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Help Prevent Fractures

Making small changes around the house can help prevent fractures due to falls indoors and outdoors.

Fall Prevention Indoors

  • Remove trip hazards like throw rugs, cords, loose wires, and clutter.
  • Place items you use most often within easy reach, or use a long-handled grasping device.
  • Use a step stool with a handrail to reach high places.
  • Place skid-proof backing on area rugs.
  • Secure all carpeting.
  • Avoid using slippery wax on bare floors.
  • Place grab bars in the tub/shower and close to the toilet.
  • Place a bath seat with skid-proof legs in the tub/shower.
  • Use a non-skid rubber mat in the tub or shower.
  • Install and use handrails on both sides of stairwells.
  • Keep your home well lit.
  • Wear supportive shoes with non-skid soles.
  • Consider carrying a cordless phone or cell phone with you, so you can always reach help, should you need it.

Communication Is Key

Ask your healthcare provider how you can help prevent fractures at home. Use the interactive Doctor Discussion Guide to the get the conversation started.

Get Started

Fall Prevention Outdoors

  • Wear low-heeled shoes with rubber soles.
  • Be careful at curbs, and double check the height.
  • Be careful of slippery and wet sidewalks, and consider walking in the grass.
  • Keep your porch, doorway, and driveway well lit and free of clutter, leaves, snow, or debris.
  • Use a shoulder bag, fanny pack, or backpack to leave your hands free.
  • Use a cane or walker if you need one.
  • Take advantage of your grocery store or pharmacy's delivery service if they have one.
  • Always use handrails as you go up and down steps or an escalator.
forteo connect tout

Ongoing Patient Support

FORTEO Connect is a comprehensive program that can provide education on managing your osteoporosis.

Learn More

Indications for FORTEO:

  • FORTEO is used in both men and postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who are at high risk for having broken bones or fractures.
  • FORTEO is used in both men and women with osteoporosis due to use of glucocorticoid medicines, such as prednisone, for several months, who are at high risk for having broken bones or fractures.
  • FORTEO can be used by people who have had a fracture related to osteoporosis, or who have several risk factors for fracture, or who cannot use other osteoporosis treatments.

FORTEO is a prescription medicine given as a 20-microgram once-daily dose available in a 2.4-mL delivery device for subcutaneous injection over 28 days.

Important Safety Information About FORTEO

What is the most important information I should know about FORTEO?

WARNING: POTENTIAL RISK OF OSTEOSARCOMA

During the drug testing process, the medicine in FORTEO caused some rats to develop a bone cancer called osteosarcoma. In people, osteosarcoma is a serious but rare cancer. Osteosarcoma has been reported rarely in people who took FORTEO. It is not known if people who take FORTEO have a higher chance of getting osteosarcoma. Before you take FORTEO, you should tell your healthcare provider if you have Paget's disease of bone, are a child or young adult whose bones are still growing, or have had radiation therapy.

Who should not take FORTEO?

  • You should not take FORTEO for more than 2 years over your lifetime.
  • Do not use FORTEO if you are allergic to any of the ingredients in FORTEO. Serious allergic reactions have been reported.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking FORTEO?

  • Before you take FORTEO, you should tell your healthcare provider if you have a bone disease other than osteoporosis, have cancer in your bones, have trouble injecting yourself and do not have someone who can help you, have or have had kidney stones, have or have had too much calcium in your blood, take medications that contain digoxin (Digoxin, Lanoxicaps, Lanoxin), or have any other medical conditions.
  • You should also tell your healthcare provider, before you take FORTEO, if you are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant. It is not known if FORTEO will harm your unborn baby. If you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed, it is not known if FORTEO passes into your breast milk. You and your healthcare provider should decide if you will take FORTEO or breastfeed. You should not do both.

What are the possible side effects of FORTEO?

  • FORTEO can cause serious side effects including a decrease in blood pressure when you change positions. Some people feel dizzy, get a fast heartbeat, or feel faint right after the first few doses. This usually happens within 4 hours of taking FORTEO and goes away within a few hours. For the first few doses, take your injections of FORTEO in a place where you can sit or lie down right away if you get these symptoms. If your symptoms get worse or do not go away, stop taking FORTEO and call your healthcare provider. FORTEO may also cause increased calcium in your blood. Tell your healthcare provider if you have nausea, vomiting, constipation, low energy, or muscle weakness. These may be signs there is too much calcium in your blood.
  • Common side effects of FORTEO include nausea, joint aches, pain, leg cramps, and injection site reactions including injection site pain, swelling and bruising. These are not all the possible side effects of FORTEO. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of Prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Additional safety information about FORTEO

  • There is a voluntary patient registry for people who take FORTEO. The purpose of the registry is to collect information about the possible risk of osteosarcoma in people who take FORTEO. For information about how to sign up for this patient registry, call 1-866-382-6813 or go to www.forteoregistry.org.
  • The FORTEO Delivery Device has enough medicine for 28 days. It is set to give a 20-microgram dose of medicine each day. Before you try to inject FORTEO yourself, a healthcare provider should teach you how to use the FORTEO Delivery Device to give your injection the right way. Inject FORTEO one time each day in your thigh or abdomen (lower stomach area). Do not inject all the medicine in the FORTEO Delivery Device at any one time. Do not transfer the medicine from the FORTEO Delivery Device to a syringe. This can result in taking the wrong dose of FORTEO. If you take more FORTEO than prescribed, call your healthcare provider. If you take too much FORTEO, you may have nausea, vomiting, weakness, or dizziness.

How should I store FORTEO?

  • Keep your FORTEO Delivery Device in the refrigerator between 36°F to 46°F (2°C to 8°C). Do not freeze the FORTEO Delivery Device. Do not use FORTEO if it has been frozen. Do not use FORTEO after the expiration date printed on the delivery device and packaging. Throw away the FORTEO Delivery Device after 28 days even if it has medicine in it (see the User Manual).

For more safety information, please see Medication Guide and Full Prescribing Information, including Boxed Warning regarding osteosarcoma.

See Full Delivery Device User Manual that accompanies the Delivery Device.

TE Con ISI 07Mar2011