Joint pain supplements

[PopcornSutton]

Anyone take a supplement for joint pain, not a prescription. There are many in searching, but which one works or not?

There is tumeric, Chondroitin and Glucosamine , fish oil, SAMe, and many others. Hard to say which is best. I have typical osteoarthritis in hands and wrists, but I find I have similar issues with hips and knees.

Suggestions appreciated.

[Nueces]

I take the first four on your list, but the best treatment I've found is exercise. Working those joints. Not to set any weight records, but to complete 3 sets of 10 twice a week at the Y. Every week, I move better and with fewer snaps, crackles and pops.

[Outer Rondacker]

Same here. I take the first four on the list. The key is keep moving. It hurts more the less you move. Diet is a key also. There are entire diets made to keep down inflammations.

[Kosh75287]

Scotch?
Sorry.
Persons who regularly take that product that consists of freeze-dried vegetables in capsules(?) have told me that they could tell some difference, "after a while". When I inquire more closely, they say that they can't really notice a difference while they're taking it, but seem to notice that their symptoms return to usual when they skip the capsules for a few days. THAT describes every NSAID that I've ever used for OA and related orthopedic maladies.

[MrWolf]

I take the Chondroitin and Glucosamine , fish oil, and the type 1,2,3 collagen. My Uncle had me try the collagen after telling him my left knee was so arthritic that doc told me after the MRI nothing can be done. Within a few weeks I could even get it to "pop" when it got stiff and has been really good for a few years now.

[poppy42]

Glucosamine and chondroitin have been given to race horses for decades! Good stuff, when used properly as a preventative. Unfortunately people get the idea that it’s a cure-all and going to reverse damage that’s already done. It’s not! If there’s actual damage done to your joints from arthritis or in my case my knee joint being bone on bone since I was 19. All of glucosamine and chondrointin in the world are not going to correct a physical problem that already exists. It will not regrow and replaced damaged bone damaged and missing Cartlidge or anything else for that matter. It’s not some magic pixie dust that’s going to fix your bad joints.

[Shawlerbrook]

I hear you, getting old stinks( but it beat the alternative). My 88 year old dad has it bad, especially in his hands and knees and says that Blue Imu really helps him. I do agree that gentle movement and stretching is helpful . Those injuries you thought you recovered from in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’ , etc. come back to haunt you in your 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, etc.

[foesgth]

I do take a fish oil and a flax seed oil. I take those because SWMBO puts them in a little cup and gives them to me at dinner. I know who makes dessert around here so I take them.
As far as a joint supplement I have tried lots of them. What I have found is they all contain the same chemicals. They are not sourced from the same stuff however. You need to try several until you find the one your body absorbs. I used to take Joint Juice but they got in trouble over some of their claims and went broke. I now take the Nutrilite twist tubes (https://www.amway.com/en_US/Nutrilite%E2%84%A2-Twist-Tubes-2GO-Joint-Health-%E2%80%93-Raspberry-p-110857?backRef=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYW13YXkuY29tL2VuX1V TL3NlYXJjaC8/dGV4dD1qb2ludCZpbml0aWFsUGFnZT0x).
If I stop taking them I start hurting after about 3 days. So any that you try you need to take for at least a week to see if they help.
Good luck and I hope you find a combo that helps you!

[fixit]

I have recently been using tumeric tea, and the difference has been startling! I've abused my body, like most of us here, and so my knees hate me! After several days of drinking a cup of the tea each day, I realized my right knee no longer hurt, my left knee hurts significantly less. Granted, your milage may vary, but I will be using the tumeric tea from now on!

[GhostHawk]

Golden Raisins, in a plastic container with a airtight lid.
Cover with Bombay Sapphire Gin.
Let marinate for 2 weeks. You can add a couple of spoons full of honey if it sets your mouth on fire.


All of the above = drunk raisins, and for some people a spoonfull a day makes a big difference.
You don't have to use the $$$ Bombay Sapphire, but you do want a good gin flavored with real Juniper Berry's.

For me when my hips used to act up, it was 3 to 4 days immobilized sitting on a heating pad until I baked it back out.
The drunk raisin's usually cut my down time down to a day to a day and a half. And if I remember to take a spoon full every other week or so it keeps it from coming around at all.

The Golden raisins do work better IMO. The Bombay Gin is not cheap. What price is pain worth? Or to be pain free?

[Petander]

Glucosamine w/condroitin here. And fish oil.

I started shooting bows @ 55 years old and forgot my age. It was going good so I got a 70# Matthews and shot 100 arrows every day,all year round.

Then my right shoulder got on fire. Couldn't sleep,shoot bow, pistols or or even put hand in my back pocket, no painkillers worked. I started glucosamine and was back shooting after a month. Stop glucosamine and pain came back.

Now after a couple of years, 59 in March, still on glukosamine, my shoulder has been mysteriously pain free, I even shoot big bore rifles again. I also changed my lo carb diet to even lower carbs (keto) about two years ago.

[Outer Rondacker]

I do the supper beets also but the results are still out on that.

[Wayne Smith]

I have been taking glucosamine/chondriatin for at least 20 years - I was walking with knee pain and using a cane. After about a year of using it I tossed the cane, after two years I was pain free. Stopped it, and within six weeks the pain was back. I've been taking it ever since. Told my brother about it, he started using it and he is pain free in his knees for the first time in years and his shoulder pain is receding.
I asked my neurosurgeon why it worked for my knees but not for my back. His statement was that "we have found that it works well for large joints but does not work well for the small joints."

[414gates]

Diet is a factor.

Take the time get tested for food allergies. Most food allergies go unnoticed because the inflammation is internal, gut inflammation being the most common.

Joint inflammation can be triggered from this.

Long term, persistent conditions can sometimes be eased by appropriate diet changes.

Don't rely on just one medical opinion. A doctor can only identify what they have experience with.

You know you need another doctor if you get told the pain is just in your mind, there's nothing physically wrong with you.

[Shawlerbrook]

Great advice here. The human body is a very complicated machine and what works for one might not for another. Also injury and damage varies. One needs to experiment to see what works for your situation. But it does seem that exercise, heat and cold therapy and NSAID’s work universally.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've taken Chondroitin and Glucosamine for maybe a decade. they help.

[Froogal]

I take the first four on your list, but the best treatment I've found is exercise. Working those joints. Not to set any weight records, but to complete 3 sets of 10 twice a week at the Y. Every week, I move better and with fewer snaps, crackles and pops.

I agree. Our backyard is big enough to allow for a 1/8 mile walking track. Walking two miles every day has done more for my joints than any over the counter pills, and I have tried several of them.

[David2011]

I take the first four. SWMBO builds us supplement packs and I take them. Best to not tick her off; she could poison me very easily. It’s apparently very important to take turmeric that has black pepper (piper nigrum, also called BioPirene by one manufacturer) in it. Black pepper is said to increase the effectiveness by up to 4000%. That claim seems pretty wild but it apparently helps.

If I take the turmeric every day morning and evening the arthritis in the back of my thumb and my one original equipment knee don’t bother me. I can tell if I miss a dose. If I miss two consecutive doses it reminds me with a vengeance.

[kootne]

This stuff worked a miracle for me. Thought maybe I had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It took both hands to get a fork picked up. The Doc who did that kind of work told me not Carpal, it was arthritis. Gave me a few alternatives. Then said, "OK, that was my Doctor to patient talk, What I'm going to say next, I can't say as a Doctor so I'm gonna tell you as one friend to another (we'd just met). Try concentrated tart cherry juice, lots of folks I treat tell me it really helps."
A few days of taking it and I was completely normal again. I have recommended it to many over the years and it seems to work for about 20-25% of them.
A couple spoonfuls a day when I start to hurt til I get better.
As always, hope it works for you.
Dennis

https://freshpickswa.com/product/tart-cherry-juice-concentrate-2/

[PopcornSutton]

I'm curious why nobody uses SAMe? From what I've read, it is an anti-inflammatory that is similar to the RX Celebrex.

[poppy42]

Golden Raisins, in a plastic container with a airtight lid.
Cover with Bombay Sapphire Gin.
Let marinate for 2 weeks. You can add a couple of spoons full of honey if it sets your mouth on fire.


All of the above = drunk raisins, and for some people a spoonfull a day makes a big difference.
You don't have to use the $$$ Bombay Sapphire, but you do want a good gin flavored with real Juniper Berry's.

For me when my hips used to act up, it was 3 to 4 days immobilized sitting on a heating pad until I baked it back out.
The drunk raisin's usually cut my down time down to a day to a day and a half. And if I remember to take a spoon full every other week or so it keeps it from coming around at all.

The Golden raisins do work better IMO. The Bombay Gin is not cheap. What price is pain worth? Or to be pain free?

I like it! Been drinking Bombay Sapphire gin martinis for about 25 years now. I have found that after drinking copious amounts of Sapphire gin in the form of numerous martinis that although my joint pain is not eased I generally don’t care anymore!

[hoodat]

ANY -- lotion, potion, pill, or procedure, will work for about 75% of the folks who take them. It's simple placebo effect, and you can't say it isn't real.

I've settled in on what I call my "Theory of Come and Go-ness". Any time I get a new ache or pain, or other health issue, I simply deal with it for about three weeks and it usually and mysteriously disappears. So far this has saved me a lot of money on lotions, potions, pills, and supplements. jd

[Loudenboomer]

1)I've grown to like the taste of turmeric spice in my morning eggs.
2)Turmeric and Ginger tea.
3)Chaga Tea seems to help joint pain also. Drinking a cup right now. Chaga grows wild on our Northern Minnesota Birch trees and tastes great.

[higgins]

I've taken glucosamine-chondroitin (1500mg glucosamine and 1200mg chondroitin daily) for about 20 years. I started having knee pain back then and went to the orthopedic doc who x-rayed and told me I was developing osteoarthritis in both knees. He recommended the above dose of g-c, told me to get the cheapest I could find because in its basic form it's all the same. I've been using Walmart Spring Valley Triple Strength for many years; works for me. It takes a few weeks to really start working.

I've asked every orthopedic doctor I've been to if they "believe" in g-c. It's about 50/50, with most of them thinking it works for some people and not for others. One arrogant windbag essentially insulted me for believing in folklore, but he couldn't explain why my knees quit hurting when I took it and hadn't hurt since.

[GregLaROCHE]

I was taking the max dose of Celebrex for over 15 years. I stopped eating cereals including flour and I haven’t needed any anti inflammatory medicine for my joints for more than two years. Lost weight too.

[Glwenzl]

I have also got too the point where I don’t mind turmeric with my morning eggs. Went firm OE to scrabble with turmeric.

While I brother die is important, I have not seen very much relief from it. In the last 20 years I came to accept that this pain isn’t going away and there are just going to be some really bad days (might be weather related, I cannot say for sure).

The best and most important thing I ever did was take up bicycling and ensuring I stay hydrated. Walking and running are not even possible. The stretches that I’ve been doing the last 20 years seem to do more good after a bike ride, not sure if it’s my body temp is up or just more blood flow but I get better results.

Without stretches and bicycling and just sitting around, I get so stiff that I cannot turn my head or move my shoulders, bend over to tie my shoes and many other things.

Wish everyone with this condition the best of luck.

Not

[Thin Man]

I'm threatening to do something, anything to ease the pain in both shoulders. Exercise, medication, whatever it takes. I have enough discomfort now that the response to it will appear soon. Might have to start several different approaches one at a time until I find the better response to it, but it's coming. Soon.

[osage]

For those adding Turmeric to eggs or other food, how much are you adding?

[45_Colt]

This may sound crazy, but borax works for joint pain. An 1/8th teaspoon daily for 5 out of 7 days a week. It will take 6 - 8 weeks before it actually starts to show improvement. After a few months can then start cutting down on the amount.

I'm at the point now where I take a pinch every 4 - 5 days. Typically drink it in water (after my coffee and breakfast).

But it works. I was to the point that after mowing the lawn not being able to get decent sleep for the next 3 - 4 nights. Pain in mostly the shoulders and elbows was bad. Woke up every 40 minutes to turn over.

One source of borax is with the laundry cleaning products...

45_Colt

[Lloyd Smale]

ANY -- lotion, potion, pill, or procedure, will work for about 75% of the folks who take them. It's simple placebo effect, and you can't say it isn't real.

I've settled in on what I call my "Theory of Come and Go-ness". Any time I get a new ache or pain, or other health issue, I simply deal with it for about three weeks and it usually and mysteriously disappears. So far this has saved me a lot of money on lotions, potions, pills, and supplements. jd

ive lived in pain since 1974. over a dozen operations. a knee, ankle and two hip replacements. Broken back thats been operated on 8 times. Only thing that really works are narcotics and thanks but id rather the pain. I take anti inflamatorys and tylenol and once ever week or so have to step up to tylenol 3. But all of that is to get by. Pain is just part of my life and ive surrendered to that. Like hoodat said 90 precent of people toteing some erb or majic potion advertised by larry elder on tv or some other celebrity doesnt know what real pain is. Same with medical pot. Ive smoked my share of it when young and know exactly what i does and what i doesnt. It does not stop pain. It might let you sit in a chair drewling with a bag of doritos that making you fatter and adding to your problem. My cure is to get up off my but and buck up and take it and stay active. It means sleeping in the recliner about 75 percent of the time but so be it.

[PopcornSutton]

I think I stated at the beginning, I take about 2 grams of red yeast rice for cholesterol since I can't tolerate the RX statins. It has worked well for me. I bought a cheap $20 mixer at wallyworld meant for "smoothies". I use V8 juice, or a store brand similar, pour about an inch in it and add the RYR. But I do the same with turmeric, about 2 grams into the same mix. The V8 has enough solids in it that the powdered stuff stays suspended for enough time to drink it down. When I started the RYR and Turmeric, I weighed out out on my powder scale which converts to grams. A rounded/heaped 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon is about right for both. One spoon of each, swirled around and drink it down. I found it easy.

[Loudenboomer]

For those adding Turmeric to eggs or other food, how much are you adding?

It's a relative thing. Just sprinkle on. For me it's about 4 parts turmeric 1 part black pepper. Some say black pepper gets the turmeric activated better. IDK about that one. It sure does a good job of turning your food orange yellow :)

[MrWolf]

I think I stated at the beginning, I take about 2 grams of red yeast rice for cholesterol since I can't tolerate the RX statins. It has worked well for me. I bought a cheap $20 mixer at wallyworld meant for "smoothies". I use V8 juice, or a store brand similar, pour about an inch in it and add the RYR. But I do the same with turmeric, about 2 grams into the same mix. The V8 has enough solids in it that the powdered stuff stays suspended for enough time to drink it down. When I started the RYR and Turmeric, I weighed out out on my powder scale which converts to grams. A rounded/heaped 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon is about right for both. One spoon of each, swirled around and drink it down. I found it easy.

Red rice yeast contains what the stating also contain. I used to be able to take the yeast but it started giving me the same side effects as statins with additional low back pain.

[merriligagney23]

If you are looking to get rid of your joint pain, start by reducing or ideally cutting processed carbohydrates from your diet.

[jonp]

Turmeric and exercise for me. Stretching and bending, just plain walking behind a mower. Best thing there is is to get the joint moving

[MostlyLeverGuns]

If you think it helps, it does, for you. Movement is the best remedy, walking, building stuff, working your hands and body mostly makes things better, and NO VACATIONS from the movement, you'll just get stiff and more sore. I did have a hip replacement, a couple horse wrecks in my 20's and 30's (1970's,80's) finally caught up, works good again. Just had cataract surgery, that is good too. Right hand has arthritis from farrier work, works OK, may have to check into some replacement knuckles. Spare parts technology is getting really good.

[farmbif]

wish i could find a magic supplement that works, but for now just have to live life by doing what I can when I can. get my turmeric by eating Indian food, im not much for supplements or pills but chelated multi minerals are about the only one that ever did anything for me. it supposedly helps promote overall health, improves immune system and does something good to bones and muscles and its said to even cure mood disorders.
yeah a lot of supplement sellers make all kinds of claims.
ive been picking at a guitar for 50 years and the joint pain has gotten in the way but I try to flex my painful joints as much as possible
there is probably nothing better than trying to stay as active as possible. as long as your not doing damage pushing through the pain can be as easy as just thinking about the pain that others endure to accomplish a task such as navy members trying to endure the rigors of a BUDS class.

[higgins]

Glucosamine-Chondroitin 1200mg/day for about 20 years now. An orthopedic doc suggested I started taking it for early-stage osteoarthritis in my knees (confirmed by x-ray). Pain-free ever since. He told me to go to Walmart and get the cheap store brand because it works as well as the designer formulations. I've asked doctors if they "believe" in G-C ever since and the ones I've talked to are about 50/50. I had one pompous so-and-so practically accuse me of believing in witch doctors for using G-C. He's the only one who wasn't at least receptive to trying it.

My BIL who is 70 and panics over every new ache and pain because he thinks he should feel like he's still in his 30s started having knee pain recently so he went to his orthopedic doc. Guess what? Glucosamine-Chondroitin was recommended and his doc even told him to get the cheapest he could find at the big box store of his choice.

[samari46]

I take gluecosamine and tercumin. Only notice the added pain after 4-5 days without either one. So buy two bottles at the same time so I don't run out. Frank

[pworley1]

Glucosamine and chondroitin helped me on joints where I still had cartilage, but once its gone there is not much to do except replace the joint. As my Doctor told me, you will know when it's time.

[waksupi]

I've used them all, and the best thing I have found is a TENS unit. Takes care of my nerve damage, and makes it bearable with bad hips. 20 minutes before bed, and I'm good for the night. Also helps the arthritis.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0936B4X1T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Idaho45guy]

This stuff worked a miracle for me. Thought maybe I had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It took both hands to get a fork picked up. The Doc who did that kind of work told me not Carpal, it was arthritis. Gave me a few alternatives. Then said, "OK, that was my Doctor to patient talk, What I'm going to say next, I can't say as a Doctor so I'm gonna tell you as one friend to another (we'd just met). Try concentrated tart cherry juice, lots of folks I treat tell me it really helps."
A few days of taking it and I was completely normal again. I have recommended it to many over the years and it seems to work for about 20-25% of them.
A couple spoonfuls a day when I start to hurt til I get better.
As always, hope it works for you.
Dennis

https://freshpickswa.com/product/tart-cherry-juice-concentrate-2/

I remember when I was in my early 20's and working at the Maytag factory, a man in his 60's that had been a factory worker for decades told me that some day, I would have arthritis, and the best cure for it was cherries. He said fresh cherries was the best, but even processed cherries worked.

I'm just now starting to get it in my hands, and my knees are a mess.