I was recently diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both knees and my doc said I would probably need replacement surgery within the year. Well, I plan to lose weight but in the meantime I would love to find a natural supplement that would help with the inflammation and pain. Celebrex was not even touching the pain anymore and my Dr. agreed to discontinue it. Saw an infomercial for Arthri-D this weekend and I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem and what do you take? I would really like to do something natural-any input would be appreciated!

People say MSM helps them. I've been taking it lately and haven't had any bad flare-ups. I haven't had luck with glucosamine.

I find diet is actually really important for controlling mine. There are certain foods that make it worse: legumes, dairy products, grains are the worst of the lot. Some people find foods in the nightshade family are bad for their arthritis.

You might want to try out a restrictive diet and see if that helps with the symptoms.

Hi codergal,

I had mild arthritic pains in a few finger joints and can echo what Nancy LC says about food intolerances: in my case, removing all sources of gluten from my diet has pretty much got rid of the achey stiff feeling in my joints that I had in the mornings, and the painful swelling has gone, too.

That said, you might want to look at these:

http://www.iherb.com/Doctor-s-Best-...Caps/12714?at=1

This google search should give you some info, too, about serrapeptase. It is a proteolytic enzyme, but this particular kind is cheaper than Wobenzym, which people also find helps with pain relief and arthritis. Proteolytic enzymes reduce inflammation.

I have tried the Dr's Best Serrapeptase and it helps with pain relief pretty much like Tylenol.

This is said to actually make cartilage grow back:

http://www.iherb.com/Doctor-s-Best-...lets/17130?at=0

But it is expensive... Jonny Bowden says large doses of MSM can help and that a friend of his cancelled knee surgery after using it. I read this in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Most-Effectiv...06163465&sr=1-1

Maybe you could get the book from your local library and check out the other things he recommends?

Or look up to see if there are any other internet forums or discussion boards where people write about their experience with these supplements.

Adding this later!!!

I finished this post and then I remembered that I had read on this forum about osteoarthritis and knee pain. My husband got his kneecap smashed (and repaired) a couple of years ago and has been warned that he may get arthritis one fine day. I mentioned it here and on the Vitamin D3 thread was told that he should get plenty of D3. I found an article here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...71109202444.htm

The kind of D3 that a lot of people who've read stuff on the D3 thread is this one:

http://www.iherb.com/Healthy-Origin...gels/18335?at=0

It is in olive oil which makes it easier to absorb. There's plenty more I could say about vitamin D3 - dosage and timing etc, but it would be a lot to write all at once. If you're interested in reading more, I'll point you in the right direction: just reply to this post, OK?

Over the last two years I have been reading a lot about magnesium (as well as about other supplements) and this is also a nutrient which is important in bone health. In fact, magnesium and D3 work hand in hand. Most of us are also low in magnesium (and D3) for various reasons and this can also have a negative impact on our bone health: when there is too little magnesium in the system, calcium cannot be absorbed.

So, if you are writing out a shopping list, I would actually put magnesium on there, too!!! It works synergistically with D3, with one supporting the other: vitamin D3 will increase uptake of magnesium in your body, so if you supplement with vitamin D3, it is advisable to take extra magnesium, too.

This is a very good quality supplement, which I use and have also recommended often on this forum. I have also gotten very good feedback!!! NancyLC might chime in and say that it made no difference to her, but, on the whole, I have heard good things on the whole, with people reporting many different benefits.

http://www.iherb.com/Doctor-s-Best-...lets/16567?at=0

Like I say, these are too many different supplements for me to go into all the details about when and how to dose them, but I would gladly go into more detail if you're interested.

I find that iherb.com is a nice site to go to because there are a lot of product reviews which you can read. It is rather time-consuming but usually quite interesting.

Hope this helps,

amanda

Thank you Amanda and Nancy - I will definitely look at all the sites you mentioned - I definitely would love to forego surgery and I believe diet and supplements would be the way to go right now-once again thank you for all the wonderful advice!

Mary (codergal)

I find borage and fish oil helps me. It tends to loosen up the joint a bit. My ortho has me on it.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your knee misery. My knees started giving me problems in my late forties, and by 55 I was bone-on-bone and I had two replacements. The new knees are great!
I tried all of the supplements -- MSM, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, fish oil -- and it was hard to tell which, if any, helped. Of course, mine we pretty far gone.
I had some hyaluronic acid treatments, which were great for a short-term fix, and ditto for cortisone. But the final cure was shiny new titanium ones!
My knees deteriorated alarmingly quickly, around the same time as menopause. At the time, my weight was about the same as yours, and I had other problems: sleep disturbances, depression, lethary, moods swings, etch. I don't know for sure, but since I've gone low carb, all of those problems have resolved themselves. I wonder if I had gone low carb a long time ago, whether I'd still have my own knees.
Good luck with the battle of the knees. When you do have them done, make sure that you do the physio: your surgeon can wage only half your battle. You're the key to the other half!

Don't forget gelatin and it's "fancy" name hydrolyzed collagen. It may or may not help, but it sure makes a tasty dessert.


http://www.wright.edu/admin/fredwhi...remedies15.html

http://www.betterjoints.com/professionals/resources.php

I also take MSM, Vit D, chelated magnesium, and have gone gluten free. Since then the pain in my hands has gotten smaller and small and now is mostly gone.

I had a baaaaaaad knee since my teens, which I completely fixed with the help of this man's exercises:

The Egoscue Method

Essentially, try a few of the recommended exercises. If you get pain relief, even a little; it will work for you!