Ann is in her sixties, well past 'change of life.' She reads about women’s health issues and is worried about her bones. She feels good, but she knows osteoporosis can sneak up on you. Concerned, she goes to her doctor. That afternoon he’d been taken to lunch by a pharmaceutical drug rep, so Ann gets a prescription. Ten months later she’s waking up in severe pain every day. The pain gets so bad she can hardly think.

Looking for answers on the Internet, an FDA alert informs her, 'Patients treated with widely used osteoporosis drugs may develop severe and sometimes disabling pain in muscles, joints and bones.'

It turns out that the risk of developing severe pain from 'bisphosphonates' given to prevent osteoporosis has been know for some time, but it takes time for this kind of information to trickle down to the general public.

The pain in bones and muscles 'may occur within days, months or years after starting a bisphosphonate' the alert also tells her.

Granted, the occurrence of severe, debilitating pain from such drugs is relatively uncommon. But tell that to Ann. Her doctor assumed her pain was from some 'unknown cause,' and her medications were overlooked.

She’s worried because her pain isn’t stopping. Trusting that her doctor knows what’s best for her, she assumes he’s considered every option. Ann turns pale when she reads that in many cases the severe pain goes away after cessation of the drug, 'whereas others have reported slow or incomplete resolution.'

Incomplete resolution? It might never stop? No one can live like this!

Her heart’s now fluttering from anxiety, but she doesn’t know that the FDA is already conducting a review of osteoporosis drugs to determine if they’re also linked to 'atrial fibrillation,' a dangerously elevated heartbeat.

Ann goes to her chiropractor, whose knowledge of nutrition reveals that there are effective means of strengthening bones without drugs, even at her age. Dietary calcium is good, but after menopause she needs to supplement. He recommends a chelated calcium/magnesium as an efficient form of calcium, since at her age low stomach acidity makes absorption a problem. Glucosamine and MSM might ease her pain.

A year later, off the drugs and walking every day, Ann’s bones are stronger than they’ve been in years. Her pain is lessened, but she’s also learned a lesson: Drugs have side effects. She’ll stick with natural remedies whenever she can. No longer depending on one doctor’s opinion, she’s turning to the World Wide Web and realizing that women’s health is her own.