New dx Osteoporosis!

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B123
B123 Member Posts: 730
edited June 2014 in Bone Health and Bone Loss


Hello folks,

I have been on Arimidex for about 2 years now, I was on Fareston but insurance did not want to pay so I had to switch!  I am 44 and was Osteopenia for lower back and hip over one year ago, now my new bone scan says -2.7 osteoporosis! WHAT?!  My onc is suggesting Fosomax for 2 years IV fusion or Reclast.. I am not one to take things like that, I had any kind of Infusion drugs.. Does anyone know anything about them or about the drug Atelvia?  I could really use some advice, I am too young for Osteoporosis! I have 3 kids and am very active.. I just don't understand how taking a drug to save  your life can destroy it at the same time! Im devastated... 

Thank you everyone! Be well...

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited June 2014

    Have you considered switching to tamoxifen?

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  • B123
    B123 Member Posts: 730
    edited June 2014

    I tried it at the beginning of my dx but my bones hurt and I had some stomach issues.. I didn't wait to see if it would resolve, I just went to Fareston, which was great! But I don't think they know enough about it plus my ins at the time was terrible! Now it's much better.. But to have osteoporosis is crazy.. Even if I were to do the I fusion, the arimidex will still take away bone? So troubling... 

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited June 2014

    I don't know much about AIs--I can't take one because I have a rare bone condition, am already right at osteoporosis in the hip, and can't take any of the bone helping drugs except SERMs.  (all the drugs work so differently). I was on tamox for two years (I'm 49 and pre-meno) and didn't have your SEs, but every body is different. One of my docs said that the SEs from tamox can settle down after a few months (sounds like you heard the same thing).

    You said: I just don't understand how taking a drug to save your life can destroy it at the same time! 

    I know.  This is one thing that's frustrating with cancerland (and a lot of medicine). There are often SEs with any Tx, and we need to weigh the pros and cons and decide what's best for us.  If it's any consolation, there's a website you can go to that measures your risk of fractures. I'm guessing that your risk is like mine--very little risk in the next ten years (which seems to be the longest horizon that the docs ever forecast). Of course, the risk when I'm 70.... who knows?

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  • B123
    B123 Member Posts: 730
    edited June 2014

    this is true Peggy, I completely agree.. It's scary, just when you think your finally on your way up, something pulls you down. Yes I'm low risk but still it's there and it's a big change in under 2 years..  Did you say if you take anything for bone loss prevention?  I just hate the idea of a fusion, don't want anything running through my veins, and then SE of some kind that I can't control.. but hate more to go in every month for a shot. 

    Thank you for helping!

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