Nexium Bone Fracture Time Bomb

May 7, 2013, 3:15PM. By Jane Mundy

Long Island, NYJoe started taking Nexium back in 2001, soon after it was approved by the FDA. “If I knew about Nexium side effects back then, I would never have taken it,” says Joe, who is now suffering from osteoporosis and wonders if he is a candidate for Nexium fracture risk.

“I took 20 mg of Nexium every day, right up until 2010,” says Joe. “My current doctor suggested that I stop taking it, and even though I was dependent on Nexium for my stomach problems, I followed his advice.”

Joe admits that Nexium helped by reducing the gastric acid levels in his stomach, but he’d rather suffer through gastrointestinal gurgling than risk a bone fracture. “I had pains from my stomach up to my chest that almost felt like a heart attack, which mostly happened in the evening and at night. You can understand why I was dependent on Nexium, but the strangest thing is that, when I went off it cold turkey, I didn’t have the stomach problems - the ulcer I thought I had wasn’t there. I didn’t even need it.

“Now I have been hearing about a link between this drug and brittle bones. I can’t help but think that I am now suffering from Nexium side effects. I had spine surgery back in June 2001, and had a fusion, where some of my bone was scraped off and cadaver bone added. Then just six months later, the surgeon had to do a revision surgery because two screws broke in the vertebra. Right after that surgery, he noticed that all the bone material inserted in that area - that was supposed to have grown - had disappeared. My body had absorbed it all. How could that happen?”

Joe underwent a third surgery in 2003. This time the surgeon reinstated all the metal: Joe was wearing 12 screws, two rods, a square plate and a cage, and this time they used a material called BMP or bone morphogenetic protein, a genetic growth replacement. “The next year or so was OK but now I have full-blown osteoporosis and I’m only 66 years old,” he says.

“I have never broken a bone in my life. There was no obvious evidence of osteoporosis during my first surgery, so I can’t help but think Nexium is to blame. When I was tested for osteoporisis in 2010, the bone density test measured 3.7 and that indicated full-blown osteoporosis. How could this have happened so quickly?

“My questions were answered when I started seeing ads for Nexium on TV, which talked about mineral loss, Nexium fractures and broken bones, etc. My doctor said that I must have some kind of mineral deficiency but we never followed up on it. I don’t have any proof - I’ll leave that up to the lawyers - but it is just too coincidental. My 88-year-old mother has osteoporosis too and she also took Nexium. I have four siblings and nobody else has it. And they didn’t take any proton pump inhibitors.

“I see my GP this week and I plan to talk to him about it. You know how it is these days with doctors: you’re in and out and they don’t have much time to talk. But his philosophy is very good - get off the drugs. Not everyone has a good doctor - the public should know that Nexium is a problem.”


Nexium Litigation Update

On March 5, 2013, court records indicated that 42 actions are currently pending in the Nexium multi-district litigation (MDL) against the manufacturer, AstraZeneca. In the Nexium MDL (U.S. District Court, Central District of California, MDL 2404), plaintiffs claim that Nexium may cause a variety of bone ailments, including osteoporosis in particular, along with loss of bone density and bone fractures. Allegedly, AstraZeneca failed to adequately warn of these potential adverse side effects.