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Q: I have been on Forteo for about 3 months. Last week I started having sudden, severe pain in my elbows, ankles, wrists, arms and legs at times. Is this normal?
Hi Sharon, welcome... We're so sorry you are having these problems with pain. Joint and bone pain are side effects of Forteo, but it's the same with all the bisphosphonates (Actonel, Reclast, Aredia, Zometa, Fosamax, Boniva, etc., etc.)
If you are having any pain in your upper thigh, hip, foot or elsewhere, you need to report this to your Dr. asap since you took bisphosphonates long-term-I think. See the warning from the FDA and the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research on the latest atypical fractures caused by these drugs for those who took it for 5 or more years. Long term use is described as 5 years or more, but if you took it for a shorter time (any amount) and have this symptom, have it checked asap. Sometimes x-rays will not show a fracture so you could ask about an MRI also.
The interesting thing, is that Forteo can also provide pain relief for some and a clinical trial was done on this to comfirm it. The problem is we each react completely differently to these meds, so one patients reaction may not be similar to anothers.
I took Forteo for 2 years and didn't have any side effects, other than the occasional site bruising from accidentally hitting a vein during the injection. I also did really well on it improving my scores from severe osteo to osteopenia.
Check with your Dr. to see if this is the cause. You could ask to take a drug holiday, under you Dr.'s recommendation, to see if the pain stops, then you'd know for sure that it's being caused by the medication, but this would have to be initiated by your physician only. Since many other medical problems can cause these symptoms it's hard to say if this is the cause.
I hope you find out what is causing this and that it goes away soon.
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Hi again, I forgot to include a link to a discussion we had with our members on the use of Forteo. You may like to read what others say about it and the side effects seen, and post a question to one of the members. Here's the link to our Forteo Discussion here at OsteoporosisConnection.com. Be sure to read all the comments in that thread to hear all that was said by our members on Forteo.
Good luck...