was L hip and required 3 screws and now I'm TDWB for 2 wks, One year agoI had extensive OR to correct scoliosis and then broke a titanium rod and then had repair of that( cages with artificial material implanted and fused) activitiy limited to walking or riding stationary bike. I take Fosamax, Premarin, Ca 600 with D 4/day, Celebrex, Ultram, .Last bone density was some improved. Parathyroid levels normal, US of parathyroid normal(Calcium level occ slightly elevated) I'm 60 and a nurse , I drink milk, I did smoke for 30 years but have not smoked for past 5. What can I do or ask my Dr. to do so this doesn't continue to occur? I'm very anxious about my bone future
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Q: recently had second stress (hip) fracture, (R-2years ago-this required plate and pins) recent one.
Answers (1)
5/14/09 10:23pm
Hi anxious nurse: Sorry to hear about all your difficulties. Your spinal problems sound very similar to mine with the broken hardware and revisions. I took Actonel for about a 1.5 years and that only improved my scores by .2 so I started Forteo and did extremely well. I had 6 compression fractures and 7 surgeries with low -3's t-scores and the only thing that helped me was Forteo.
I don't know if you are a candidate for this, or even if you're interested, but Forteo is being used for osteoporosis as well as non-healing fractures with great success. Here's an article on Forteo and non-healing frax's and if you're interested an article from the Cleveland Clinic on it as well.
You mentioned slightly elevated Ca, has that ever been recitified or do they know why it is sometimes elevated? Since your PTH is US of the parathyroid is normal that's good, but I wonder what would make it go up occasionally since bisphosphonates usually lower calcium levels. As you probably know, sometimes we need to have tests repeated and you might want to ask if they feel the US was conclusive as far as your parathyroid goes. Forteo can elevate your Ca slightly but it was only seen in a small (19%) of the group, so if you have hypercalcemia you would have to figure out the cause before considering a drug that could possibly elevate it a little more. If you feel that Forteo is not for you, you could consider Reclast. Here's an article on that as well.
You will have to decide what to do, but hopefully this information will help in some way to get you started down the road to recovery.
Good luck and if you need anything else please post again.
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By anxious nurse— Last Modified: 12/24/10, First Published: 05/14/09
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Hi again, I mispoke when I said that the percentage of people with increased Ca on Forteo was 19% of the group, what I meant to say was the serum Ca levels were increased by 19%, in a small number of the women in the group, but these levels returned to baseline at either 4-6 hours post dose. Those with a 1 point serum Ca level increase were instructed to reduce their Ca intake by 50% and continue on Forteo.
I mentioned the US of the parathyroid just to be sure that a possible parathyroid problem, that could result in bone loss, are unequivocally ruled out since somtimes these tests can produce false negatives.
Sorry for the mistake!!!