Elaine, you might want to speak to a bone health specialist and/or a nutritionist/dietitian. -1.5 is kind of midway into osteopenia; do you know if you have it in your spine, your femoral neck, both, other places, or...? I think at the point you're at, just statistically, most nutritionists would recommend trying to work on diet, exercise, vitamin supplements, and calcium before going to Fosomax, which can have some problematic side effects. You'll need to get sufficient vitamin D3 (be sure it's D3, not D1), sufficient calcium, and probably magnesium, too, without getting TOO much of any of them; a nutritionist can help with this. You want to do the correct types of exercise, too; and quit smoking, if you smoke. There are actually a lot of things you can try to "back out" of osteopenia... so I'd do some more investigating. Good luck - PJH