Losing your sight may be another ‘side effect’ of osteoporosis meds
For years I’ve been warning you about those risky drugs for osteoporosis.
Millions of women (and now men!) are being scared silly into taking meds like Fosamax and Boniva.
But breaking a bone should be the least of their worries.
That’s because these drugs have been linked to some horrible side effects. Things such as cancer of the esophagus, an irregular heartbeat, bone fractures (yes, bone fractures), and total disintegration of the jaw bone appropriately called “Dead Jaw Syndrome.”
But now researchers in Canada have discovered something else about these drugs.
They can put you on the fast track to losing your eyesight.
The label for Fosamax gets longer all the time.
Shortly after it hit the market, the FDA made Merck add a warning about esophageal ulcers.
Patients were told they now had to sit up or stand for 30 minutes after popping the pill. That should have been a tip right off the bat that this isn’t a drug you want to take!
Then came the warning about “Dead Jaw Syndrome.”
Add to that a highlighted section on the label for incapacitating bone, joint and muscle pain and sudden fractures of the femur — the longest, strongest bone in the body.
If that wasn’t enough to have women running the other way, maybe this new study will.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia have found that these kinds of bone drugs, called bisphosphonates, can significantly up your risk of wet age-related macular degeneration.
In other words, the very worst kind.
In this type of macular degeneration blood vessels leak into the part of the retina called the macula. This leaking and swelling can quickly leave you seeing a large dark area right in the center of what you’re looking at, and can eventually steal your vision altogether.
The Canadian researchers found that the risk of this sight-stealer was four times higher in Fosamax users, well over double in those taking Boniva and triple for another one of these meds called Actonel.
The study, which looked at records for close to 8,000 patients with macular degeneration in British Columbia, wasn’t just a stab in the dark, either.
You see, four years ago a large study found that this class of bone drugs can up your risk of two other serious eye diseases by a whopping 45 percent.
That research found that “first-time users” of the drugs are at risk of developing two kinds of severe eye inflammation, uveitis and scleritis. Dr. Mahyar Etminan, who also conducted the current research, said that by slowing down normal bone turnover, these meds can cause “a surge in inflammatory agents” that can damage the eyes.
Seriously — is there any part of the body they can’t damage?
And if you’re wondering how so many people get conned into taking these dangerous drugs, that’s due to one of the most unreliable medical tests you can get — the DXA scan.
Sure, if you’re over a certain age you’ve been told by your doctor that this is a vital test to see how your bones are holding up. But in reality, the DXA scan doesn’t even give reliable results when being tested on the spines of cadavers, which is how they’re calibrated!
Look, the bottom line here is to keep your bones strong. And there are some simple, effective ways to do that which won’t involve vision-stealing, bone-breaking drugs.
One is to regularly take vitamin D. Another would be to include vitamin K supplements that are made from natto or nattokinase. And that’s especially important if you’re also taking calcium.
But if there’s anything you don’t need, it’s a drug you take on blind faith that just might end up blinding you!
Sources:
“Are oral bisphosphonates associated with risk for wet AMD?” William C. Ou, Charles C. Wykoff, MD, PhD, September 23, 2016, Medscape, medscape.com
