# Who cares how often you take your osteoporosis pill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080 "2007-07-17T02:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080/1 "2007-07-17T02:22:24Z")
I’ve watched the “once monthly Boniva” commercial about a million times. In it a woman enthuses about how her doctor prescribed this miracle pill that she only needs to take once a month for her osteoporosis, rather than those other lesser pills that you have to take weekly. Every time I see the commercial, I wonder why it matters how often you take the pill. It’s not like once weekly is some odd and difficult to maintain regimen, and that once monthly is so much more convenient. There has to be something more here. What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![Gengis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gengis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gengis)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080/2 "2007-07-17T02:27:23Z")
My mother was on the once-per-week pill for a while, and it is a bit of a pain. You have to take it in the morning, with nothing in your stomach, and then be sitting and/or standing for at least 1/2 hour, still eating or drinking nothing. For her, the hardest part was not having her coffee first thing in the morning. I imagine just once a month is less of an annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080/3 "2007-07-17T02:33:00Z")
People forget to take pills. Taking a daily/weekly pill at the wrong time may screw up the dose more than varying a monthly pill. I’m wondering if that once a month pill is taken around the time of her menstrual cycle (if she still has it). I think another big thing is, the less pills one has to take, the better. I have gout & high blood pressure and have to take a couple different meds for each. I also take a prescription heartburn med and over the counter vitamins. This means means I’m popping a total of 17 pills per day (8 pills twicer per day, plus vitamin once per day). Some of those pills are big and uncoated, which means they stick going down sometimes. I hate it. If I could take each med only once per month I’d be ecstatic! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080/4 "2007-07-17T03:06:23Z")
And you have to be upright for 1/2 hour (which can hurt people with severe osteoporosis) because the pills cause acid reflux. The reflux can become a serious problem. Fewer pills, less reflux. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080/5 "2007-07-17T03:42:05Z")
I think that if you take the ones that you only take once a month, you have to remain upright for an hour. I can’t remain conscious and seated in the chair for an hour. Maybe I should sit on the front steps so that when I fall asleep, I will roll down and hit something hard to wake me up. Man, I just have to have the caffeine first. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cares-how-often-you-take-your-osteoporosis-pill/412080/6 "2007-07-17T03:49:50Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] I think that if you take the ones that you only take once a month, you have to remain upright for an hour. [/QUOTE] It’s true for all the pills, including the once a week varieties.