Evista

bjg

i am on evista for the same reason you are ..actonel and fosamax gave me problems..mine were urinary...i just had a bone density scan done..i was on evista for 11 months...it slowed my bone loss down..but did not stop it..other years i lost 3% or more ..this year i lost only 1%...i am still considered to have have moderate osteopenia...the evista gives me very vivid disturbing dreams...but you have to take the good with the bad i guess..good luck to you

blondegal

bjg: I also have osteopenia and could not tolerate Fosamax. I am now on Miacalcin but it is not particularly good for preventing bone loss in the femur. Besides vivid dreams are there any other undesirable side effects that you experience with Evista? What about weight gain or joint pain? Thanks I am considering asking about using it. I'm glad to hear that it's working for you - very encouraging.

Cricket68

bjg...... congrats on your improvement. Is your osteopenia in your hip? If so has the bone loss slowed in both hip and spine?
Cricket

bjg

i have osteopenia in both my spine and hip..the evista slowed the loss of bone in both places...since starting the evista my weight has stayed basically the same..i vary between 118 and 122 ..ive not noticed any joint pain...just a warning ...evista is for post menopausal women only....also evista carries with it a serious threat of blood clots..so i was very reluctant to begin taking it..but felt that i had no choice but to chance it..calcium and exercise werent enough....its such a new drug that i fear what the long term side effects of it may be, but i guess i fear a dowagers hump and painful fractures even more...

Cricket68

Hi bjg,
Thank you for your reply. The only thing I can say is
a definite "ditto" to everything you said. I was very reluctant to take this medication due to possible blood clot but, couldn't sit back and do nothing either.
Spoke to my sister-in-law, who has been on Evista for a number of years, she said that it kept her numbers from increasing. They stayed the same. She has had no side effect except hot flashes. Hasn't had any fractures either.
I wish you the best,
Cricket

bjg

hi cricket..the info about your sister in law is very interesting..its the first i have heard of anyone being on evista for any lenght of time.and i am very happy to hear that the drug is doing its job without causing any serious problems..it makes it a little easier to take each morning...but it does as well for us..barb

Dece

Hi, I am new to this board.
I am 45 ,female and a T-score of +.43 in the hip and -1.29 in the spine. Is it possible to be oke in the hip but have osteopenia in the spine? Requested a copy of my test immediately and the recommendations stated CALCIUM/D supplements and exercise. Stiil the receptionist called for me to pick up a prescription for EVISTA. I am on estrogen so can not take it. Am very confused about this whole thing. My family history does not indicate osteoporosis or osteopenia.

[This message has been edited by Dece (edited 05-26-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Dece (edited 05-26-2003).]

Mattsmummum

I just found out yesterday that my mother-in-law is on Fosomax and Evista. Is there anyone else being given both these meds. She was on Evista with little improvement and they switched her to Fosomax and said "stay on the Evista, too, plus the extra calcium supplements. My husband has been on Fosomax for years, but I didn't know someone should be on both. I told her I would check in here because there's always so many people out there to respond.

bjg

your husband should know that to the best of my knowledge the clinical trials on fosamax were done on only post menopausal women ..that means that the safety and effectiveness for men has not been established..even the tv commercials for fosamax say used to prevent bone loss in post menopausal women.....

g'ann

did a search on evista sometime ago and remember reading an article that indicates that while evista prevents breast cancer it can cause other types of cancer. wish i could recall the site. i was considering evista for my osteoporosis, but nixed it when i read that. should have read the whole thing, i guess.....
g

Sarah101

I have been taking evista for two years now with no major problems. It sure is easier to take than fosomax. I have not noticed a weight gain although my figure does seem to have shifted a little. I weigh the same on the scale, but i look heavier. i don't know why, but it does not matter it the evista helps me. My last T score was not improved from last year, but my dr. insists that evista was proven to help stop fractures and I should stay on it and try it another year. I am going to supplement it with a new kind of calcium that I wrote about in my post. We will see next year when I have the BDT what happens. I cannot drive myself crazy over this. I will do the best that I can do and hope for the best.

bjg

this is what i have found out about evista..it is being trialed now to see if it like tamoxifen decreases the risk of breast cancer in women at high risk, it also does not carry the increased risk of uterine cancer that hrt does..but it lab tests rats that were given raloxiefen(evista) did develop ovarian cancer..but when i spoke to the drug co that makes evista they told me that they did not list ovarian cancer as a possible side effect because the rats that developed the ovarian cancer still had functioning ovaries..something that post menopausal women do not have..and that when they trialed evista on post menopausal women there was no increased incidence of ovarian cancer in the women in the trial..that is why the drug is approved to treat bone loss in only post menopausal women.....