question about Zometa

this is the drug they want my mother to start on meanwhile. She's hesitant to take it. Says the things she reads about it online worry her and that in her words "sounds worse than chemo".

Is this an effective drug, does it have serious SEs, is there better stuff out there in your experience?

Thanks Sonny. The hospital is in fact doing dental work on my mother (for free). Thank you, I am copying and pasting your post to my mother now on Skype as I talk with her. Thanks you.

HI Tony,ihave zometa on bi monthly basis and have experienced no side effects to talk about.i had alittle pain in my spine which zometa seemed to cure.there are a few incidences of jaw narcosis,bone death,but i believe only a very small percentage.Make sure that your mum drinks plenty of water before during and after treatment as it is quite liver toxic.also keep calcium and vit d levels up as this treatment zaps them.Just for interest i was informed that Zometa has a half life of over ten years so once it repairs an area of bone it will protect that area for sometime into the future.

thanks so much. copying and pasting for her.

Somehow post is missing - my husband was on Zometa for a year and a half with no known issues until his jaw went numb - permanently and oral surgeon knew right away he'd been on Zometa. He also has a piece of jaw bone dying on other side. From research, Zometa is fine, but watch long term use and the half-life mentioned above is an issue when the bone starts disintegrating.