Women with METs can safely receive bisphosphonates less often..

This is really good to hear. The longer we live with stage IV, the more important it is that treatments not cause damaging side effects. We hardly ever hear that a treatment should be reduced! I have not begun bone strengthening treatment yet, but have been told that it will be precribed.

My original mo prescribed 24 monthly treatments of Aredia. I switched mo's, within the same oncology dept., and my new mo expressed concern over increased incidence of se's. Her concern was not just onj, but femur fracture as well. I ending up doing one year of monthly infusions and a second year of infusions every third months, 16 infusions in all. 

Caryn

I was on Zometa infusions and because my veins are so hard to find I got to switch to Xgeva shots. So between the 2 medications I have been on them for 5 1/2 years. I was diagnosed originally with a single met to sternum. No recurrence of any kind since diagnosis. My question is, how long do I have to take this type of medication? My doctor sounds like it will be for the rest of my life. I am getting Xgeva every 3 months. My insurance gets billed over $5000 each time. I am not happy about the price. The only other medication I take is Tamoxifen and that only costs me $15 a month. Can I decide to stop Xgeva? Is it that important? Any advice would be appreciated. Best wishes to all you ladies (and gentlemen).