worried about putting off my infusion because of dental work

[MydogBrandy]

my dentists can’t get me in for two months and my infusion should have been this month so i have had to cancel it. I came off alderonic acid tablets last October , worried about the collapse of the jaw I heard about. Does anyone know how long I have to wait after extractions to getting my infusion. Also the side effects I have been told with the infusion is flu like symptoms just for a day. Is this true. The tablets did not agree with me. Any responses would be welcome thank you. My dexa scan is at -3.5 and I only got that after a bad fall when I broke my hip otherwise I wouldn’t even know I have osteoporosis ! I am 73 by the way x

[FearFracture]

What type of infusion are you getting? Is it Reclast (zoledronic acid) or Prolia? Is this your first infusion?

If you were taking the oral bisphosphonate, Alendronate, and quit taking it and were then told to get an infusion for the 1st time of either zoledronic acid or Prolia, the holiday between taking meds does not matter, meaning going off Alendronate does not lead to rebound fractures.

If you've had a Reclast (zoledronic acid) infusion and are now trying to schedule your 2nd infusion (usually this would happen 1 year after your first), a break between the infusions (meaning more than 1 year between doses) does not matter--the gap between a 1st and 2nd infusion will not lead to rebound fractures.

If you've had a Prolia infusion and are now trying to get your next scheduled Prolia infusion (usually you get Prolia infusions every 6 months), the timing of the infusion does matter--you are supposed to get Prolia infusions every 6 months and when you stop Prolia you are supposed to start a new med (often bisphosphonates) for usually 2 years to avoid rebound fractures from having stopped the Prolia.

Note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR NOR AM I A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL; however, I took Alendronate for 1.5 years took about a 4 month holiday and then had my 1st zoledronic acid infusion in November 2021. If I get another zoledronic acid infusion the earliest I would have it is November 2022. My current plan is to not have the infusion this November. I want to get the results of my DEXA and I am in the process of finding an endocrinologist who cares about my health--I'm really unhappy with my current endocrinologist.

[MydogBrandy in reply to FearFracture]

Oh thanks so much for that, yes I have had a break from Aledronate , last October was my last tablet. This was because I went to the dentist who said I needed to be off them to have two extractions. They also made me a bit sick! Teeth extractions are booked for October so I will have my first infusion, Zolendronic acid after that. My dexa scan was at -3.5 at the beginning is still at -3.5 so no change after the tablets! Will do like you I think have my first infusion then see what the results are before I decide on the way forward x

[FearFracture in reply to MydogBrandy]

Did your doctor run any bone marker tests while you were taking the Alendronate?

I recently signed up for a webinar on bone markers. I've seen a lot of ppl on this website post about bone marker tests but my endocrinologist has never run any and knowing what I know now, I think he negligent for not having done so.

Unfortunately the webinar I signed up for had so many participants that I was not able to log in. However, the woman giving the webinar sent a PDF with bone marker info. You can access the information at s3.amazonaws.com/Food4Healt...

After having read through the above document, what I have learned is that 1. your doctor should run bonemarker tests prior to prescribing any osteo-drugs to establish a base line. Futhermore, while taking osteomeds (including bisphosphonates) your doctor should run bone marker tests to see if the drugs are working. In short, your doctor shouldn't be relying just on DEXA scores. DEXA scores show bone density so it is a good way to get a snap shot and to see if your bone density is going up, down or staying the same. But just because one has been taking osteo-meds, it doesn't mean that the meds are actually working or are the reason your BMD has gone up, down, or stayed the same.

I'm slowly discovering that my endocrinologist is not a good doctor. He prescribed oste-meds to me based solely on 1 DEXA scan and he didn't even read the full report. He simply went by the summary pages, which isn't good enough.

After having had by 1st zoledronic acid infusion, which I now somewhat regret (only time will tell if it was a horrible choice or not) I learned that my doctor hadn't done a lot of stuff that he should have done. Immediately after my 2nd DEXA, I stopped the Alendronate because it was causing digestive tract issue. The summary of my 2nd DEXA made it look like my left hip had significantly improved after having been on alendronate for 1.5 years. But after a couple of months of arguing with the group that did my DEXA scans and finally getting copies of the full DEXA reports for both my 2019 DEXA and 2021 DEXA when I went through all the data what I really discovered is that is appears that there was an error on my 2019 DEXA that made my left hip look worse than my right and then on my 2021 DEXA my left hip number went up a little and my right hip number came down a little, which makes absolutely no sense, that is why I am pretty sure there were mistakes on my 2019 DEXA scan. But since my endocrinologist didn't look at all the supporting data, he assumed that the alendronate had helped my BMD. He basically said, there was a big improvement in your left hip which means the alendronate helped therefore although you can take it orally a bisphosphonate infusion should be your next step. So his entire reason for prescribing the zoledronic acid infusion is flawed. Had he run a bonemarker test before prescribing and after I started taking the alendronate he could have checked to see if the alendronate was actually doing what it was supposed to do.

You might want to talk to your doctor about the bone marker tests while you are on a break from meds. Your doctor could possibly establish a baseline before you take anything else.

[MydogBrandy]

Omg you seem very knowledgable in this field … not like me ..completely useless. Thanks so much will read the attached and have a word with my doc x