which supplement...?

Ibuprofen

Fish oil is correct.

Any idea how much fish oil you would have to dose to have a material benefit for this?  Is it a potential alternative to a NSAID, for example?  Or is it just a modest 'side' benefit?  Just curious...

I don't know about dosage, but my advice is to freeze them.

You don't get the fish burps that way.

I didn't believe that it would work, but I tried it and swear by it.

People will try to sell you special expensive ones to avoid this.
I go cheap and freeze.

The studies that I've seen have used a range of usually between 1 and 3 grams of combined EPA/DHA.  Most fish oils supplements are 300mg per pill, so between 5 and 10 a day.  Since the studies were predominantly on people with significant inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, I tend to go with the lower end of things since we don't tend to have that level of chronic inflammation present. 

I've taken 5-6 a day religiously for several years and rarely have to break out the NSAID's for anything other than headaches.  Just my N=1.

Fish oil absolutely works.

The other one (whose data I have reviewed) is celadrin - it is esterified fatty acids and has both a topical and oral form.  I use the topical on joints that hurt and muscle soreness.  In patients that have significant inflammation I have them take the oral as well. 

celadrin.com if you want more information including links to the studies.

Thx.  I don't use NSAIDs very often anymore either.  But my wife keeps fish oil around (for cholesterol) usually.  Maybe I'll try it next time I feel the need.

The only problem with eating a lot of real fish is the prolific problem with toxins in their systems.  Lots of mercury and other crap that it would be better to avoid.

It scares the crap out of me when they issue the "We really recommend not eating any more than 1 serving of fish out of the Bay per week right now.  And oh, if you have little kids, maybe they shouldn't have any."  They did that a few weeks ago .... AFTER we finished eating some Rock that my brother-in-law had caught.

Frickin' pollutants.  Surprised all the fish don't have 5 eyes and 3 tails.

All at once, or do you space them out? One every three hours, two every six?

All at once, or do you space them out? One every three hours, two every six? Or does it make any difference?

Edited by the bear 2009-06-19 10:50 AM

My local doc (internal medicine MD) was concerned about the amount of NSAIDs I was taking for severe arthritis in my knee and shoulder. He recommended I take Zyflamend about a year ago. It's an herbal preparation that the manufacturer and apparently some independant researchers claim has anti-inflammatory effects, specifically COX-2 if I remember correctly.

A distributor (not the manufacturer) got a warning from the FDA about making potentially misleading claims about the product last summer.

My personal experience is that when I took it consistently, it helped me about as much as Mobic. What helped me far more than any medicine was losing another 10 pounds. Running lighter has made a tremendous difference in the knee pain I feel when running.

Here are some studies listed in a product review from the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center review of Zyflamend (it is reported to have some inhibitory effect on cancer cells as well).

References

References

You can do it either way.  I take them all at once because I'd forget to otherwise.

OK, one more question. What size pills? The ones I have are labeled "Triple strength" and contain 900mg of Omega-3 Fatty Acids.

5-6 of these, or only two or three?

I recently started taking fish oil regularly, but there are other sources out there of omega 3 fats if you want more than just the pill or would rather not take the pill form.  Nuts, peanut butter, avocado, olive oil, oily fish (salmon).  As far as the anti-inflammatory characteristics I believe fish oil does help, but some other things that will help that you can put into your diet are pomegranite, blueberries, tart cherries and other berries loaded with anti-oxidents.  As far as nsaids go, I used to take a steady dosage of aleve until I heard that you should never take them right before or after excercise as it can actually up your risk of excercise induced heart attack.  Not sure of the validity of this, but just hearing it was enough for me to take it out of my normal daily intake.

2-3

Moose22, you might not want to totally go overboard on the antioxidants -- there was a recent paper in PNAS suggesting that antioxidant use might block some of the benefits of regular exercise (high-dose antioxidants blocked the increase in insulin sensitivity and the increase in the body's own endogenous antioxidant defenses that exercise normally produces).  Link:  http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/05/11/0903485106.abstract

I'd stick with omega-3's for their anti-inflammatory properties, but that paper made me really doubtful of the benefits of antioxidants in dealing with inflammatory conditions, especially for athletes.