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 | Bone density test showed osteopenia | I had no side effects from Fosamax and after the first year my bone density showed within the normal range, HOWEVER, as part of orthodontic treatment, I was to have several teeth extracted. It was then that I learned that folks who take Fosamax and other drugs in the bisphosphonate category are at risk for a serious, painful and irreversible jaw disease called Osteonecrosis. (And I will not be having the teeth extracted.) | I don't mean to be an alarmist, but THIS IS VERY SERIOUS!! There is much to be learned about the exact cause and effects and the reports are still coming in. Merck has added the warning to their label and I expect it is just a matter of time before other companies follow suit. My mother's doc advised her to stop taking Fosamax when she questioned him on this. (She is 86.) I have also stopped the Fosamax, and although my doc prescribed Actonel, I am ambivalent about taking it. This is a very difficult decision as I have seen the pain that osteoporosis has caused a family member. Please refer to this article for information and ask your doctor about it immediately. The information in this article is relevant to everyone taking bisphosphonates, not only folks wearing braces. http://www.archwired.com/Osteoporosis_and_Braces.htm | F | 56 | 2 years | 5/23/2006 | 1 | Osteoporosis | During the 6 weeks I took Fosamax: Dizziness, visual aura and blurriness, migraines (my first), joint pain in thumbs, anxiety, episodes of malaise, facial flushing and appetite loss, plus sleep disturbance. Most resolved the first week without Fosamax. Not worth the loss of quality of life to me. I'll do more exercise and calcium. | F | 56 | 6 weeks | 9/29/2005 | 1 | Tendency for Brittle Bones | Severe joint pain in hips and knees. Thighs and knees swelled more than double in size. | In August 2007 I had my first bone density test and my DR said I had a "tendency for brittle bones". He put me on weekly Fosamax Plus D. I took the first pill exactly as instructed by product. Within 2 days I had severe joint pain in hips & knees. 3rd morning I woke up with my left thigh & knee doubled in size and I could barely walk on it. I figured it was either an initial reaction to the medication or arthritis flaring up. I took the 2nd pill a week after the first again as prescribed. Went to work as usual, drove out of town early that evening for a get together with family. Went to bed and when I woke up 2 1/2 hours later both of my thighs & knees had more than doubled in size. I had severe joint pain. I could not walk without a cane. By 5 that morning I needed a walker. I was on a walker for 3 days before I could walk with a cane. 5 days before walking without aids. I walk 2 miles a day and work out at a club 3 times a week. This came out of the blue. My D | F | 56 | 2 weeks | 10/13/2007 | 1 | osteopenia | Unusual, intense headaches. My bones felt very strange--very negative feeling. Then I had violent uncontrollable diarrhea that lasted about five hours. The best way I can describe the experience is that I felt poisoned. I had followed all directions precisely. | My doctor has now recommended Actonel, but presented it as though it was a happy little ad on TV. I told her | F | 56 | 1 days | 6/28/2005 | 1 | osteoporosis/osteopenia | In Mar.2004,I started fosamax. Within six months the pain in my back was severe and Mobic was started. By nine months the pain was so excrutiating that I was referred to a pain clinic where I was treated with an epederal and tramadol for between shots. Soon I was getting epiderals every four months for pain in the back along with sciatica in both hips and legs with flexeril and lortab to ease the pain inbetween shots. By Aug.2005, the epederals didn't work. My entire body was engulfed in pain and was almost impossible to get out of bed or into an SUV. Felt like my life was over. | I saw this website and realized I had the same or similar symptoms as others. I quite the fosamax in Sept.2005. A week later I stopped the Mobic and today I feel back to normal. Fosamax has taken an entire year out of my life. I was practically an invalid. | F | 56 | 18 times | 10/24/2006 | 1 | bone thinning | I took this medicine for 3 yrs, these were my side effects,bottom of my feet hurt, ankles, hips, mussels, hair loss, restless legs, a hard time walking getting up from a chair, getting out of the car and going up the stairs was hard. | I'm concerned about how long these side effects last and how long this drug (poison) stays in your system? I make myself do the things I used to do without effort. I still have a lot of the side effects, the bottoms of my feet are better. | F | 56 | 3 days | 6/29/2007 | 1 | osteopenia | Started out with horrible GERD and five months later, I have found I may have a chronic swallowing disorder(esophageal motility disorder). From my research, it looks like essentially, your esohagus looses the ability to function. The esophagus is a muscle and the neurons controlling the muscle may be destroyed. There is no cure for these types of diseases. I always feel there is something stuck in my throat, teeth and jaw pain, constant burping. I was sick the other night and I couldn't throw up, simply awful. I will probably end up going to a specialized clinic (Mayo or Cleveland Clinic) to have further tests. I have lost lots of weight and went from a healthy woman to a very ill person. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else, it's terrible. I thought my biggest problem was constant GERD. I never wished that I "just had GERD." This may lead to botox injections of the esophagus, balloon dialations or myotomy surgery (cutting of the esohagus muscles). I only took | Please don't take this medication under any circumstance. I think it will eventually kill people, and I may be one of them. | F | 56 | 4 days | 4/14/2006 | 1 | Osteopenia | Very stiff joints, in particular hips, knees, and ankles. My muscles seem tight and contracted. | I will discontinue for about 3 month to assess if symptoms will subside; then I will decide whether to restart the drug. I will meanwhile increase calcium intake, and all weight bearing exercise. I will update the site in 3 month (4/28/05). I will notify my physician of my actions but I will take this break whether she agrees or not. | F | 56 | 2 years | 1/28/2005 | 1 | osteopinia of hip and spine | Sometimes causes sever pain in esophgaes, can be several days after weekly dose. Not sure if this is due to fosamax or just heartburn. Been taking fosamx for six year, spine continues to decline, while hip is pretty stable. Not sure whether or not to continue because of problems in esophagus | F | 56 | 6 years | 4/24/2005 | 1 | osteoporosis | I have major leg cramps every time I take it. I cannot walk well; have difficulty climbing stairs, getting up from a chair.I never had any of these problems before. | I also had a major episode of lower back pain where I could not stand up for about 4 days. Had to miss work; took back x-rays. None of this was the case before I started on Fosamax. | F | 56 | 1 years | 4/20/2005 | 1 | osteopenia | Increase in joint pain. 3 days of nausea and general malaise. Decrease in appetite. Terrible gas. Eye disturbances, pain in ribs, achey, tired all the time. Interrupted sleep pattern. Personality change noticable by family and co-workers. Anxiety/panic attacks that had been under control,returned. Hives. Lack of interest in things I liked to do. Depression. | Took it for 7 months. Noticed problems after one month, but was told by nurse to | F | 56 | 7 months | 5/6/2005 | 1 | Osteoperosis | Aching muscles which progressively became worse over the 10-month period I was taking Fosamax. Any exertion made me feel better temporarially but suffer more later on. Mornings were my worse time or sitting for long periods of time. | I stopped taking it and within a couple of weeks was feeling like my old self. | F | 56 | 10 months | 9/10/2004 | 1 | osteoporosis | severe abdominal pain, severe back pain, bloating, muscle spasms felt as though hit by a baseball bat. Breathing very difficult. Mild sore throat, some trouble swallowing. Have only taken the once (prescribed the 1 day a week pill 70mg) | Side effects of drug too difficult to manage. | F | 56 | 1 days | 8/17/2004 | 1 | osteopenia | It started out with headaches during the first month. I also developed numbness in my fingers which later progressed to numbness in my hands by the end of the first month. The numbness was the worst in the morning after I got out of bed. By the second month my neck would hurt really bad when I woke up. During the second month the bones in my back and arms would hurt so much that I would wake up sometimes at 3:30 in the morning. By the 11th week of taking the drug my bones and muscles hurt most of the time and the fingers in my right hand were actually swollen when I would wake up.I finally asked myself what I was doing differently and after reading the pamphlet in the medication realized that my symptoms were a reaction to the fosamax. | Don't take this drug! If you read the fine print you will see that the drug company doesn't have any results about the benefits beyond two years, and who knows what the long term effects are. If you do any other research you will find out that it can also damage your liver. And although it can build denser bones it doesn't do it in a way that is positive. Fosomax kills the osteoclasts (the bone absorbing cells), it doesn't inhibit the osteoclasts like estrogen. If the osteoclast cells are removed the bone gets much denser, but that doesn't mean that they are stonger. The bones are weaker because they have not been allowed to remold themselves and readjust to the constantly chaning forces that are applied to the bones. This means that actually the rick of bone fracture is increased. It is not worth it feel lousy to have a drug make so called repairs when it really isn't. Once again the drug companies are giving us something that really doesn't do what it is supposed to. And once again the doctores are prescribing drugs that they really know nothing about. I should have done my research before. Also, just becuase you have osteopenia doesn't mean that there is something wrong with you. You could have a medical history that has made your bones what they are. Did your period start late when you were a teenager? Did you have erratice periods during some period before you were 30? Did you ever have an underactive thyroid? All of these are things that could have effected the developement of your bones. Talk to your doctor before they prescribe this drug. If you get a bone scan be aware that there are two different scoring methods, a Z score and a T score. The z score is age mathched to the norm for your age, sex and size. The T-score compares your density to the average bone density of a health young adule woman. Review the scores and know what they mean. You could be at the very bottom of a score and a doctor is just prescribing the drug to be on the safe side. Wouldn't it be better to just improve your diet, add some Vitamin D and minerals and start lifiting weights 2 or 3 times a week than take a drug that may make you feel horrible and possibly harm your liver. | F | 56 | 11 weeks | 9/20/2004 | 1 | Osteoporosis | Pain in my long bones, spine, cramps in feet and hands after first and last tablet. I will never use any bone-killing drug like this again. | After experiencing severe side effects from Fosamax, I found that hese drugs work by killing the blood vessels to the bones, preventing bone loss by limiting the circulation of blood. Over time, the bones nearly die, crystalize and shatter like glass. Drug companies state that the drugs lose their effectiveness over time (ridiculous lie) and/or that the bones would have been in worse shape. These drugs are big profit centers for the drug makers. Their motivation is not to heal women. Most women do not question the drugs they are prescribed (easy targets). These drugs kill bones! The accompanying literature state "necrosis" so that if after taking the drugs your bones die, you cannot sue them! I have found a better remedy. It is healthy. The remedy is to raise the ph in your body, making it slightly less acidic. You do this by following an "alkaline diet" (look it up). As we age, our bodies become more acidic. To balance the low ph, our bodies take calcium compounds | F | 56 | 1 days | 11/6/2008 | 1 | Osteopenia (dexa-scan done) | Have been on Fosamax for almost 7 months. Having a very hard time walking up stairs, walking in general, getting into & out of my car is a real struggle, just getting up from the chair is difficult I'm so stiff, can't sleep at night my legs and joints are just aching. Have a burning feeling in my throat. Feel very tired all the time. My life is not like it use to be. I'm 56 yrs., but feel like 95yrs. old. Just found out the side effects of Fosamax and described to call my doctor and she found it very unusual. Told her I want off this medication NOW!!! Hope I feel better soon. I WANT MY LIFE BACK... How long will it take?? | Recently, I have found more con than pro about this medication, why aren't doctors up todate on the side effects? I'm so glad I stumbled on this website. THANK YOU!!! | M | 56 | 7 months | 11/7/2008 | 1 | to try and increase bone density | I am a 56 year old active and healthy female who decided to try fosamax to combat diagnosed osteopenia. I took my first pill and less than 18 hours later I could bearly get out of bed the next morning. I experienced severe lower back and hip pain and I know it was brought on by the Fosamax. I was so shocked by the pain that I searched the internet for some answers and found this site. I will never take another Fosamax again. It is now two days since I took my first pill and I am just now starting to feel normal. Everyone should be warned by their physician about these side effects. When I asked my doctor about side effects he told me, "just be sure you read all the possible side effects before you take Fosamax". I'll be looking for a new M.D. after this experience. | F | 56 | 1 days | 11/14/2008 | 1 | Osteoporosis | Jaw pain, hip pain at night, knee pain, extreme tiredness. Somedays I felt like I couldn't even walk, eating was extremely painful and sleeping was being interrupted by hip pain. Called doctor about jaw pain. He said it was TMJ, eat soft foods and take Advil (prescribing another medication to counteract one side affect, which is not what I wanted to hear). Went to internet(just typed in TMJ) and the first website that came up was an FDA warning dated 1/7/08, stating that products with bisphosponates (which are in cleaning products and what most osteoporosis medication is) cause 3 times greater risk of bone necrosis (death). I stopped taking immediately (3 weeks ago) - still have some jaw pain, but I feel much better and don't have as much hip and knee pain. | Why is this product even on the market? Extremely large amounts of money to the companies and doctors involved in prescribing. It should be outlawed! I am trying to research healthier options - any suggestions? | F | 56 | 9 weeks | 3/8/2008 | 1 | osteoporosis | Debillating knee joint pain, severe leg muscle pain and weakness | After the 4th dose of Fosamax 70mg, I awoke and found that I couldn't stand up. My left knee was "locked up". The pain was so severe that I couldn't put any weight on it. Within two days, my right knee was also affected. I spent eight days where I had to rely on crutches. I stopped taking the medication a week ago. While the pain is somewhat better, I still "hobble" around and can only walk short distances. This medication should be banned!!! | F | 56 | 4 weeks | 12/22/2007 | 1 | diagnosed with Osteopenia | Thank the good Lord above, I stumbled onto this website yesterday. The past 3 1/2 years I have been on Fosamax have been a nightmare, but I did not relate any of my medical problems to this drug until I read these ratings. I have had severe chest pain and jaw pain that wound me up in a cardiologist office with a thyllium stress test and arteriogram - diagnosis: no heart problems showed up. Severe pain in right leg and lower back, MRI of the lower back and x-rays of the right leg showed up zero. Pain so severe in right leg - unable to sleep due to the severity of the back pain and leg cramps particularly in the right leg - pain so severe I was barely able to get around. my doctor said - you need to exercise! How? I could barely walk - could not get out of a chair without almost crying - my doctor finally said he could find no test to establish the back up he needed to help me - and referred me to an orthopaedic doctor. I also lost 3 of my bottom teeth and I had to have $4500 wort | If any of the other drugs prescribed for osteoporosis are anything like this one, I don't recommend taking it - find a regimen that you can live with after your body has had time to recuperate and heal. I thought I was dying a slow death I hurt so bad all of the time. | F | 56 | 3 years | 7/13/2007 |