Calling all arthritics...

My regimen has included dropping 45#, maintaining light to moderate activity throughout the day (it's always worse when I am not moving around), fish oil (to hit 2.4 g of combined DHA/EPA) daily, and a glucosamine/MSM (Kirkland brand) supplement daily. I no longer have to take NSAIDs daily, but rather just before bed after a particularly strenuous day. Edited to add - I go through months of regular weight training year which seems to help even if I have months off between cycles.

kracken200 wrote: »

My husband has degenerative arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis (kind of like an evil cousin to the more well known rheumatoid arthritis). Both swimming and simply walking in the pool have helped him immensely. It is a safe, low impact way for him to keep moving and maintain muscle that his doctors approve of.

My grandfather had that and I have the HLA-B27 antigen. I have undifferentiated spondylitis with some degeneration mostly in the lumbar where the herniated discs and spinal stenosis are. Has he tried the London AS diet? It doesn't work for everyone, but a lot of people seem to get relief. Lots of info out at kickas.com. I tried it for a little while and wasn't really sure if it helped as I tend to get flares more than constant trouble. It's really hard to practically give up starch though.

I found collagen helped. I have a finger joint that was crunchy and painful. It stopped crunching and generally hurts less (though it is hurting now!) after a few weeks of taking ~12 g collagen/day. There are a few studies on collagen that show some improvements in range of motion though not pain scale. And a study that shows some improvement in cartilage density. [I think both of these studies were on knees] I am taking collagen hydrolysate/gelatin. There are also studies using small peptide fragments of collagen (collagen II) at very low doses (~40 mg) that seem to improve things via changing the immune system. That's above my pay grade- I'd talk to a doctor before doing anything that messes with the immune system on purpose. Examine has a write-up on collagens, though most of the references are to the peptide versions: https://examine.com/supplements/type-ii-collagen/

There are some studies showing tart cherry juice (or pills) helps too. The studies seemed decent, though they were all funded by supplement makers. I didn't find it helped with the joint stuff, though my mom did. Examine doesn't have a write-up, so you'll need to go through pubmed if you want the scientific details. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

I have bad arthritis in both knees also.
Be aware that losing weight has certainly helped my arthritis.... however, nothing will reverse bone on bone.
So although I've lost 110 lbs, I'm still getting a double knee replacement end of the year.
I prefer to be active and mobile while I'm young and otherwise healthy enough to do so.

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

Anyone tried Turmeric? I am advanced osteoarthritis/bone on bone and they say the only thing that will fix it is a replacement, but that I'm about 20 years too young for that! Have tried EVERYTHING out there and normally wouldn't expect much from a supplement, but have read a lot about Turmeric being great for inflammation. Any experiences with it?

If it's bone on bone, you're not too young IMO. You're too young to get sidelined for something they can fix - again IMO.

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

CarvedTones wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

Anyone tried Turmeric? I am advanced osteoarthritis/bone on bone and they say the only thing that will fix it is a replacement, but that I'm about 20 years too young for that! Have tried EVERYTHING out there and normally wouldn't expect much from a supplement, but have read a lot about Turmeric being great for inflammation. Any experiences with it?

If it's bone on bone, you're not too young IMO. You're too young to get sidelined for something they can fix - again IMO.

trust me, I agree! been at this for at least 5 years and tried everything short of a replacement (including two other surgeries that did nothing to help). I've had the same conversation with 4 different surgeons (and countless other doctors), but they all end up with them saying I am just too young - come back in 20 years!

I'm 58 and getting it done..... define too young???

My grandfather had that and I have the HLA-B27 antigen. I have undifferentiated spondylitis with some degeneration mostly in the lumbar where the herniated discs and spinal stenosis are. Has he tried the London AS diet? It doesn't work for everyone, but a lot of people seem to get relief. Lots of info out at kickas.com. I tried it for a little while and wasn't really sure if it helped as I tend to get flares more than constant trouble. It's really hard to practically give up starch though.[/quote]

My husband also has the HLA-B27 antigen. Starches absolutely make him miserable. Glazed doughnuts are the absolute worst thing he can eat but he still sometimes indulges even though he knows what is going to happen.
The London AS diet helps but only if he sticks to it.



That is what I have! It is a *kitten*. Apparently 20-somthing year old women don't usually get it, so I am special haha.

OP, one of the best things I ever did was find a beginners fitness class where the trainer specialized in working with obese and/or physically limited people. If a move hurts she can give you 10 other ways to do it until you can build up strength.

Continuing to lose weight will also help, if that is your goal. Less stress on the joints.
[/quote]

You are so lucky that it was identified early. It took years before doctors figured out what was wrong with my husband.

I think it greatly depends on what caused/is causing your arthritis, and how much damage there is done (like, if one is down to serious bone on bone joint movement, nothing is going to make that better without surgery, you know?).

A couple things you could explore, though, that could potentially help.

1. Get checked for celiac disease. This is considered a gut disease, but at least 1/3 of people do not present with gut symptoms at all. Instead, they tend to present with secondary symptoms that are a result of the inflammation and/or vitamin deficiencies that occur because of the gut damage. Unfortunately, most doctors aren't knowledgeable about the disease and so don't check for it without gut symptoms.

My father was this way and his joints were damaged by the vitamin deficiencies - he had celiac disease undiagned for decades. He presented with arthritis at a younger age than expected. While getting diagnosed didn't make the damage go away, the treatment did lower is inflammation levels which helped the pain, and it prevented further damage from being done, so it was well worth the blood test, you know?

2. Going gluten free. Wheat has been known for a while to have some components that, theoretically, could cause inflammation in the body (it's why you hear a lot of crackpots talking about how wheat is bad for everyone, due to this). While most folks don't have any issues with wheat, some scientists speculated that perhaps some vulnerable populations might. So in a small study that was looking at wheat, specifically, they found that rheumatoid arthritis and, I believe it was MS, wheat DID cause inflammation. As these are two diseases that already cause inflammation, this extra inflammation seemed to be a problem, because when the study participants cut wheat out, symptoms were improved and inflammation seemed less. The authors speculated that it might apply to other conditions where inflammation is already present, such as other auto-immune disorders.

It was a small study and the link I used to have to it no longer works, so I am afraid I can't link to it. But it seemed more with the science and less with the woo, as the authors weren't touting the miracles of ditching wheat but more saying that this is an avenue that might be worth studying. But trying it out is unlikely to be problematic, if anyone wanted to just see if it helped, you know? (I say gluten free because 'wheat free' has no legal definition, while gluten free does, so you are more likely to find truly wheat free products if you get gluten free ones).

3. ANYTHING that lowers inflammation - again, it is only going to help if inflammation is part and parcel of your particular arthritis. But turmeric will work a little - it's not much more effective than an over the counter NSAID, however, you can add turmeric to your food daily and there's no side effects, so that's positive.

Also, mast cell stabilizers could help - the drug versions are not good, as there are so many side effects you don't use them unless you REALLY need them for disorders and such. But, many bioflavonoids, like quercetin and luteolin, are natural mast cell stabilizers. MC stabilizers make mast cells less like likely to degranulate and release they contents into your body (although they DO need to do this for your body to function, sometimes they can release too much, or the wrong things, if there is something wrong). One of the things mast cells are responsible for are the chemicals that cause inflammation, so sometimes, mast cell stabilizers can lower inflammation by causing mast cells to release less inflammatory mediators. :-) There are quercetin supplements, but you can also get them from food - olive leaf extract and guava leaf tea, for example. Capers, and thyme, too - some folks who use this as a treatment for certain disorders will get tons of thyme and basically juice it and take a thyme juice shot every few days to help.

Again, it only helps with inflammation, though, not mechanical function.

bikecheryl wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

CarvedTones wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

Anyone tried Turmeric? I am advanced osteoarthritis/bone on bone and they say the only thing that will fix it is a replacement, but that I'm about 20 years too young for that! Have tried EVERYTHING out there and normally wouldn't expect much from a supplement, but have read a lot about Turmeric being great for inflammation. Any experiences with it?

If it's bone on bone, you're not too young IMO. You're too young to get sidelined for something they can fix - again IMO.

trust me, I agree! been at this for at least 5 years and tried everything short of a replacement (including two other surgeries that did nothing to help). I've had the same conversation with 4 different surgeons (and countless other doctors), but they all end up with them saying I am just too young - come back in 20 years!

I'm 58 and getting it done..... define too young???

I'm 38 :-(

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

Anyone tried Turmeric? I am advanced osteoarthritis/bone on bone and they say the only thing that will fix it is a replacement, but that I'm about 20 years too young for that! Have tried EVERYTHING out there and normally wouldn't expect much from a supplement, but have read a lot about Turmeric being great for inflammation. Any experiences with it?

Mine isn't advanced, and I believe turmeric did help. (I had previously tried glucosomine and MSN to no avail.) I take Turmeric & Bromelain.

But it could also be that I am doing my knee exercises regularly.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLoMA7I7HOQ&feature=youtu.be