5 replies to this topic

[abe786]

I have been having lot of inflammation in both my knees for sometime now (more than 1 yr). I was diagnosed with runner's knee and undergoing physical therapy for more than 5 months now, which consists of wet heat with tens unit on then massage then onto exercises and icing finally. My therapist said i have muscle imbalance so my knee cap is not getting stabilized enough, and with the exercises she aims to remedy it. It was beneficial in the beginning however it went to old state as time progressed . The pain and inflammation have become more frequent now. I had a MRI on one of the knee but it also didn't come out with nothing (no tears), just inflammation around the knee cap. So Dr's recommendation is just to continue with the therapy.

Anyway to cut the long story short, I am mostly fine as long as I wear knee braces but I'm sick of wearing them. Without them, my knee gets inflamed very quickly. I started taking glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM capsule about 4 months back and continued for 2 months however, I didn't notice much benefit so stopped taking them. Last month I switched to celadrin w/ glucosamine capsules and celadrin cream.
I had very good results in the beginning. For about 2 weeks it was working like magic, My knees felt fine and I could manage through the day without braces but from last 2 weeks things are getting back to old self again, I feel the dependence on braces have become even more now. If I don't wear them even for half an hour and do normal work like sitting on chair or walking, my knees get inflamed.

I was thinking of giving Cetyl Myristoleate a try, but however I've read celadrin is made up of that itself. Can anyone advise on that, if I go ahead and give it a try or its same as celadrin and I should stick with that only. Are there any other supplements worth trying ?

Edited by abe786, 18 March 2012 - 04:23 AM.

[elphaba]

I don't know about any Celadrin connection but maybe info below might help. Apologies for length.

I have lots of problems with my knees. Largely because I am overweight. I am working on the weight problem and don't want to minimize that BUT...

in the meantime, I have taken a lot of different supplements that claim to help with inflammation. This is all anecdotal but what I've learned for me:

Glucosamine is VERY important (takes a few weeks to get working if you have been off it a while) - should report there are some claims it causes insulin resistance but every time I try to quit taking, my pain level increases enormously. Not worth the trade off.
Buffered vitamin C powder helps a lot - can really tell a difference if I miss a dose - I take three times per day, about 1 1/2 grams per dose.
Also, MSM is part of my regular arsenal because it helps my tennis elbow 100% (not sure the difference between that and my knees..maybe amount of pressure my weight puts on the joints is different..)
I have tried Cetyl Myristoleate and it didn't seem to benefit enough to continue.

Because I don't want to take 200 pills per day, if I find I'm not benefitting significantly, I quit taking and go on to something else hence Cetyl Myristoleat may help some, just not enough for me to justify. Hyaluronic acid is in this same category - may help but not enough.

In same category as Cetyl Myristoleat is 5loxin and serapeptase, both supposed to be good for reducing inflammation. Not enough to justify keeping it in my arsenal if I hope to keep number of pills to a minimum.

Of course I take the standard essential fatty acids, I recently switched from Carlson's fish oil to Krill oil to see if I find any improvement. Jury still out but since i plan to take EFA whether or not it helps knees, I will continue.

Last one is the most recent I've tried and does seem to be helping. L-Carnosine (though still not a cure - just helps enough to notice). I take 1000 mg around 10am on an empty stomach (2 hours after breakfast). It took about two weeks before I noticed improvement. I've been on it only 3 weeks so I need to continue evaluating but this shows much promise for knee problem plus it seems to have claims for improving numerous other chronic conditions. I plan to take for at least another 4 weeks before I consider adequate time to have passed before I decide to keep in my arsenal of supplements. I will post later if I do.

I take resveratrol (250 mg per day) and have wondered if it makes some contribution to my knee problems in a negative way but I like how it affects some other chronic conditions so I don't plan to discontinue. I do make sure my Vitamin D level is (more than) adequate by periodically having vitamin D blood levels tested since some believe inadequate Vitamin D can case Resveratrol to cause arthritis problems. Also added Vitamin K supplementation since it also is supposed to be associated with osteoarthritis. Seems to be more of a consensus that supplementing with Vitamin K is a good thing (may be even necessary) so I have added it to arsenal without confirming it helping in an obvious way. I need to investigate if having Vitamin K levels tested is something easy to do.

Sorry this is so long. Thought I might help a few others in their search for pain relief without taking drugs. (though I understand vitamins have pharmacological effects but seem in my experience to be more gentle).

[niner]

I was thinking of giving Cetyl Myristoleate a try, but however I've read celadrin is made up of that itself. Can anyone advise on that, if I go ahead and give it a try or its same as celadrin and I should stick with that only. Are there any other supplements worth trying ?

Celadrin has cetyl myristoleate, but it also has some other fatty acid esters of cetyl alcohol. I don't know what the proportions of each of them are, or if any are better than any other. You'll just have to experiment to see if a more pure version of cetyl myristoleate works better.

Edited by niner, 18 March 2012 - 11:08 PM.

[abe786]

I don't know about any Celadrin connection but maybe info below might help. Apologies for length.

I have lots of problems with my knees. Largely because I am overweight. I am working on the weight problem and don't want to minimize that BUT...

in the meantime, I have taken a lot of different supplements that claim to help with inflammation. This is all anecdotal but what I've learned for me:

Glucosamine is VERY important (takes a few weeks to get working if you have been off it a while) - should report there are some claims it causes insulin resistance but every time I try to quit taking, my pain level increases enormously. Not worth the trade off.
Buffered vitamin C powder helps a lot - can really tell a difference if I miss a dose - I take three times per day, about 1 1/2 grams per dose.
Also, MSM is part of my regular arsenal because it helps my tennis elbow 100% (not sure the difference between that and my knees..maybe amount of pressure my weight puts on the joints is different..)
I have tried Cetyl Myristoleate and it didn't seem to benefit enough to continue.

Because I don't want to take 200 pills per day, if I find I'm not benefitting significantly, I quit taking and go on to something else hence Cetyl Myristoleat may help some, just not enough for me to justify. Hyaluronic acid is in this same category - may help but not enough.

In same category as Cetyl Myristoleat is 5loxin and serapeptase, both supposed to be good for reducing inflammation. Not enough to justify keeping it in my arsenal if I hope to keep number of pills to a minimum.

Of course I take the standard essential fatty acids, I recently switched from Carlson's fish oil to Krill oil to see if I find any improvement. Jury still out but since i plan to take EFA whether or not it helps knees, I will continue.

Last one is the most recent I've tried and does seem to be helping. L-Carnosine (though still not a cure - just helps enough to notice). I take 1000 mg around 10am on an empty stomach (2 hours after breakfast). It took about two weeks before I noticed improvement. I've been on it only 3 weeks so I need to continue evaluating but this shows much promise for knee problem plus it seems to have claims for improving numerous other chronic conditions. I plan to take for at least another 4 weeks before I consider adequate time to have passed before I decide to keep in my arsenal of supplements. I will post later if I do.

I take resveratrol (250 mg per day) and have wondered if it makes some contribution to my knee problems in a negative way but I like how it affects some other chronic conditions so I don't plan to discontinue. I do make sure my Vitamin D level is (more than) adequate by periodically having vitamin D blood levels tested since some believe inadequate Vitamin D can case Resveratrol to cause arthritis problems. Also added Vitamin K supplementation since it also is supposed to be associated with osteoarthritis. Seems to be more of a consensus that supplementing with Vitamin K is a good thing (may be even necessary) so I have added it to arsenal without confirming it helping in an obvious way. I need to investigate if having Vitamin K levels tested is something easy to do.

Sorry this is so long. Thought I might help a few others in their search for pain relief without taking drugs. (though I understand vitamins have pharmacological effects but seem in my experience to be more gentle).

Thanks for replying and no problem with the long post, I apperciate the time you took to write down the details..

Well I have normal weight for my height (about 155lbs for 5'8''), I'm a guy in my mid 20's...

Right now, I'm taking the doctor's best brand glucosamine + celadrin complex, 500mg each tablets 3 times a day. Also applying the celadrin cream 2 times a day in morning and evening, it is the prescribed dosage. I'm thinking of reducing it 2 times now, after reading about glucosamine side effects as I think 1500mg of it is too much ? How much do you take ?

Earlier I was thinking, for the next month I'll take cetyl myristoleate along with Glucosamine 1000mg daily and celadrin cream. But now that you introduced L-Carnosine, I think I have to research more about it and decide if I want to take that instead of cetyl myristoleate. I'm also not a big fan of taking many pills, but my condition is making me do it, however I would still like to keep it at minimum.

[elphaba]

I take 1500 mg Glucosamine per day - 1000 at bedtime and 500 with meal at lunchtime.

[abe786]

Well I've reduced to 1000mg for now. Will be starting to use L-carnosine from tommorow.

I've been a little better lately ever since I stopped icing and wearing braces (not completely though, but reduced only few hrs a day when I feel pain)
First couple of days were hard, but I've realized I was slowing down healing by icing and weeking my joints by bracing. Infact, there is alternative therapy called Prolotherapy in which they encourage inflamation by injecting sugar solution to affected joint. I'm not going to that extreme yet, however I do feel my dependence on braces have decreased ever since I reduced wearing them.

Edited by abe786, 28 March 2012 - 01:58 AM.