CrohnieToo

ElinorB, I haven't had Zolendronate but I did have one infusion of pamidronate (Aredia). It was "just" after Forteo had been approved. I have Crohn's disease so I would not even consider the oral bisphosphonates (Actonel, Fosamax, etc.). The pamidronate can be administered every 3 months, 4 months or 6 months; I'm not sure about just annually. Aside from the time it takes there is really nothing to the treatment. Just take a good book if you aren't fond of TV or if your infusion center doesn't provide a TV. (Mine did but I'm not a fan). Nurses stay by you just in case of any reaction. I did encounter a very slight tingling of the lips and wrists so they slowed my IV drip from a 2 hour drip to a 4 hour drip. That was it. This was done out of town at a leading teaching hospital.

Locally, my ob/gyn wasn't even sure if there was anywhere I could receive the pamidronate infusions. A local orthopod speaking on Osteoporosis told me when I asked that I must have been part of a clinical trial to receive pamidronate infusions. Horsepuckies!! I wasn't. True, it was/is off-label use but it can/could be done locally at our hospital's outpatient infusion center. Duh. Anyway, I decided it would be best if I went to an Endocrinologist. The first one I saw figured that I had osteomalacia in addition to osteoporosis so put me on a high dose of script vitamin D. A year later my DEXA scores were worse and I was rather disgusted w/her office and communication so I went to another Endocrinologist. By this time I had read up a lot on Forteo and was comfortable with the rat trials results and since Forteo at this time is the ONLY approved med that actually builds bone I opted to start Forteo. I've only been on it two months so only time will tell if I'm actually building any bone. However, at this point in time "our" intention is to continue the Forteo for 2 years and then to switch back to pamidronate infusions unless something better comes along meanwhile. The only person I "know" who has had a zolendronate infusion was someone who posted here a couple of months ago. I believe a man. And this person had a very serious reaction to the annual dosage of zolendronate so that is hardly a fair evaluation. I do know that the dosage of pamidronate varies w/the frequency of the infusions, smaller doses for more frequent infusions, larger doses for less frequent infusions. I "think" I read the doses are 20mg, 30mg and 60mg but sure wouldn't want to be quoted on that.