Hi, I have seen a consultant, and am taking Alendronic Acid tablets once a week., as she suspects have temporal arteritis. I have mistakenly taken my tablet at teatime? Will I have any adverse effects?
Advice please: Hi, I have seen a consultant, and... - PMRGCAuk
Advice please
Just once should be OK I would think - not much you can do anyway is there When did you eat relative to it?
Why are you taking AA?
There is nothing in your profile, ie when were you diagnosed, what pred started on and what dose now.
Or, have I read it correctly from your post, that you have not yet been diagnosed with either PMR or GCA.
If your consultant suspects temporal arteritis is she doing anything about it like offering you corticosteroids? Why are you taking Alendronic Acid? Have you had a Dexascan to check your bone density?
Alendronic acid is used to treat osteoporosis & as pred can cause osteoporosis consultants often prescribe it without checking if you really need it. (You need a dexa scan to know this)AA IS most effective on an empty stomach, so taking it at night may mean it’s not as effective. As PMRpro says once should be ok
I’m on Risedronate which is similar to AA (+ corticosteroids for PMR, at 3.5mg). Just recently I had a mug of coffee with coffee whitener (god knows what they put in that stuff but it doesn’t half make coffee taste nice 😊). I was aware that Risedronate/AA should be taken on an empty stomach and before other meds, so I read the PIL to understand the effect of what I had done. This sums it up for me... ‘If you accidentally take a double dose of Risedronate/AA immediately drink a glass of milk’ - this presumably neutralises it; eating ‘stuff’ with calcium(?) could have the same effect. On another occasion I took Omeprazole before Risedronate and god that made me feel very strange in the stomach/intestinal department. In future I’ll stick with the recommendations.