These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Fosamax
Question: My grandmother broke her lower spinal about a year ago. There is a drug called “Alendronate.” I was asked to check out to see if it would help. In addition, what drugs can she take to help her heal faster and ease her pain?
Answer: Fosamax (alendronate sodium) is a recently released medication to aid in osteoporosis. Its function is to specifically inhibit the resorption of bone. The initial studies of this drug are promising since it is one of the few “non hormonal” drugs to achieve any improvement in bone density. These initial studies show about a 1 to 2% improvement in bone density for the first three years of the study. The most common currently published side effects are abdominal and skeletal pain, nausea, constipation and headache. Markedly severe side effects have not been noticed-a word of caution here-the time duration of this drug is currently relatively short and other drugs have found severe side effects when used with larger population groups for longer periods of time. I have about 75 to 100 females on this drug with relatively low side effects. I really haven’t seen the 5% of side effects noted on initial trials. I also caution all my patients that this is a relatively effective: but, untested long term drug.
Also, when a female breaks a bone I always suggest several studies to ensure that there is no preventable cause of the fracture. These include Vitamin D levels, Parathyroid levels, and testing for excess proteins with a protein electrophoresis. If these have not been performed you should discuss them with your grandmother’s physician.
