Fosamax and bone mass

I am 56 and have taken Fosamax for about 6 years. I have recently felt that I have an 80 year old's health, rather than my own age. I have noticed in the last year that I have had increasing leg weakness. Knees hurt, thighs hurt. I feel at times as if they are giving out and it causes me to stumble and fall, on the merest hint of uneven ground, more and more often. This of course means I have more risk of broken bones. The very thing that Fosamax is supposed to be preventing!!

Since taking Fosamax I have develped neck problems, which caused severe dizzyness problems 2 or 3 years ago and I still get dizzy attacks from time to time and neck pain all the time.

Recently (last 5 months) I have had an extensive rash that took two months to clear, extreme fatigue continuously, attacks of diarreha, inability to shake a urniary infection, flu like symptoms on and off for months, worstening of the leg pains to the point of feeling that at times my legs will give out at any time, and stiffness in walking.

I also had an stomach ulcer last year, that was surgically teated. The Dr wants me to cut back on the anti inflamitory drug I take for arthristis. Howvere I took this drug for 6 years with no problems, before I also started tsking Fosamax!

Fosamax at first helped the BMD level (I had osteoporosis that went down to osteopenie level), but now I am heading back to osteoporosis in my spine, as my reading are now borderline for osteoporosis again.

However I have still had plenty of broken bones since taking Fosamax!! At least one a year. So has it really helped?! or has it given me only extra but more fragile bone mass? I think maybe the latter.

The bad quality of life I am now experiencing has led me to believe that the cure may be much, much worst then the illness (osteopenie or osteoporosis). My mother has had nothing but problems with this sort of drug for osteo also.

I did not link all my symptoms to the Fosamax (despite my mother's experience) until last week, when, in desperation from my strange and inceasingly debilitating symptoms I did some research on the internet and found the hundreds of other reports of the same sort of problems with Fosamax, Particularly the leg and muscle pain and weakness.

Now of course I will see what being off it for a couple of months will do.

I started taking fosamax 3 weeks ago. The evening after I take the pill, I experience severe joint pain in the knees and back. Once it felt like my shoulder blades were lit on fire. These symptoms only happen while I sleep and leave after I am up for 10 minutes or so. I am scared to keep taking it; but, my bone mass has dropped 10%. My doctors cannot tell me if the pain is good (it's working) or bad. I am so confused and worried.