Joint pain

greetings!
i would have to agree with your friend in regards to the glucosamine- chondroitin suggestion. glucosamine sulfate has been shown to decrease pain and improve joint funtion. experiments suggest glucosamine may stimulate cartilage matrix formation, reduce enzymatic digestion of cartilage components and provide an anti-inflammatory effect. glucosamine stimulates the production of hyaluonic acid in joint synovial fluid as well. most studies that i have looked at that had substantial results used 1,500 mg/day of glucosamine and 1,200 mg/day of chondroitin. i am by no means prescribing this amont to you since there are many factors that come into play. age, weight, ect. i would recomend seeing a naturopathic doctor as they are often more current on nutrition supplements then an allopathic doctor. in my opinion i would stay away from the gel injections. as of now there are some reports of serious side effects along with crippling arthritis. maybe these will prove to be nothing and some will benefit from this treatment sorry if i have rambled on but hope this will help in some way.

rick

Well, this afternoon I stopped by Drug Emporium here who have a tremendous nutritional supplement section. Anyway, I picked up a bottle of NOW Liquid Glucosamine Chondroitin with Lignisul MSM. The ingredient list is as follows:

Vit C 125mg
Manganese 4mg
Sodium 60mg
-----
Glucosamine HCI 750mg
Chondroitin Sulfate 600mg
MSM 150mg

1 tablespoon twice daily.

Cost was US$13.52 which makes it US$0.85/day. I figure I will try this for a while and see if it makes any difference. I will avoid going to the doctor like the plague. Which reminds me, I have a couple of cavities which require attending to...for 16 months already.