Been taking Arimidex for 4 ½ years now and have just learned that I have osteoporosis. This is a really shocking discovery that is taking me time to digest. I have no history (except my grandmother but her eating habits were strange and she was a tiny stick insect!), I carry excess weight which is supposed to be good for something – osteoporosis. I exercise and ingest a fair amount of calcium in the form of milk and cheese. Never would I have thought this disease (?) – not sure if osteoporosis qualifies as a disease – would hit me, never.

Some time back a woman I met in London told me that she was taking Arimidex and asked if I was taking calcium. When she learned that I was not, she was adamant that I should be as she had been advised by her UK doctor to do so. Neither my Spanish or  American doctors had mentioned it. Now I am learning that it is vital and after scouring the Astra Zeneca website am seeing it more or less in passing rather than a stern warning – TAKE CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS WHEN YOU ARE TAKING ARIMIDEX!! Bone loss is to be expected. Now I am on a quest to learn more about osteoporosis and will be blogging about it on www.elizabethcampbellsite.com  as well.

My GP advised that I should get a Reclast treatment but after reading some of the unpleasant side effects I will begin searching for alternate ways to rebuild and hopefully reverse my bone loss. The side effects of Reclast and some of the other osteoporosis drugs are too drastic and after the pain associated with the first two years on Arimidex I can’t bear the thought. So now I begin my quest. I state here and now that I will have a second bone density test as soon as it is deemed feasible to see if my self-sought treatment will work.

If you are on Arimidex – Take your calcium, vitamin D, zinc and magnesium twice daily with meals. Also follow my journey here and on the osteoporosis site I am building with the intention of getting the word out.