Fosamax Side Effects Symptomatic of an Over-Medicated Society

Washington, DCAn article appearing January 5 in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on the potential for an over-medicated society includes Fosamax as a drug that the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) identifies as one that warrants a rethink—especially for women with mild osteoporosis known as osteopenia.

Fosamax side effects have been increasingly in the news with reports, over the past couple of years, of various Fosamax side effects. Among them, osteonecrosis of the jaw, or Fosamax ONJ—a rare but debilitating disease affecting the jaw. Bone in the jaw has been seen to degenerate, sometimes triggered by dental work. The result is a debilitating condition that can adversely affect an individual's overall health.

Several Fosamax jaw lawsuits have been filed.

More recently, there has been a call for doctors to slow some of their patients down on continued, long-term use of bisphosphonates. While the latter do yeoman's service in helping to prevent bone loss and fractures in older adults suffering from osteoporosis, bisphosphonates such as Fosamax have been found to actually foster the fracture of certain bones if used over long periods of time (a series of years).

Many doctors are now advocating a "drug holiday" for some of their patients, in an effort to reduce the potential for side effects.

The Sun-Sentinel article, which has its origins with Tribune Media Services, noted that the vast majority of Americans employ at least one drug to treat a chronic health condition. That figure—61 percent—represents a nearly 15 percent increase in the (now) ten years since 2001.

What's more, at least one out of every four seniors consumes around five different medications in any given day.

That spells a financial boon for pharmaceutical companies, which are apparently biased toward stacking the deck with the appearance, if not the reality, of safety. One recent study, which appeared late summer in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 50 percent of government-funded trials showed that a drug worked well. That ratio differs substantially when compared with trials funded by pharmaceuticals, which revealed that drugs worked well 85 percent of the time.

As for Fosamax and other bisphosphonate medications, the director for the not-for-profit San Francisco Coordinating Center noted that their benefits far outweigh the risks for those suffering from full-blown osteoporosis. However, the NOF, at one time advocating the use of Fosamax and bisphosphonates for women with mild bone loss, now promotes guidelines that exclude most women with osteopenia from bisphosphonate use.

As for Fosamax dead jaw, that's harder to isolate. However, as rare as it is, once it develops it can foster a lifetime of horrendous frustration for which there are few alternatives.