Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Jogit — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:18:00 GMT

I'm not the greatest at statistics.......if someone would please set me straight. The summary on Mercola's site says those on the drug have an 86% higher risk of AF. But the journal states "we estimated that 3% of incident AF in this population might be explained by alendronate use". Thanks!

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

carley44 — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:45:08 GMT

My mom died of heart failure. She was on this horrible drug for a long time prior to her death. I have nothing good to say about big Pharma. They are evil death dealing drug pushers. Period.

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

WendyL_203 — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:51:00 GMT

IN addition to the study cited by Dr. Mercola in his article, there have been two other studies that also raise red flags about this class of drugs. I summarize them at:

www.menopausetheblog.com/.../red-flags-for-users-of-osteoporosis-drugs

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

WellAware — Wed, 21 May 2008 01:09:19 GMT

A calcium rich diet does almost no good if you are magnesium deficient, which about 70% of the people in this country are, seriously deficient. No, we cannot get enough in our diets. Too late for that. Soils should have been remineralized, starting decades ago when it was first revealed to Congress that we were in deep doodoo if we didn't start replacing the minerals in the soils that the plants are trying to take up. And if the healthy minerals aren't present, and radioactive ones are, well, you guessed it, that's what the plant takes up. But if the healthy minerals are present WITH the radioactive ones, the plants will prefer and take up the healthy minerals.

Magnesium supplementation is essential, including and especially when it comes to needing good calcium intake. Read THE MAGNESIUM MIRACLE by Dr. CArolyn Dean. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Fosamax negatively affects magnesium absorption and/or assimilation. May be the reason people develop several really dangerous symptoms!!!

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

sunshinelover — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:01:50 GMT

Here's an interview with Dr. Helen Pensanti on osteoporosis:

www.whatisgoinon.com/.../interview-with-dr-helen-pensanti

I like her description of Fosamax.

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

saynotoquacks — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:55:34 GMT

Six years ago my Mom's quack (er, MD) pulled her off Premarin and Provera (which she was doing well on) and started giving her FUXAMAX. Her health has deteriorated ever since. I have been trying to get her off it for a long time, but she was too scared to quit. The quacks love to instill fear in their victims (er, patients). Finally she quit several weeks ago. The problem is, it has a half-life of 80 years!!! So how is she going to detox the Fuxamax??? Her muscles are so weak from it that she bends forward when she walks, which makes her appear to have osteoporosis when she does not. If you take this poison, quit it ASAP!

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

gbondioli — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:39:46 GMT

I won't dispute most of what has been said here, but the "jawbone" problem is MOSTLY a case of sensationalized media garbage.

Here is an excerpt from the Pharmacist's Letter (August 2006):

Lots of worried patients are asking about the risk of jaw bone damage while taking Fosamax or other bisphosphonates.

Questions about this osteonecrosis of the jaw have really picked up since we alerted you to this rare problem last year.

Patients are now hearing about it from the lay press...and from the many ads from lawyers looking for cases.

About 94% of cases of osteonecrosis are in cancer patients getting prolonged therapy with IV Zometa or Aredia. These are used for cancers that have spread to the bone or cause hypercalcemia.

The incidence is much lower for patients taking ORAL Fosamax, Actonel, or Boniva for osteoporosis. It's probably less than 1 case per 100,000 patients per year.

Most of these cases occur after tooth extractions and other dental procedures that traumatize the jaw. Bisphosphonates might slow healing because they suppress bone turnover.

Osteonecrosis is extremely hard to treat once it occurs. But there are things that patients can do to minimize their risk.

Advise patients to alert their dentist if they're taking a bisphosphonate.

Recommend getting a dental exam and any necessary procedures BEFORE starting therapy...or within 3 months if possible.

Explain that good dental hygiene can decrease the risk of osteonecrosis...and some dental procedures are safer to do before patients have been exposed to long-term therapy.

Tell patients and healthcare providers it might NOT help to take a drug holiday from the bisphosphonates in order to do a dental procedure. Explain that these drugs persist in the bone for years.

To get a great patient handout to explain all this...or to get the latest recommendations to send to a dentist or physician, go to our Detail-Document at pharmacistsletter.com.

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Dr Rik — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:24:01 GMT

WHAT!? A drug that's has unhealthy effects!?

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Enceladusj — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:10:31 GMT

I stopped taking Fosamax after 1 year. I've read that the damaging effects stay in your system forever. I wonder if that is true?

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Gram2 — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:02:52 GMT

My 75 year old mother has been on fosamax for 3 years. she has always been a light eater but we noted that she was eating less every time we saw her. She developed cough that wouldn't resolve and we noticed that she was having bouts of emesis. Last week she became confused and unresponsive with violent emesis and was rushed to the ER. It was determined that she did not have a stroke as we thought and after CAT scan EEG EKG MRI and finally an endoscopy to view her esophogus after we had reviewed her meds with the Dr.( who was not her own Dr. as my mom was visiting my sisters in a different town) Her esophogus was burned and scarred from the reflux she was experiencing from the drug (even tho she took it exactly as directed) The reflux was causing the cough and the scarring and narrowing of her esophogus was causing the emesis and choking Her electrolytes were critical because she was not able to eat enough and had the violent vomiting. She aslo has an enflamed mass at the end of her esophogus as it enters the stomach and she has a hernia from the force of the vomiting. She wiil go back in a month for dilation of her esophogus so she can swallow,(she is on pureed food) she will have a biopsy of the mass and a hernia repair. Thank God she was with someone who could get her to the hospital, she lives alone and this drug would have killed her before anyone knew she was in trouble!!! Her independent lifestyle has just changed dramatically as she will not be able to live alone anymore. I am furious!

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

frontporchmemories — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:15:41 GMT

Isn't Actonel similar to Fosamax?

I have a friend in her seventies who started Actonel two years ago. They are now detecting some heart irregularites or fibrilllation of the heart.

-fp

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Mamaram — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:58:11 GMT

Fosamax does more damage than just this. My mother took Fosamax and suffered from massive bleeding ulcers throughout her entire digestive system (esophagus, stomach, intestines). A rough rough couple of years followed until we found the cause, took her off and began her healing. She will probably always have scar tissue in her esophagus and difficulty swallowing food. But that wasn't all! She tried to get new dentures recently and no dentist would touch her for putting in necessary posts to anchor them. Seems her jaw had dissolved to paper thin and would break at the slightest provocation - another fine side effect of this drug. THANK YOU DR MERCOLA for making us all aware of what the pharmaceutical industry is really all about -- making money at any cost to the patient.

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

jonallen — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:26:51 GMT

The most beneficial way of at least postponing bone loss is regular weight-bearing exercise. My mother-in-law has advaced bone loss, which keeps my wife on her toes to avoid it. She operates the library book sale, which gives her regular opportunities to carry boxes full of books up and down a long flight of stairs. We both love the book sale, and it keeps our backs and bones strong.

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Beary Tru — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:03:17 GMT

I am a bit surprised not to read anything about raw milk as a source of calcium. Am I missing something here?

re: Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax is Bad for Your Heart

Scard by Big Pharm — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:03:00 GMT

My mom started Farce-A-Max at age 82. I begged her not to, but after suffering some compression fractures she was convinced by her Dr. ( a wonderful (tongue in check here folks!) guy who originally prescribed her muscle relaxers OVER THE PHONE!!!) and my sister (who has been on for about 5 years) to start the drug.

I kept sending her articles about the dangers, talked to her about doing more supplement therapy.

Up until this happened she was very active. Had done square dancing, walking and other exercise. She rode a stationary bike almost 4 miles every other day. She took up tap dancing at age 76 or so.

After being on Farce-A-Max for almost a year, she developed weird pressure issues in her eye and had to start drops for that.

Up to this point she was on no other meds EVER! And only needed reading glasses. After starting the Farce-A-Max she felt stiff, achy, and needed a cane to help balance. Of course the wonder Dr. and my sister blamed the fractures/healing. Possibly for a time I could buy that, but not after 9 months!!

After the eye scare she finally called me and asked me to help her with supplements, etc.

She stopped the Farce-A-Max and within a very short time she actually felt better.

I took her to lunch and she felt great!! Was proud that she was walking less hunched and really didn't need the cane. She had less pain!

About a week later she suffered an Aortic Dissection. She actually made it through the 8+ hour surgery. Sadly she developed CHF and was kept on the vent for over a month, part of the time in drug-induced coma-like state. She finally got off that and was given a trach tube. This whole situation was compounded with MRSA and eventually C-Diff. After 4 long months of suffering she suddenly passed away (somewhat unexpectedly...drs. kept saying she was stable...) I think the C-Diff finally did her in.

But I have to wonder....still...did the wonderful Farce-A-Max contribute to her death?

I truly believe it did!! Thanks MERCK!