Thanks for your post and I hope you will find this information useful.

It may be that the irritable bowel syndrome is causing inflammation of the intestines and this in turn could have caused poor absorption of calcium and vitamin D over time. It will be important for you to supplement your intake of these nutrients particularly the vitamin D3 and for the doctor to ensure your blood levels are checked until they are within normal limits.

Strontium ranelate absorption might also be reduced if the intestines are inflamed and this might reduce how effective the treatment is. Another important consideration is that one of the more common side effects reported by people taking this medication can be loose stools and diarrhoea. It might be helpful to discuss with a specialist (a rheumatologist or gastroenterologist) whether the strontium ranelate is the most suitable osteoporosis treatment for you at present. Other treatment options are available. It might be that an intravenous treatment that is given directly into a vein might be more effective such as ibandronate [Bonviva] or zoledronic acid [Aclasta] or the new denosumab [Prolia] injection which is given under the skin. Adequate calcium and vitamin D levels are usually required for all of these treatments. Click on the link below for a current drug treatments leaflet. Written information on denosumab will be available from the charity next week.

http://www.nos.org.uk/NetCommunity/document.doc?id=483

I do hope this information is useful. Please to not hesitate to call the nurses on the helpline if you’d like to discuss this further.

Best wishes

Helpline Nurses
National Osteoporosis Society