Thanks Rudene and Steve Shaw for good input and insights in re my post about
the liquid glucosamine/chondroitin. Rudene explains that the MSM and
collagen are the extra ingredients that make the difference. He's absolutely
correct.
I'm so glad to find out from him that there is another product helping a
fellow sufferer available with the same ingredients as mine. When he says he
"stopped taking the pills" he is referring to the pill version of
Glucosamine/chondroitin. I ran into the same problem: the pill version while
inexpensive, does work - eventually. BUT they take several months to kick in, are
extremely difficult to digest for some folks and having stomach problems
already, it wasn't a happy solution for me. The liquid version of this supplement
avoids all that and seems to begin to work almost instantaneously.
Steve's experience is typical of arthritis sufferers and he should
absolutely continue on his current regimen. Whatever works to reduce your pain, under
your physician's care. I didn't make it clear that this supplement can be
taken as well as your anti-inflammatories and any other medicine. In no way
should you substitute one for the other. I'm not at all an advocate of
stopping prescription meds which help (especially since my husband works for a
major Pharmaceutical company <g>).
Like Steve I have severe neck pain and other medical problems as well which
are not tremendously helped by my "miracle" product. I saw my Neurologist
just yesterday and he remarked on the studies proving glucosamine/chondroitin's
efficacy in helping extremity pain (knees down, wrists/hands) and yet no one
understands why it seems to focus "only" on those areas. I have gotten
quite a bit of lessening of lower back pain, but as Steve points out - keeping
active plays a big part.
When one is frozen with pain, however, even the thought of traversing a
single flight of stairs can appear insurmountable. Pushing in the button of a
chromatic seemed well-nigh impossible. That's the beauty of this stuff: it
gave me back my ability to move and play harmonica and now there's no stopping
me. Should I add that it also helped me lose weight I'd gained from certain
medications and being unable to move much before?
I had no idea just how many arthritis sufferers or joint-injured people
there were out there. Off-list today I heard from so many of you, it actually
hurt and some of the stories even brought me to tears. You're all in my
thoughts, and I'm wishing Happy (and pain-free) Harpin' from now on!
Elizabeth _______________________________________________ Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l