Alendronuc acid and the dreaded empty stomach before taking it ...

I'm a 57 year old female with pulmonary Sarcoidosis diagnosed in 2011. At the moment I'm taking 10mg prendisilone, 200mg hydroxychloroquine, 30mg lanzoprazole, 20mg fluoxetine daily and amitriptyline20mg, 30mg morphine sulphate and 60mg solphadol at night. I am also 'supposed' to take 700mg alendronic acid once a week, I say supposed because I keep forgetting, the main problem is because I don't sleep well and drink tea during the night I never wake after a full nights sleep with a completely empty stomach, so my question is can I take the alendronic acid if I've had a cup of tea during the night ? The waiting for 30 minutes isn't a problem it's just the empty stomach.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi,

Don’t think a drink of tea is a problem, by an empty stomach the meaning refers to food.

[HeronNS]

You could post this question in the Bone Health community as well, there is quite a lot of discussion about Alendronic Acid there. How long have you been taking (or forgetting to take ) AA?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Honestly don't know - you could ask a pharmacist though. I imagine it depends how long before it was you drank the tea! It isn't absorbed as well even if you use a glass of mineral water instead of tap water - so much tea left would have some effect I'd think.

But under the circumstances - why not ask if you can be put on one of the other options where you take it once a month or, even better, even less often by infusion which removes all the gastric considerations? AA is just the cheapest so the first to be tried.