Recently a woman wrote the Mayo Clinic inquiring about the safety of Fosomax.
She expressed particular concern about the risk of developing "osteonecrosis of the jawbone" (osteomalacia), which she had heard was a possible side effect of the osteoporosis drugs.
Anyone versed in the machinations of Big Pharma would have known better than to ask the Mayo Clinic or any other health professional on the receiving end of the pharmaceutical industry's largesse.
Their reply could easily be anticipated.
Fosomax was safe "for the majority of people taking it," although they conceded that in "rare" cases osteomalacia was a possibility.
They went on to explain that these "rare" instances of osteomalacia were limited to people with cancer, and to those of us with dental problems.
So, no sweat, if you've never had a filling and will never need one, never had or will never need a tooth extracted, a root canal, dental implant, crown or bridge installed, and have never had and will never have periodontal treatment, you can "safely" take Fosomax.
As for the rest of us, we have a 10% chance, yes, that's one in ten, of getting osteomalacia if we take Fosomax.
The same goes for the sister drugs, Boniva, Actonel, and Reclast.
They all share the same active ingredient, bisphosphonate.
Bisphosphonates -- How They Work Bisphosphonates work by killing the blood vessels to the bone, preventing bone loss by limiting the circulation of the blood.
Over time, the bones nearly die, crystalize and shatter like glass.
Countless people taking these osteoporosis drugs have reported simple stress fractures, many of which never heal.
This is just one element in the tossed salad of side effects the osteoporosis drugs deliver.
Along with the fractured bones come constant heartburn, dizziness, hot flashes, and excrutiating bone pain and body aches, which only get worse as the medication continues.
Big Pharma Knows The manufacturer, Merck, is well aware of this.
So will this drug be removed from the market? Heaven forbid.
It is just too profitable an item.
So profitable in fact, that Merck has set up an 84 million dollar legal defense fund in anticipation of the coming flood of litigation.
Don't Blame Your Doctor If you have osteoporosis and have been prescribed Fosomax, Boniva, Actonel, or Reclast, you may want to take a breath before blaming your doctor.
The pharmaceuticals have been busily conducting high powered sales campaigns along with their very generous incentive programs.
Most doctors out in the trenches are simply too busy to keep up with all the advances in medicine on their own and they rely heavily on information forwarded to them by their peers, their professional journals, and their pharmaceutical representatives, all of whom are well compensated by the producers of these drugs.
Our Powerless FDA Even the the FDA is no help here.
Full fifty percent of the FDA payroll is funded directly by the pharmaceutical industry.
Being aware of the problems with Fosomax, the FDA has timidly requested that a warning label be added to their product.
The result was a 22 page document of fine print given to the pharmacies that dispense Fosomax, and here, on page 13, will be found a short paragraph warning of osteonecrosis.
We Don't Need This Stuff The good news in all this is that we really don't need any of these overpriced, overpromoted, overprescribed, and essentially worthless drugs.
Alternative physicians have been treating osteoporosis successfully for some time, and more recently have been provided with a new weapon for their arsenal.
It's called Strontium.
Strontium and Osteoporosis Many of us, when we hear the word "Strontium," conjure up the image of Strontium 90 the radioactive isotope found in nuclear fallout.
Here we're discussing stable strontium, which has been used medicinally for more than 100 years.
It is the most abundant element in seawater; there is more strontium in the earth's crust than carbon, and the human body contains about 350 mg of strontium normally, nearly all of which is in bone and connective tissue.
It has in fact been used as treatment to gradually eliminate the radioactive strontium from the body and it has worked astonishingly well.
Mayo Clinic Learns It Works Strontium tends to accumulate in bone, especially where active remodelling is taking place.
As far back as 1959, the Mayo Clinic investigated the effects of strontium on bone health and bone remodeling.
The study lasted three years and during this time, no significant side effects were observed..
The bone health of the individuals in the study improved and the bone mass was seen to increase.
Since there was no potential patentability to strontium, interest in the substance quickly faded.
Step Out and Help Yourself Now alternative physicians are rapidly adopting it for their own treatment protocols and it would be advisable for anyone with osteoporosis, or osteopenia, to consult an Alternative Physician.
There are other very effective formulations of bone nutrients out there too, if you know where to look.
The trick here is to find a reliable manufacturer.
What this all means is that there is no need to follow along with the big lie we're being fed by Big Pharma.
We're not strapped into their faulty product line.
Unless we want to be.