There is a catch 22 with osteoporosis/osteopenia. Some people are so fragile they will fracture a verterbrae from just bending over. So there is a need to do something for many. Unfortunately these drugs can have significant side effects for some.

Was diagnosed with Osteoporosis about 20 years ago. Little did I know back then that these drugs were a problem. I believed my doctors back then and was taking whatever meds they suggested. The only problem I noticed with the drug was some reflux a couple days after taking it.

I was placed on them and took them on/off for almost 20 years with a break every five years. In 2011 they came out that you should only take them for 5 years max. I didn't know this until recently and when I moved here I was still working and didn't remember to send any of my medical records from where I moved from so according to my Dr. when she put me back on them she didn't know I was on them that long.

I was on a hiatus from the drugs for over a year and was being monitored with annual Dexa scans. In April 2021 I was told I was in osteopenia and bc I had never broken a bone in my life I was at low risk for fracture. One month later I fell on my back and fractured my L4 verterbrae. It never healed and collapsed inside of me requiring a two day surgery 5 months later to remove the verterbrae that collapsed and install a cage lined with protein on mesh with a cadaver bone inside. Then I had rods and long cemented in screws placed from L2 to S2.

I am now considered at high risk for fracturing. I found out from my Endo the Bisophosophonate drugs never leave your system and can cause your bones to become more brittle. Thus why I fractured. They make your Dexa scan look great, however.

I am currently on Evenity injections which are bone protein. You can only take them for a year. I will go on respite from meds if my dexa is still in osteopenia or better.

FWIW If I knew what I know now I would use diet and exercise to forestall bone loss. My PT told me after I fell that jumping jacks are one of the best exercises for you to do with weight and resistance training.

There are multiple programs to check out on your own that use natural means to help keep your bones strong. In spite of this, your bones may continue to lose density. The other thing to try instead of getting a Dexa scan is to locate a place that offers REM scan instead. REMS is a bone scan that gives an estimate of bone mineral density, t-scores and z-scores, the same as DEXA, but the scan uses ultrasound instead of x-rays and, so long as the operator is fully trained, is more reliable because it's more fully automated than DEXA. REMS also gives a measure of bone strength, something that DEXA can't do.

I suspect many of us are seeing this disease due our diets and for some of us (myself included it is hereditary. I had a great aunt who was a hunchback due to fractures of her spine and my dad ended up that way in his late seventies.