Zometa | Arthritis Information

A quick update .. I had the Zometa infusion 5 days ago and will start Plaquenil maybe tomorrow. Have had a few days of not feeling well, nausea and some bone pain but managable. Also have blood pressure tabs to take. I am going to introduce new meds slowly just in case I do have a reaction and I want to know which med it is. Is this what you do?

There are a lot of RA folk on this forum that take Pred in very high doses. Do you have osteoporosis fractures as well to deal with? and all the other side effects of Pred?

Hope 2009 will bring a cure for you all.

Merry Christmas from Down Under in sunny Australia.

Love Lyn xx

the Zometa is for your RA?Gee I never heard of that medicine.

I didn't stay on a high dose of prednisone long enough to get any of the "bad" side effects. Just the moon face, facial hair, weight gain which subsided with the taper.

Zometa is a bisphosphonate, one of the class of drugs that are touted as a treatment for osteoporosis. Zometa is administered every 3-4 weeks intravenously.

As with many, if not most, of these drugs, bone necrosis (especially of the jaw) is a concern.

FWIW a quick internet search will bring up many "of interest" articles about this drug and other bisphosphonates. I have osteoporosis from steroids and am supposed to be taking fosamax for it plus a calcium with vitamin D supplement. I take the calcium w/vit D. But the fosamax murders my stomach. I told my old rd about it, and the new one and still no changes were made so I said heck with it. I have had both hips replaced anyway if I can break titanium then I'm superman. The only other places that showed thinning were the wrists. This was on a safe dose of pred. Now that I'm on a high dose I'd bet it's much worse. But man, I can't stand how sick the fosamax makes me. I always get...none of the other drugs have been studied enough in men to try yet.

Bob