Prior Lake, MN"My mum will be part of a Fosamax multidistrict litigation (MDL) and our attorney is currently gathering her medical records," says Terri. " He told us that the first lawsuits for Fosamax dead jaw took a few years but they set the groundwork so these Fosamax femur fracture suits won't take so long. My mum wants to get the word out about Fosamax so that people know the risks; that they are aware of what could possibly happen."
Terri's mother was prescribed Fosamax for osteoporosis and she took it for 10 years, up until a few months ago. "She was having pain in her hip and trouble walking so she had an MRI," says Terri. "It showed a fractured femur but she didn't have an accident or bump into anything. After the MRI she sat on the hospital bed and her femur totally broke in half."
Terri says that just before the femur fracture, her 78-year-old mother had a bone scan that showed her bones were getting stronger. "We are confused; my mum's doctor told us the bone was getting stronger but our attorney said this can be a façade because with some people Fosamax makes the bone brittle.
"It took the doctors from 4.30 pm until 10 pm to get my mum in traction," Terri explains. "It is the same pattern of break that other people on Fosamax have reported: it is straight across with a break at the side of the femur. It was actually sticking out—it looked like her hip was dislocated. And she was in so much pain. She was allergic to the pain medications but she could tolerate the morphine. No matter what she tried she had migraine from the pain.
As if that wasn't bad enough, she needs a knee replacement but now she can't have one because she has a metal rod through her femur. We are looking into something new; a computer-aided knee replacement.
She went to an excellent rehabilitation clinic for a few weeks then had physical therapy at home until Medicare coverage ended. Fortunately my sister is a nurse so she helps a lot. I don't know what people do who don't have someone in the family with medical knowledge…
In the meantime, my mum is having a hard time walking with her walker. She was always active and vivacious and now she can hardly get out of the house. Fortunately all of us kids live nearby but my dad is doing all the housework now. There are a few stairs from their garage into the house and we put rails on each side so she can manage that, but she is visiting me next week: I only have one step up into my house but no rails and she is afraid to try it. And we are afraid her other femur will break.
We were thinking that mum should be on a different osteoporosis medication so we googled Fosamax and found out that many people have suffered this same break. We talked to her doctors but they won't acknowledge that Fosamax has anything to do with the break. When we asked the orthopedic surgeon what she should be taking for osteoporosis, he just said talk to your primary physician; I understand that they are just protecting each other but it is so frustrating.
However, I talked with my OB/GYN about Fosamax and she said it only works for five years. My mum was on it for ten years: it could be five or ten years too long. Does Fosamax have this effect on everyone who is on it for too long? I guess we will find out with this Fosamax MDL…"
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