely out for it. I was all finished, and was walking back out the door, heading for the car at 1:30. Not bad. I slept for most of the afternoon 2:30 - 6:00. My husband picked up chinese food for dinner so all was well. Thanks for your good thoughts. I appreciate them. sooey