Arthritis

suki1964 · 22 January 2006 at 11:21AM

I got flu in 2001 and have beem left with arthritis in my hips, knees, wrists and to some extent elbows and knuckles:(

Because of other medical problems I have to be very carefull with pain relieving tabs and mostly manage with nurofen.

Im pretty keen to try "alternative" treatments and am wondering if anyone has any first hand experience they want to share?

Im only 41 and manage quite well, pretty active usually. Just days like today when the pain in the hips is so bad it makes getting out of bed a mammouth task in itself

Ted_Hutchinson · 22 January 2006 at 11:35AM

Supplementation of fish oil and olive oil in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

As you know we are not allowed to give medical advice here only money saving advice. However from the above information link you will see that 3g of Omega when combined with 2 tsps of olive oil provided the quickest and best response in that trial. For Moneysaving advice I would suggest you use Zipvit[size=-1] A216j, OJ Omega Juice,[/size] as 2 tsps of this provides 3g of OMEGA and you would have to take 10 normal high strength fish oil capsules to achieve the same amount of Omega 3 EFA's. The olive oil can be any you like the taste of I use Lidl's but whatever olive oil you use for salad dressing or cooking will do.

As your Arthritis is linked to your previous flu it is reasonable to deduce it is a chronic autoimmune response. Your immune system is regulated by the presence of vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. Increasing your levels of Vitamin D3 will therefore enable it to work most efficiently.
Vitamin D3 is available free from sunlight when the sun is at the right angle in the UK See calculator here for when you can next strip off expose your skin and soak up 20 minutes worth of free vitamin d3.
As this won't work at the moment and it's too chilly and cloudy often anyway until you can sunbathe outdoors you will benefit from a couple of short sessions at a suntan palour or tanning studio. The idea is NOT to get a tan but short sessions simply to top up your vitamin d3 tank. Each 20 minutes session should produce about 12000iu so doing that each week will make you feel much better. It will tone up your muscles and improve your mood as well. If you can't do that then Healthy Direct via Quidco using code EP781 will get you the cheapest vitamin d3. You will need quite a bit as your initial dose could be as high as 125 tablets in one go. This will produce about 50,000iu sufficient to start to raise you D3 levels. A futher 4000iu daily (10 tablets) will replace the amount you use each day.
Don't take any notice of the RDA or the VitD amounts in mutliminerals or mixed with calcium. That is the least effective and most toxic form D2 ergocalciferol.

It would be best if you made sure you also took calcium at 1500mg daily as together with vitamin d this balances your metabolism. (It will also increase the metabolism of fat and help with obestity if that is a concern for other readers)

Artycards · 22 January 2006 at 5:15PM

My hubby suffers with osteoarthritis and has done so for the last 10 years (he's now only 43). He is on medication from his gp and specalists but he also uses a T.E.N.S machine at home and a PAINGONE pen when we are out and about for the day or on holidays. Both work by sending electriceol impulses to the brain and make you think that the pain has eased

. As hubby says it's there but a lot more manageable.
The T.E.NS. machine was bought through advice from a pain management clinic in the hospital and is stringer than the ones you can buy over the counter in shops. The PAINGONE PEN was bought after a chat with a specalist who said you have nothing to lose as it cannot harm you or interfere with medication.
If you put PAINGONE ito google it will give a list of companies that supply it and also reviews and information on how it works. We got hubbyd from ebay.
Hope to have been of some help.
Andrea

rubytuesday · 22 January 2006 at 6:39PM

Definately fish oil, also Gloucosomine Sulphate and Devils Claw. You may find accupuncture helpful although I didn't also Homeopathy may help.
Good Luck x

devon-gnome · 22 January 2006 at 6:40PM

I've taken one 1500mg Glucosamine Sulphate tablet and one 1000mg Omega 3 Fish Oil capsule each day for the last 4 years. Don't mean to advertise, but Zipvit is my supplier. Also, the only oil I consume is olive oil. From time to time, I get a bit stiff but nothing like the stiffness and pain I was in when it all started.

Ted_Hutchinson · 22 January 2006 at 10:01PM

devon-gnome wrote:

I've taken one 1500mg Glucosamine Sulphate tablet and one 1000mg Omega 3 Fish Oil capsule each day for the last 4 years. Don't mean to advertise, but Zipvit is my supplier. Also, the only oil I consume is olive oil. From time to time, I get a bit stiff but nothing like the stiffness and pain I was in when it all started.

The amount of fish oil you are taking sounds very low to me.

T[font=arial, helvetica, geneva]he researchers conclude that some RA patients using fish oil supplementation may be able to discontinue NSAIDs without experiencing a flare-up of their disease. They also noted that the benefits achieved from supplementing with 9 grams/day of fish oil were no greater than those observed in other studies using only 3 to 6 grams/day.
Kremer, Joel M., et al. Effects of high-dose fish oil on rheumatoid arthritis after stopping nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Arthritis & Rheumatism, Vol. 38, August 1995, pp. 1107-14
Generally speaking, the above research excerpt is a typical example rather more than you are currently using is found to be more effective. Read the whole page and you will see some of the other trials.
Other readers should not the bit at the bottom
[/font][font=arial, helvetica, geneva]but point out that at least 12 weeks of fish oil ingestion is required before the benefits are felt. and that was in a study using [/font][font=arial, helvetica, geneva] 15 fish oil capsules daily (containing a total of 2.7 grams EPA and 1.8 grams DHA) [/font]

nightsong · 2 February 2006 at 11:40AM

I take Morepa which is a high-grade omega 3 supplement. I recently recommended it to a friend who, at 41, was unable to sleep thgough the night because of hip and back pain. He reported an improvement within a week and after a few weeks was pain-free. Needless to say he was absolutely thrilled.

The other thing to consider is your diet. We eat a very inflammatory diet in the West and this can make arthritic sympoms much, much worse. You can get lots of information from google on this, but in general, cut down or eliminate meat, dairy, caffeine, alchohol, and refined foods of all kinds. Also try cutting out wheat. Instead, eat fruit, veggies, fish, nuts, pulses, brown rice and other wholegrains. Drink lots of water and herbal teas. Try to buy organic wherever possible. Honey is the best sweetener.

This may sound dull, but I can promise you that you will get used to it quite quickly and it's very much worth it to be rid of the pain.

Bendybops19 · 2 February 2006 at 11:43AM

Hi, i dont have any advice, just wana send some hugs!!

Also want to say, Ted you give brilliant advice all the time

Keep it up!

Ted_Hutchinson · 2 February 2006 at 1:01PM

nightsong wrote:

I take Morepa which is a high-grade omega 3 supplement. I recently recommended it to a friend who, at 41, was unable to sleep thgough the night because of hip and back pain. He reported an improvement within a week and after a few weeks was pain-free. Needless to say he was absolutely thrilled.

If this

Nutrasea HP "High Potency" 2000mg of Omega 3 was the product he bought for £25.98 for 200mls I personally think he would have had exactly the same result had he used OJ Omega 3 Juice - Recent studies have pointed to the effect of fish oils on improved brain and eye function. Omega 3, sourced from fish oils contains the essential fatty acids in the form of EPA and DHA which are required for normal brain function. We now offer you Omega 3 fish oils combined with Juice to give you a daily dosage of Omega 3 in a palatable 5ml teaspoon liquid, more convenient than taking 4 capsules per day, particularly useful for children. DHA content is 600mg and the EPA is 900mg per 5ml dosage. - 360ml
5.95

I appreciate that the MOREPA 1 serving provides1500mg of natural Omega 3 EPA & 500mg of Omega 3 DHA, 300mg of other Omega 3s. 200mg of Omega 6. but this costs 65p a serving.

If you use slighltly more than one teaspoon of the Zipvit product it would provide the same amount of OMEGA3 efa's for about 12p a serving.

As the ZIPVIT product is more or less the same proportion of EPA/DHA that is found in oily fish there has been less messing about done to it. To take out and throw away the DHA is pointless as the body makes DHA out of EPA so by reducing the amount of DHA and boosting the ratio of EPA seems perverse to me. Paying five times the price for an inferior product seems pointless to me.

Ken68 · 2 February 2006 at 1:09PM

Hi Suki......Lloyds the Chemist are selling TENS machines for £9.99...just bought one this morning. It is what was advised by the physio when I first had treatment for this neck problem. Save £30......mind you Glucosamine works a treat, have given up the paracetamol.

tanith · 2 February 2006 at 2:05PM

I also bought a tens machine on one of those telly selling channels . (hubby loves to watch) £50 machine price dropped to £10 so I got a bargain... hope it works on the arthritic pains ............
I am not holding my breath though

tanith

Arthritis

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