Is anyone taking Boniva?

[caty]

I just got a prescription for it. I looked it up on the internet to read up on the side effects. Aches and pains, stomach and esophagus ulcers, loosening teeth? I just wonder if anyone has been taking it for awhile and if you have had any of these side effects.

http://www.drugs.com/boniva.html

[DeeDeeNY]

1. Never a problem

I haven't used Boniva, but I've taken Fosamax and Actonel and they are all in the same family of drugs and have similar side effects. I stopped taking Actonel last year when the news about the jaw problems came out. I didn't think I would actually develop that jaw condition, which is a rare side effect, but I was concerned why the "experts" couldn't even figure out why the drug would cause such a problem.

[lyonn]

2. After taking Fosamax for about two years I started having extreme

pain in my left shoulder with pain radiating down arm. My arm would get hot and my hand perspire. A couple of times it occurred in right arm. Since I am left handed decided I was straining it. But this pain was so sever. Couldn't sleep. Aspirins barely touched the pain. I would have to hold my arm still if I tried to move. I thought it was due to the aging process, about 67 at the time. I would never know what caused it as it didn't take much activity to set it off. Usually the pain would start a couple of days after I had done something like taking the vacuum hose and reach under and around something, dumb stuff like that. For the next 2 days it was almost unbearable and then slowly get better. After a week of barely using arm it would feel fine. I looked up all kinds of things I thought it might be, arthritis, etc. Then I decided to look up Fosamax after hearing about the tooth/jaw issue. I discovered other women having this same weird stuff happening to them that had never had these problems before.

Edit: Just re-read your post and realized that Boniva (sp?) mentioned aches and pains, now that is interesting. My literature with Fosamax did not mention it but, that was 3 to 4 years ago.

I quit taking it about a year or so ago and the incidents began to decrease. I did have an episode a few months ago and had to break down and have a doctor friend come to my rescue. He suspected it may be in my upper back, disc problem, etc. It was a visit to my home and I was hurting so bad, could barely move. Long story longer, ha, was moving a large foot stool around my living room with my legs as I was afraid to use my arms and I'll be damned if my knees didn't get really stiff and hurt. So, probably not a back problem.

Since getting off the Fosmax the incidents happen a lot less now. Who knows, just be aware that there could be real problems with this type medication. I was taking the weekly dose. The thoughts of taking one that lasted a month really scares me. It seems many of the warnings on tv for prescriptions have warnings about pain in muscles and bones. I could never tell for sure whether the pain was in muscle or bone but, it seemed to be in the muscle. I'm talking serious pain when this weird stuff happens like nothing I've ever experienced, except child birth, ha.