Have any of you tried the chondroiton/glucosamine products out there for osteoarthritis pain?
I wondered if anyone had positive results. thanks!
gold,
I took it for several years.
It didn't seem to make any difference in the pain, or the progression.
But we all react somewhat differently.
Keep us posted.
Hugs
Elaine
I was just diagnosed with it in my feet 2 weeks ago. I thought about trying it but decided not to. I have stage 3 kidney disease and will have to wait and talk to my Neph before I do. Some people say it has helped them.
It works for me, and for my mother. I took it for a long time, them spaced it out for a couple of months. That is when I realized that it works for me. I don't space it out any more. However, it doesn't work for everyone, and if you find it isn't helping, don't spend the money. Generic is just fine, though!
I took it for years, but never could tell that the pills were working. When I went off them, I didn't notice any difference.
I mentioned it to one of my docs, maybe my Rheumy, who said that it doesn't work for everyone, and that if it doesn't help after a good try on it, don't waste your money.
Then I heard someone else say that even if it isn't helping for pain, it could still be helping the joint.
There appears a big study that came out a few years ago that said it seemed effective for osteoarthritis of the knee. They were only studying the affect on the knee at that time.
I took it for awhile but didn't see or feel any benefit.
LEF suggests Boswelia and UC-II
Hi :)
I was told to take it by both my GP and my physiotherapist. I took it for about 3 years. I stopped taking it to see if I would notice a difference - and I don't. I think fish oil helps but maybe that's just me.
Take care - Scottie :)
I know it's not the same thing, but I gave it to my elderly dog as suggested by the vet. For her, I did notice a lot less limping and she appeared to be in less pain (she was less crabby ::)).
My GP is a DO and also into naturopathic healing. I mostly stay on his pill-giving side of healing. I have two artificial knees and had osteo problems from a fairly early age. This was long before my SJS was dx, although I may have had it back then. I think I started having knee problems about 45ish. I was not overweight and it just seemed to happen.
My dr put me on glucosamine and this was before everyone was taking it. It did help me, no doubt about it. I took it for quite a few years but then started having more problems with my knees. It can only help so much. Since I had osteo quite badly, I can imagine it helping someone with less problems much better. I told my BFF to put her 80 year old mother on it and it helped her. My daughter is not at the age about when I began having problems and she is taking glucosamine on my recommendation.
She is also AI and had Type I diabetes and who knows what down the road. I hope she doesn't have my bad knees. Lucy
Thanks guys and gals for all the responses! I think I'm going to stay on it for another year. I've been drinking "joint juice" and I got tired of buying it "off sale" so I stopped. My aches and pains seem a bit worse but that could be the weather! I am taking the liguid form with no shellfish.
What I can't seem to get out of my mind is......most of us with SJS seem to have Osteoarthritis and usually diagnosed before or in my case, at the same time of my diagnosis of SJS. Most of us don't seem to have the rheumatic type of arthritis (yet) that SJS brings when it becomes extraglandular. Of all the articles and books I've read there has never been a correlation between Osteoarthritis and SJS!! It makes me wonder if the SJS plays a part in destroying the cartlidge in our joints and that's why many of us get Osteo younger than most??!! I sure wish one of these articles would acknowledge the above.
I would say the a lot of us have some form of arthritis. I have psoriatic and Rheumatoid. I do a number of things to manage arthritis. It may be the cause of a lot of the pain that we associate with Sjogren's.
I tried it and LOL the vet had my dog on it too - it wasn't effective for either of us unfortunately. In fact it doesn't seem to be effective for most people - but you won't know if it works for you unless you try it yourself.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is so common in the general population that I'm not surprised to see a large number of Sjs's suffers also have OA. I do think that the Sjs may cause increased inflammation and pain to be worse than perhaps a non-sjs OA sufferer with the same amount of damage to the joint.
I can't take it because I'm allergic to shellfish so take note if you have a shellfish allergy.
My rheumie told me to try it too, but it didn't do anything or me. Like some others, I didn't notice any change when I stopped it either.
Kathyx
Hi Patty :)
You can get a 'vegetarian' form of glucosamine. I have a veggie friend who takes it because she can't take anti-inflammatories of any kind. It's definbitely fish/shellfish free.
Take care - Scottie :)