How Sharon Wyatt’s Battle with Osteoporosis Ended with Jawbone Problems

Who could ever forget about Sharon Wyatt and the longest running soap opera in the American Television General Hospital? She played as Tiffany Hill Donely where she was active from June 1981 to July 10, 1984 and August 1986 to February 24, 1995 with reappearance in the 2008 season finale. Now that her part of the soap is done, she faces an entirely different challenge in her life – osteoporosis.

Sharon was diagnosed to have an early stage of osteoporosis way around four years ago. She was then prescribed with the bone-strengthening medication Fosamax which was made by Merck & Co. Fosamax is a bisphosphonate drug that is often prescribed for bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteitis deformans (Paget’s disease).

Fearing that her condition could get worse, Sharon adhered strictly to her Fosamax therapy. Surprisingly, she suffered a severe adverse incident. According to her, “It was supposed to help [my] bones, but it made it worse.”

It was found that Sharon had an osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). It’s a severe bone disease where a facial bone tissue necrotizes (dies) as a result of poor blood supply. 

The former General Hospital actress was nervous that ONJ would impinge on her career. “I’m afraid how it’s gonna affect my speaking.That’s death of an actor: If you can’t say the lines, you can’t work.” She already had a repair surgery for her ONJ last April 1.

As for now, Sharon is caring for her elderly mother in Tennesse. She needs to stay tough especially for her mother. "I told God I had about all I could handle and then this happens," she said."So I said, okay, fine, we'll get through this."

Bisphosphonates including Fosamax have been linked to ONJ. Merck allegedly failed to warn its patients about the said risk when taking the drug which might have made a significant decrease of the number of patients affected by the backlash.

Aside from ONJ, large studies have also noted the risk of suffering an unusual fracture on the femur bone after consuming the drug over a long duration. A number of patients have reported such incident claiming that their use of the drug has caused the damage. The other alternative treatment hormone therapy may also cause hip fracture when ceased according to a study – causing its patients to feel more dispirited.