FOSAMAX Reviews (ALENDRONATE SODIUM)Average Rating: 1.4 (1230 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare FOSAMAX with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Age oldest to youngest. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 |
More on FOSAMAX: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR FOSAMAX | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | osteopenia | Horrible GERD, back pain, neck pain, hair loss. Had to have upper GI tests, now taking Nexium to try and heal. | Does the person who posted a 5 and said to talk to your doctor before reading to comments work for Merck? People should trust their doctors but also be self-educated. I wish I had read these posts BEFORE I went to my doctor for my well woman check up. I would have thought very seriously about taking this drug. I've been ill for 3 months and when I went in to see my doctor in early Nov., I was a perfectly happy, healthy woman. I can't believe this drug isn't hurting everyone who takes it in some way. It's dangerous! Don't be afraid of doing research BEFORE you let a doctor prescribe any drug. The patient information provided by Merck isn't complete and lies. I took the drug exactly how it was prescribed and still got very, very ill. Merck minimizes the side effects. | F | 56 | 1 months | 2/4/2006 | 1 | osteoporosis | dry mouth and sore stomachs headaches joint pain especially in back and right hip. 2 years after taking Fosomax I still have the aches plus some. | I was on it for 18 months before my Dr wrote to me and advised me to stop taking Calcium. I queried it but apparently was because of possible stroke. 3 weeks later I developed jaw ache and found it tiresome eating so in Nov 2010 my wife searched for side effects and found out not only can you get Osteonecrosis (Jaw Death) that Dentists in USA refused to treat patients on Fosomax but also a woman had cracked her femur. It was another month before I plucked up the courage to stop taking this drug. Hope is everything with this disease but to have that shattered? Only to find out that my Hiatus Hernia diagnosed after heavy boating and aching of stomach thru a top and tail and never put two and two together. So many others are saying the same thing but to do more research into this terrible drug gets even more scarier. A few months ago I once again developed jaw ache after stopping Phyto Estrogens to stave off Osteo; and realised that ww are dealing with the worst drug ever designed by man bar Cigarettes. It has not left my system!!! And reading about Oestroclasts being destryed too????!!!! I am in big trouble. If I could just get a decent sleep from aching back and hip and stomach ache I might feel atleast a little better. Is there an Antidope for Fosomax? The better be working on it!!! | M | 56 | 2 years na 1X W | 9/17/2012 | 1 | osteoporosis | I felt like I had been hit with a baseball bat by my left hip,it hurt so bad. I was limping from the pain. Next, my right thigh started feeling the same type of pain. Then the left side of my jaw started hurting so I just quit taking it. | There's no way I'm going to have my jawbone eaten away or have my femur fracture. Having the above side effects made me think it could be precisely the beginning of those two horrible conditions. | F | 56 | 8 months 70 1X W | 1/18/2013 | 1 | Osteoporosis | My wonderful wife made a decision to stop taking Fosamax seven months ago at my urging. The decision resulted from discovering this incredibly helpful website. Thank you all (and this website) for posting side effects which helped us to get to the bottom of what was causing all of her symptoms! Linda took the once a week version of Fosamax for 2 years and the daily dose for 2 years prior (approximate). It took several months for all the adverse side effects to stop. Here is how Linda described her many symptoms in a letter to her MD who was not fully aware of the risks these drugs posed to her patients: "You may recall that I have variously complained about arm and leg pain, insomnia, dizziness, and plantar faciatis. Because I didn't want to sound like a raving lunatic or a hypochondriac, I didn't tell you about everything, but you can add to the list: extreme itching, shin and thigh pain, joint pain (esp. knees and hips), stabbing eye pain and blurry vision (N.B. Please se | Linda has made a remarkable recovery--four months after stopping Fosamax the side effects were mostly gone. She is almost pain free, sleeps through the night, no longer suffers from severe depression and has lost the 20 pounds she gained while taking the drug. She feels like a new woman. I am really happy that we were able to get to the bottom of the problem with the help of this website and your posts. The warning literature only hinted at the problem. It seems that the once weekly, monthly, quarterly (Boniva injection) increase the incidents and severity of side effects. It also seems clear that the longer the drug is used the higher the probability of generating various and/or more severe side effects. This is Fosamax's dirty "little" secret, which members of the bisphosphonate class of drugs all share. Based on what I have read, the risks of these drugs far outweighs the benefits. What is more alarming is that MDs seem to be unaware of the severity of the side effects | F | 56 | 4 years | 1/11/2006 | 1 | osteopenia | Stiff back, lower back pain, jaw pain, extreme basal thumb joint pain. | It started in my back, then went to my basal thumb joint (which already needed a joint replacement, but was doing great with msm). Has now gone into my jaw, and I feel so very old at this moment. I have stopped taking Fosamax, and have started on ibuprofen. I only hope that the pain will go away. My pharmacist says it takes about 3 weeks for the pain to subside. Never again for Fosamax!!!!!!!!!! I am presently in Nursing School and must take notes all day long. I get tears in my eyes as it hurts so much to hold a pencil or pen. | F | 56 | 5 weeks | 11/27/2005 | 1 | Oseoporosis | On the evening of the first day I took the drug, I gradually developed severe lower back pain. Also tightness across chest. Aches moving up back into back ribs. Wrists and overall join ache. Slight nausea. Full feeling in chest/diaphram area. This continued with slight easing off each day for 4 days plus. I am a pretty pain tolereant person, but this was nearly as severe as labor pains of child birth without medication (which I have done). | My Dr. says not related to the drug, that I must have pulled muscles in my back. Told me to take pain relievers and lay on a heating pad. Husband mentioned my condition to a friend that is also a Dr. and he immediately new it was the Alendronate Sodium and said STOP taking it. The side effects in the pharmacy leaflet mentions "increased or severe bone/joint/muscle pain". I'll say! I will NOT be taking this again! | F | 56 | 1 weeks 70 mg 1X W | 12/30/2011 | 1 | 1 Year | I remember the first time I took Fosamax I was standing in the shower when an intense flushing wave started in my head and flowed through my entire body. My vision went dark and I experienced tunnel vision. I almost fainted. My heart began a rapid pounding that subsided around 10 min later. My doctor insisted that Fosamax did not cause heart palpitatons. He said that he did the research. He asked me if I wanted to be a jelly fish after menapause and insisted that I remain on Fosamax. I reluctantly took it for the next year. Three years ago I went to my current doctor who does an EKG on all new patients. My EKG showed that I had an arrythmia. He ran a Cardiolite and diagnosed me as false positive since there were no other symptoms. Last month, I started having intense arrythmias. They have changed my life. I've cut out all caffine. I can't have even a glass of wine. Meals are almost terrifing to me. When I eat some foods, my heart goes racing and it can last all night long. I have an ap | F | 56 | 360 days 1X day | 7/2/2011 | 1 | osteopenia | I have been on the generic form of Fosamax for over a year. I have started having debilitating pain and stiffness in my knees and hips when awake and that actually wakes me at night. I am wondering if this drug could be the cause. I am only 56 and am otherwise healthy. I am taking myself off this drug after reading all these posts that sound so similar. I used to love walking and now can't get around the block. I have been to 3 doctors and not 1 of them suggested that I may be experiencing a side effect of this drug! | F | 56 | 18 months 1X W | 2/18/2011 | 1 | Exercising, taking vitamins, fish oil, and herbs. Oscal, caltrate, calcium supplements, vitamin D , plus a good diet is good. I use horsetail tea (an herb) is great for building bones. | F | 56 | 0 days 0 1X O | 9/3/2010 | 1 | DO NOT TAKE. POISON. | F | 56 | 0 days 0 1X O | 12/14/2010 | 1 | osteoporosis | Developed sudden and severe pain in thumb joints and in right hip. Am a professor and could barely drive to school or open a door to a classroom. Went to doctor who declared I must have osteoarthritis--until x-rays showed none. Asked whether problem was Fosamax but doctor doubted it. Eventually, was fitted with casts for night and thumb splints for day. Re-read label after hands got worse. Decided to stop taking drug on my own. After many months entirely off the Fosamax (I had given up hope of recovering), use of hands gradually (almost imperceptibly) came back to near-normal. One year later, even though we've entered the severe cold/snowy winter season, I now have zero hip pain and zero pain in/full use of hands; I am ecstatic. I am on this site for the sole purpose of telling ANYONE with painful side effects to immediately cease the use of this drug. I experienced a year of heartache and inability to cook, grade papers, open doors, or drive normally--all thanks, I deepl | Use your best instincts. If in pain, please STOP TAKING THIS. | F | 56 | 2 months 1X W | 12/22/2010 | 1 | Mild osteopenia in hips | I am 56 and showed very slight ospeopenia in my hips. I had no severe side effects..just noticed bloating and constipation. But, after 3 months of taking this, I started noticing horrible hip pain, mostly while I sat or layed down. At first I did not know what was causing this, until I decided to read the insert. Well, this hip, bone pain has only gotten worse. I cannot sleep and am miserable. I walk quite a bit, with intermittent running, and I can no longer do that. After looking through this site, I have decided that stopping this med is in my best interest. I will only take Calcium with Vitamin D and hope for the best. | Looking thru this, it appears as if all osteoporous meds have these types of side affects. | M | 56 | 120 days 70mg 1X W | 3/1/2010 | 1 | I personally take vitamins, exercise daily, and use herbal remedies and take TUMS. Doctors perscirbe this poison, so they can make money, that is all they care about. | F | 56 | 0 days 1X O | 4/10/2010 | 1 | slight bone loss | bone aches, muscle aches, swollen painful hands and feet, can't totally close my fingers, had to stop wearing my rings, by evening my whole body aches, sitting and getting up is painful. feel 90 and am only 56. | Thought I was just getting old and stiff, husband said it just didn't seem right the way I felt, encouraged me to do research, found this web site and was amazed that all had the same side effect that I had. What a relief, but now I am angry that no one warned me, especially the drug company. Don't take this and warn others! | F | 56 | 14 months | 6/26/2005 | 1 | osteoporosis | PLEASE READ THE PAMPHLET INCLUDED WITH THE MEDICATION!!! I had most of the side effects related with taking this drug. Flu-like symptoms with extreme joint, muscle and bone pain along with vomiting. Also, had a rash/hives develop. Taking the medication has wiped me out for at least 3 full days. Please be cautious, if your body is sensitive to medication. | F | 56 | 1 days | 7/26/2005 | 1 | osteoporosis | Extreme pain in upper and lower legs, itchiness in legs. | Within hours of taking my weekly Fosamax pill, I experienced a sudden weakness in my legs and extreme pain. I had extensive tests ordered by an endocrinologist. Since all tests came back normal, the doctor's diagnosis was that I had had a severe reaction to the bisphosphonate in the Fosamax. Despite discontinuing the use of Fosamax, I have continued to have severe leg pain for 5 weeks. The doctor could not tell me when I would have relief. I had previously had mild leg pain in the first few months of taking the medicine, however this extreme pain came on suddenly after 23 months on the medicine. Bone density scans indicated an actual decrease in bone density during the time I was taking Fosamax - a change from osteopenia to osteoporosis. My doctor advised that I not take this medicine again. I have no intention of taking it again; I think this is not only an ineffective drug but a dangerous one as well. | F | 56 | 23 months | 7/24/2005 | 1 | Doctor Rx - back bone density low | I have been getting progressively weaker leg muscles. Was walking with a cane after double knee replacement, but have gotten worse. Now must rely on a walker to get around. Have been tested -4 MRI's, nerve conductivity, spinal tap -all normal. If this is a result of Fosamax, I cannot believe what terrible pain and suffering I have endured as a result. I cannot get out of a chair without arms and can barely turn over in bed. I cannot get into or out of bed normally. I must use my arms to lift my legs to get in bed and the car and must use my arms to pull myself out of bed or the car. I was concerned that I had a form of spinal deterioration, but now I am not sure. I am going to discontinue fosamax immediately. | I have an appointment in three weeks to see a neurologist at a major clinic. Perhaps he can shed some light on this. Meanwhile, I will stop the drug. I have been taking it for probably 4 years and have seen progressive deterioration which I presumed at first was due bad knees, then some sort of other disorder, but now I am really unsure, scared and mad all at the same time. | F | 56 | 4 times | 7/9/2006 | 1 | early osteoporosis | Wicked headaches. Indigestion and heartburn, which weren't too bad in the beginning, but increased over time. Bone pain, mainly hips and back. I was fairly energetic before, but felt old and tired within a month of starting fosamax. | I stopped taking it. Bone pain went away, and the headaches stopped. BUT the digestive issues persisted. There was no evidence that it substantially improved my bones -- | F | 56 | 5 months | 6/7/2006 | 1 | Ostopenia | I have been taking it once a week for five weeks. Almost immediately I had sore joints and stiffness. Bad pain in hips. Even my cheekbones ache! I am very active, I do yoga all the time, and have NEVER in my life had joint pain. I am 56 and am starting to feel like 76. After the fifth dose I immediately developed severe bloating and cramping and diarhea. On the fourth day, flu-like symptoms developed. I was nauseous and could not eat and went to bed at 7:30 for two nights in a row this week. I have not felt so sick for decades. Yesterday I had to quickly get off a bus on the way home from work because I felt I was about to throw up. This drug is poison and I will never take another dose. Will do weight training and diet instead. So very glad I found this site! Thank you all! | F | 56 | 5 weeks | 4/29/2006 | 1 | osteopenia | After taking 70mg once a week for 4 weeks, I began experiencing chest pain, shortness of breath, bad taste in my mouth, back, shoulder pain. I think I was experiencing severe reflux and probably had had it all the time. I feel it worstened over the 4 weeks. I quit taking the drug and called my doctor. He had me come in and wanted me to have a heart stress test. I have never had heart problems and told him I knew it was the Fosamax causing the smptoms. It's been three weeks since I quit taking the drug, but am still experiencing some stomach pain and a little reflux. I hope there isn't permanent damage!! | F | 56 | 4 weeks | 1/3/2006 |