Reclast’s “jaw problems” caused by too many warnings.

I just cancelled an infusion for Reclast after reading of the side effects. I think I would prefer to shrink and die naturally rather than go through all the worries of the pharmaceutical industry profit. Thank you very much!

I had this infusion two days ago. It will be my last!! I was up all night… never so sick in my life…a headache that would not quite, chills, all over body aches, weakness, etc. It was awful.

I am a student at the University of Oklahoma and am working on my capstone project which requires me to interview women with osteoporosis. It’s upsetting to hear what you women have gone through and I am curious if you have started any new treatments to help prevent your osteoporosis from worsening?

read this too late.Information on Bisphosphonates (marketed as Actonel, Actonel+Ca, Aredia, Boniva, Didronel, Fosamax, Fosamax+D, Reclast, Skelid, and Zometa)
FDA ALERT [1/7/2008] – FDA is highlighting the possibility of severe and sometimes incapacitating bone, joint, and/or muscle (musculoskeletal) pain in patients taking bisphosphonates. Although severe musculoskeletal pain is included in the prescribing information for all bisphosphonates, the association between bisphosphonates and severe musculoskeletal pain may be overlooked by healthcare professionals, delaying diagnosis, prolonging pain and/or impairment, and necessitating the use of analgesics.

The severe musculoskeletal pain may occur within days, months, or years after starting a bisphosphonate. Some patients have reported complete relief of symptoms after discontinuing the bisphosphonate, whereas others have reported slow or incomplete resolution. The risk factors for and incidence of severe musculoskeletal pain associated with bisphosphonates are unknown.

This severe musculoskeletal pain is in contrast to the acute phase response characterized by fever, chills, bone pain, myalgias, and arthralgias that sometimes accompanies initial administration of intravenous bisphosphonates and may occur with initial exposure to once-weekly or once-monthly doses of oral bisphosphonates. The symptoms related to the acute phase response tend to resolve within several days with continued drug use.

Healthcare professionals should consider whether bisphosphonate use might be responsible for severe musculoskeletal pain in patients who present with these symptoms and consider temporary or permanent discontinuation of the drug.
I have been severely suffering since I was given Reclast. Only thing I can do it take prednisone to get sed rate (imflamation down) this round of that terrible drug(which only treats the symptons) was 20 days ago. My ACL that was replaced and was in great shape 12/08 just dissapeared 12/09. No injury or acccident…… Reclast is killing me Still!

Thrilled with it. Osteoporosis since age 50 curtailed lots of fun activities with my grand kids. Made some progress on orals, but GERD necessitated gut biopsies and esposphogeal dilatation.

I can tell you after 35 years as a nurse, this is a great drug. If you think it is not worth a few punny side effects what will you be saying after you are in the nursing home when you fracture your hip (no hip pinning for people with osteoporosis) or have horrible chronic back pain from vertebral fractures. Or dead. Good luck, I see it every day!

MY DR. HAS SCHEDULED ME TO HAVE THE RECLAST INFUSION; BUT I HAVE CHANGED MY MIND…I WILL TAKE CALCIUN AND VITAMIN D…

Reclast, or generic name zoledronic acid, is a drug used to treat bone cancer in larger doses and more frequently than the once yearly dose for osteoporosis . It’s very ‘job’ is to kill bone. If used in small doses it can be helpful..However, it is a drug with such severe side effects that I would have to have bone cancer to take this stuff..again. I wasn’t ever given any information and did not find out about what this drug is all about until I went to the dentist and my jaw was damaged severely with absolutely NO recourse. There is NO treatment for the effects of Reclast once one has damage. Why put ones self through the possibility of this kind of side effects. So many have stated Ca vitamin D and exercise on a regular basis will help and not harm. Do you realise that in other countries such as Japan Sweden and many others, there isn’t even a word in the language for osteoporosis. They just don’t get the disease.Likely due to their heavy dependency on vegetables and tofu and very little meat products. I am not saying anyone need be a vegetarian, but there are ways of doing things that are not always chemical. Remember Monsanto and there logo..”live better through chemistry” Do any of you really believe that we live better through chemistry?

I am interested on the positive vs. negatinve also.

I am a 69 year old male recently diagnosed with Paget’s disease. I was really aprehensive about having a Reclast infusion, based on all the negative posts and horror stories of those who have had Reclast. I finally decided to go forward with the infusion and had the same two days ago. The first day was fairly uneventful, however I was very anxious about the impending side effects. Prior to the infusion, I hydrated well and took 1000mg of tylenol.

One the night of day #2, last night, I had flu symptoms and high temp. for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours and woke up this morning feeling really yucky. This afternoon, I feel almost back to normal.

I first posted on this drug in December 2013 and gave it thumbs up for no real acute phase reaction when I had my infusion. Now, it is a very different story.

For the past month, I have been having severe hip and low back pain. In the last 2 weeks, both shoulders, back ribs and both knees are in agonizing pain. My Endocrinologist told me that no way could Reclast cause any bone or joint pain two months after the infusion. I told him I had no other changes in my lifestyle other than the Reclast ifusion. He was at a loss as to how I would have these various pains. Naturally his answer was to provide my with an RX for Vicodin.

Two days ago, I started having vision problems in both eyes. A film has developed on both eyeballs and my vision is very cloudy. I will be seeing my ophthalmologist tomorrow morning and am scared to death that I may be going blind.

For those of you who are reading these posts and have not received a Reclast infusion, DO NOT DO IT! DO NOT TAKE RECLAST, IT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE!!!

Thank you for your response Andrea-

I reported this poison to the FDA, however I have not found one doctor who will state that Reclast causes any type of unfavorable reaction months after an infusion. Day by day, I am having pain in additional body parts and am terrified that the pain will be never ending. If and when the pain does go away, I will post the event(s) on this site to give the others who are afflicted some hope. I was told by my PTP to make an appointment to see a specialist Behavior Modification (psych) to deal with the pain as he (and the medical crowd) cannot find any cause for the pain in my bones. Obviously, he has washed his hands of me.

Bobby

I too am a “Reclast” survivor. Given a one time dose Oct. 2011 ….due to spontaneous fractures in my pelvis. had four others even after the drug over the course of 1 1/2 yrs.

Initial side effects, within 30 mins. was as others have described…..’death warmed over’…sicker than I had ever been, disoriented, dizzy, nauseous, difficulty walking, severe muscle, joint, back pain.
Then had to wait a yr. before they could try anything else for my fragile bones. Was not sexually active, or big on exercise at the time, just normal activity which greatly declined.
Am now on FORTEO, not a BIOPHOSPHANATE and the safest of all the other drugs. Given daily, yes you can give yourself a shot for 2 yrs. I can say my bones feel better, & stronger.
Ladies do your research, some of us have heart disease we do not even know about. Osteoporosis leaves us with few options…..death should NOT be one of them.
I am a Retired Nurse practitioner……so consider this a ‘second’ opinion!
God Bless….Be Wise!

Hi Susan,

I think it is humorous that your Dr said that Reclast should not be taken if an individual has cancer… Zometa is the exact same drug as Reclast ( only marketed under a different name) and is prescribed and recommended for cancer patients. Just goes to show you how removed the medical community is from these drugs. It should scare everyone how ignorant our physicians are when it comes to prescribing drugs, most of them solely rely on their drug representative ; who is ONLY interested in selling product.
My father died 54 days after his first Reclast infusion. He did not have cancer, was in great health for his age, 80, and had a full blood workup before his infusion. He followed all instructions, yet 3 days post Reclast he was suffering from Kidney failure, he had Atrial Fib, muscle spasms, bone pain, GERD, and a host of other symptoms. Reclast CAN NOT be reversed, there is no antidote, the one BIG reason that no one should take it ever, besides the fact that there is NO evidence that it really does anything but HARM our bones and wreak havoc on our organs.
I am very happy that you have not suffered because of this drug, that makes you incredibly lucky. I pray that you never see any ill effects from this drug , but it has destroyed thousands of lives…one is too many for a drug that doesn’t work! I wish you good health, and I would also recommend that you seek alternative options for your bones. Vitamin D, weight bearing exercise, there are several good books out there.

I have taken Reclast 3 times over the past 5 years. I had a slight flu-like reaction the 1st time that was gone in a couple days. Then 2nd and 3rd times I was told to take a couple Tylenol and I did so with no symptoms of any kind after I received the medication. My bone densities have improved and I have had no problems with my jaw, etc.

For Katy, there is NOT anything good about it if you are allergic to it and they have not gotten any thing to counter act. I took the infusion on June3, 2012 and still have side effects. I have the DEEP chills and head aches. Now I am having to take an MRI because I have bones growing in out of my skull and inside my skull. proved by C scan about 2 years ago. Headaches feel like I have someone playing ball inside my head. the sharp pains goes from one side to the other.