Amflautist's accountability thread

blambo61

Very good control on the weight while on vacation! What problems do you have with your knee? Has it been diagnosed? I've had a lot of knee problems so I'm interested what is going on. Sounds like a great vacation!

amflautist

@blambo61 Knee problems due to arthroscopy in July 2016. I went to Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) - one of 2 best places in the country for knee surgery. I was not a candidate for total knee replacement because I could still walk, but had a torn meniscus (dancing injury) that kept me from running, jumping, cross-country skiing, etc. Opted for arthroscopy. Dr told me 40% chance it would help, 50% chance no change, 10% chance worse. It is worse. I am now doing a 1-year (self-imposed) attempt to avoid total knee replacement. My knees are worn out from years of skiing and other things. I have now had 3 arthroscopies, one in left knee, two in right. Both knees are bone-on-bone. Both swell with fluid when used extensively, and have done so for years, but they did not hurt previously and I could run, jump, ski, etc. I have seen the pictures of the inside of my right knee after the 2nd arthroscopy. I have only 2 small pieces of cartilage left, and both pieces are only attached at one end - the two other ends dangle. Quite simply, I am willing to try (via extensive fasting) to induce new cartilage to grow. This has proved to be possible in young knees, but never in a knee as old as mine. However, there are very few trials at fasting. And no trials for oldies like me. It seems to be scientifically true (i.e. research, which is the only thing I trust because I am a PhD scientist) that fasting for as long as a week will induce stem cells to begin regeneration. That is what I am going for. I will be fasting for approximately 1 week at a time each month for the next year. I still need to set up a program that will test my knee to see whether there is any improvement. I really need to do that this week!!!

I am willing to spend up to a year doing this in order to avoid knee replacement. There are just too many things that can go wrong during knee surgery. For instance, the probability of serious infection (bone infection) is 2-3%, depending on the hospital. The probability of needing to redo the replacement is as high as 10% in my little community, and is not negligible anywhere - although that probability is greatly reduced by going to a specialist hospital like HSS where I will go. I do not know the probability of brain confusion due to general anesthetic - but I do know that it is not zero and that it gets bigger for people my age. Now I simply cannot afford any mental confusion from general anesthetic. I run a business where we develop mathematical software for instrument manufacturers. So, my decision is to go for the long shot. Can I get this knee to the place where I no longer ski, no longer run, but I can walk for 3-4 hours, and I can bicycle (will soon buy an electric-assist bicycle because I live on a big hill, but that is another story) without pain so that I can travel a lot, and go on bicycle tours, with my family? That's my goal.

This trip to Spain was planned before I decided to give myself 1 year to avoid total knee replacement. It was a great trip with old friends but it set my schedule back a month or two. Today is my second day home. After I finish the laundry, all the banking crap that has piled up, and getting all my computers back up and working -- or maybe before, first, as a priority? - I will sit down and make a plan. The sticking point on the plan right now is how to measure progress. I am thinking that a combination of (a) how far I can walk without pain, (b) how far I can walk without the knee swelling (and how do I measure swelling), (c) how far/long can I cycle without pain or swelling, etc. OK, just writing this is helping, because I have a really good way to measure swelling. When my knee swells, I cannot straighten my leg. So I could measure the angle of straightening. Also I am pretty stoic - can withstand a lot of pain by just ignoring it - so I need to decide on a pain scale. As for the cycling, this hill I live on gives me a great measurement scale. How far up can I get on my current manual no-electric-assist bike? I will also hire a trainer at my gym to help me set up strength and fitness goals. Sounds to me like I'd better put down the computer and get going!!

Any and all suggestions for measuring improvement are welcome.

amflautist

minigrrll wrote: »

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it to you before, but have you tried Turmeric?

Since I have been taking it regularly (we make our own pills from grocery store turmeric and pepper) my left hip OA pain has all but disappeared. I can walk forever (I do around 16000 steps on most days) and the only time it starts hurting again is when I forget to take the turmeric. It's honestly like night and day from before I started taking it - I only was diagnosed in mid-June and started right away with the pills. Since then I haven't had a single time when I've been walking and had to stop because of sharp pains. It's seriously amazing to me.

I think the fasting plus the turmeric has worked wonders. (and I have to add a caveat that I'm not into "alternative" stuff, I need science to back stuff up).

Also, it doesn't seem to be something that needs time to work - it works right away - like in 30 minutes type thing. I take 4 pills in the morning and 4 at night and sometimes 2 at lunch (my pills are 00 so contain about 800 mg/pill). Might be overdosing, who knows! I figure it's just turmeric, can't be too bad!

(Turmeric is high in oxalates so if you are prone to kidney stones, maybe not the best idea - though my partner is prone to kidney stones and still takes it and it hasn't caused an issue... yet..).

@minigrrll Can we talk about turmeric? I have quit taking aspirin for inflammation and pain because it seems to be a stupid idea to continue. I have found that doctors in other counties (Australia for example! Although most certainly not here in the US.) now recommend turmeric. I would like to start making my own pills as you do. Can you give me instructions? I guess all I need to do is buy some empty capsules? Or heheh maybe just wolf it down with a spoon? Also, do I need to be careful about what turmeric I buy? Freshness? I have found that I can actually buy fresh turmeric root in my community. Is there any benefit to doing so?

minigrrll

I just buy the stuff from the supermarket. I mix it with about 5% ground pepper, also just the stuff from the supermarket. I have not done any research into sources, freshness etc. I did notice that when I bought pre-made pills from GNC in the US that the pain relief wasn’t as good. This resolved immediately when I got home and made some more pills. I think mixing with the pepper is important due to uptake being greater (can’t remember exact mechanism, but the body tries to get rid of turmeric and the pepper slows or prevents that somehow - https://nutritionfacts.org/2015/02/05/why-pepper-boosts-turmeric-blood-levels/ looks like some info in that link about the fresh stuff too. That site is an awesome resource. Dr Greger isn’t selling anything, proceeds go to charity and he mines the clinical trials for data and presents that data. He also changes his conclusions when new data is released.).

I use a little pill maker. I use 00 size capsules and take 4 in the morning and 4 at night. I use a couple if I have a headache, but tbh I haven’t had a headache in months. https://gelcapsules.com.au/collections/frontpage/products/capsule-machine-size-1 (not sure if that’s the exact one but same idea).



It’s a little time consuming, but totally worth it. Sometimes get 16 yo to do it - she says “other people’s parents don’t get them to make pills”!!!

minigrrll

Very very interesting about the fasting and cartilage-need to look into that. Really don’t want to have to get a hip replacement.

blambo61

Knee problems are no fun for sure! Sorry you have bone on bone. I've got a bad left knee but not as serious as yours. I've torn my acl three times in that knee (basketball) with the last one being a complete tear. I never did the surgery because I had a co-worker who was on his fourth surgery to fix his acl in one knee and he was a lot younger than me. I just had to give up basketball, soccer, flag football and such. I do wrap it and brace it and I do still downhill ski but I kind of take it easy and hope I don't have the next "big one".

In this area, there are some clinics that are treating people with stem cells and are claiming to re-grow cartiladge. It's not covered by insurance though and I'm sure there are some risks involved also.

Comfrey leaf is supposed to be a miracle grower of tissues. It's Latin name means bone-knit and it has been used to treat broken bones for a long time. It has some stuff in it that can be toxic though and there are no available internal stuff for sale in the us. You can buy the powder at health stores though. There are two types with one more toxic than the other. I've read a bit about it and some people have used it externally and internally without problems. You will get both sides of the story if you look into it.

The fasting approach seems interesting. I sure hope it works for you! It would be worth it for sure if it does. I wish you the best. I think some day, my left knee will be in very bad shape and will wear down due to no acl and I will be in a similar situation.

katjustkat

You're a very smart lady and proactive. You will figure this out. Welcome back to the comfort of your home