Fosamax and eye problems and phantom odours

[Catherine]

I'm 57 and sent myself in for a bone density scan a few months ago. Winter time hit me hard this year and I felt like I was falling apart much faster than Mother Nature intended. The bone scan revealed I'm deep into osteoporosis. I started myself of Calcium 500 mg twice a day....Strontium...
highly recommended from an osteo-support group and available at any health food store.....also 2,000IU of Vit D-3 which the doc told me should be 5,000 IU per day! Yikes. The doc (an OB/GYN) put me on "Bio-Identical" estrogen and progesterone to improve absorbtion of bone building minerals. He also wrote me a prescription for Fosamax which would have cost $173.00 per month unless I switched to generic. Wow.(And they all try to pretend it's NOT about the money....LOL)

Then I found this forum. Thank you all so much for sharing your stories. I won't be taking the Fosamax. That one comment a doc made about "Pills are poison...the fewer you take the better" that really hit home.

I'm walking 3 miles several times a week with a back pack loaded down with 18 pounds of weights.
I do 20 minutes of core strengthening stuff a few days a week and call it good. A diet high in veges protects our eyes....especailly the macular degeneration group. But from time to time I must devour a cheesburger and a chocolate malt with fries. It's just who I am. Perhaps one day I'll crumble into a pile of dust....well....SURELY SO! But thanks to this forum, the Fosamax will go into the trash.....apparently where it belongs.

[suz3344]

This site has been an interesting reading...I was diagnosed with osteoperosis when I was 50 I am 68 now...I have run the gamet of meds since then...fosomax did not agree with me so I have been on the nose spray and then Actonel...I have stopped all meds as I need some major tooth work and am nervous about it...in regard to the eyes I was faithfully taking Actonel for several years then suddenly had a macular hole begin in the back of one of my eyes...they hoped that it would heal itself but it didn't...(nothing was ever asked or said about my Actonel so I don't know but now I am beginning to wonder) I had an operation to heal the hole - air bubble put in and I had to stay face down for 2 weeks - that was a challenge but I did it because the alternative was blindness - unfortunately it didn't work and I had to have the operation again - that was a very long two weeks - the operation closed the hole but I was told that my eyesight would never be the same but at least I can see something out of it although distorted...they also told me to expect a cataract as a result of the surgery and that would have to be taken care of also...and sure enough I developed a cateract and even with a lense implant that eye is not that good...but I am thankful I can see out of it although things are distorted...(I am an artist so I need to protect my other eye the best I can) the doctors don't know why people develop a macular hole but it makes me wonder now if perhaps my Actonel triggered it? It sure is nice to be able to chat with others with similar type problems and then give me other ways of thinking about my treatments...thanks

Linda wrote:

I, too, have had a lot of eye problems. Two 1/2 yrs. ago vitruous gel in the right eye pulled away and caused a small hole in the retina (in the peripheral part). I was sent to a retina specialist who thought it best to laser the hole, just to make sure it stayed flat. Two years later I developed a macular pucker (scar tissue formed on the retina and then started puckering which caused puckering of the retina). I had surgery - two days later had a second surgery due to a staph infection I contacted during my first surgery. Two weeks later I had a 3rd surgery as the retina detached at the top. Four weeks later I had my 4th surgery because the retina detached from below. Two months later I had my 5th surgery to, again, get rid of scar tissue on the macular part of the retina. During this whole process I lost the lens in my eye. I have been taking Actonel for approximately four years as I was diagnosed with osteopenia. I also take Effexor XR 75mg and have for many, many years after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and accompanying anxiety/depression. Has anyone else out there had any similar problems.

[susan]

I have also had jont pain nothing like I have ever had before.I quit taking phosomax about a month ago and still have the pain in all my joints. Will it go away? and also memory loss actualy until I talked with others about this drug thought I was in early stages of alzheimers This drug has really scared me

[Barbara Becky]

I've been taking Alendronate (generic Fosamax) for 3 months. About 10 days ago I started having constant blurred vision. I'm going to discontinue taking the Alendronate. The prescription I have for Alendronate is 70mg. once weekly. If my vision improves... well then I will assume it was the Alendronate causing the problem. I'm so glad I ran across this Alendronate discussion.

[Catherine]

The problem with Fosamax and the other bone building drugs is their half life. Ten years after you stop taking Fosamax, half of it is still in your body. I've fallen off the exercise wagon some time ago....and am religious about taking the supplements twice a day. The one supplement besides Vit D and Calcium that I can't seem to get away from is Hyaluronic Acid. If I stop taking it, all my joints hurt. I've tried to stop taking it half a dozen times and always end up limping into the health food store to load up. Now my daughter doesn't let me run out. Glucosamine and Chrondroitin did NOTHING!